OIT Times: Expo 4: Focus on Common Challenges, Opportunities Facing Energy-Intensive, Resource-Based Industries
December 21, 2000
OIT will host its 4th Biennial Industrial Energy Efficiency Symposium and Expo from February 19-22 in Washington, DC. Expo targets the nine largest energy-using ndustries of the Futureincluding chemicals, petroleum, paper and forest products, agriculture, steel, aluminum, metalcasting, glass and mininghat together account for nearly 75% of all energy used in industry. These industries play a key role in our economy accounting directly for about 5% of US GDP. Their total shipments exceed $1 trillion annually and they employ over 3 million people.
Many Shared Interests
While each of these industries is unique, hey share many common interests in addition to high energy intensity,said Lou Sousa, OIT Expo 4 Coordinator. or example, they are largely capital-intensive, commodity supplying industries. They jointly face tough challenges in the environment, technology development, foreign competition and competition for workers. In addition, there are many areas where they supply common industries so intermaterial competition is another shared interest. Expo provides a unique opportunity for these industries as well as those who have an interest in them to explore their common interests, network and consider numerous previously unexplored opportunities,said Sousa.
New Insights
Expo participants will have the opportunity to gain insights and perspective that can be attained at ingle industryevents,said Denise Swink, DOE Deputy Assistant Secretary for Industrial Technologies. ttending Expo will be like increasing your universe of relevant problem-solving and networking opportunities multi-fold,she said.
Expo 4 will be strategically organized around many of the topics of greatest collective interest to energy-intensive U.S. industries. Experts from different industries will share insights about such areas as supply chain management, emerging applications of traditional materials, the growing digital economy and internet exchange trading, global climate change, competing globally, and work force development. In addition, for the first time Expo will feature a panel of top-notch Wall Street analysts who will share their views on the short- to mid-term outlook for several energy-intensive industries.
Further enhancing Expo focus will be Eamonn Fingleton keynote address. Fingleton, a former editor of both Forbes and The Financial Times, is author of the landmark book, n Praise of Hard Industries: Why Manufacturing, Not the Information Economy, Is the Key to Future Prosperity./I> His contrarian and well-documented messagehat the belief in a shift from a manufacturing economy to a post-industrial economy is premature at bests sure to resonate well with many attending Expo 4.
New Exhibits
Attendees will also be able to uncover new partnership opportunities in Expo highly-trafficked exhibit hall, where as many as 150 OIT partners will be showcasing leading edge technologies. t a unique opportunity for all attendees to discover useful technologies that are emerging across a number of industries,said Swink.
In addition, for the first time OIT Expo organizers are planning a ne-stop-shopopportunity in the Exhibit hall where attendees will be able to meet and discuss potential partnership opportunities with a broad cross-section of Federal agencies. This includes groups from DOE and its National Lab system as well as such agencies as Commerce, Defense, Transportation and so on.
f course, one of the greatest sources of knowledge at Expo is the attendee base itself,noted Swink. articipants will have the opportunity to network with up to 1500 colleagues from several related industries, some of whom are developing innovative solutions to challenges you face right now.BR>
Annual Partner, Technology, Plant Awards
As in past years, Expo 4 will honor a number of outstanding people from American industry. This year OIT has consolidated its numerous previous awards into three simple but compelling categories. OIT will honor a single Partner-, Technology-, and Plant-of-the-Year from among a universe of thousands of partners and new technologies. The first-ever Plant-of-the-Year Award will honor the plant that has been most successful in implementing new OIT technologies and best practices while saving energy and money and boosting productivity in the process.
Another exciting new award honors the winners of the High School Engineering Challenge, this year coordinated in conjunction with the Junior Engineering Technology Society. This contest tested the engineering capabilities of high school students around the country, from problems developed by OIT partners in each of the nine Industries of the Future. his was a wonderful and exciting way to help meet the basic industriescommon goal of getting students more interested in careers in these industries before they select a college or degree program,said Ken Boras, hallengeprogram coordinator from BCS, Inc.
Industry-specific Sessions
Finally, each of the nine IOFs will host its own working session on the last day of Expo. This will allow participants to learn about cutting edge R&D and related activities in these industries and discuss future opportunities from a more focused perspective.
The complete Expo program is still taking shape at press time, so be sure to check out OIT informative website at www.oitexpo4.com to learn the latest. A convenient registration form is available online, as well as elsewhere in this issue. At press time, booth exhibiting opportunities were still available at several sponsorship levels. The latest information on exhibitingr any aspect of the Expoan be found at the website or by calling 1-800-OIT-SYMP.