International Ocean Sciences Meeting Convenes in Honolulu

The 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting will bring together 5,000 attendees for scientific exchange of marine science disciplines.

The 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting will bring together 5,000 attendees for scientific exchange of marine science disciplines.

The 2014 Ocean Sciences Meeting, the largest international assembly of ocean scientists, engineers, students, policy makers, and key stakeholders, will bring together more than 5,000 attendees at the Hawai`i Convention Center this week to address important marine science issues.  This is the third time the Ocean Sciences Meeting is taking place in Hawai`i, with the last symposium held in 2006.

Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNLHawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL

Welcome 5th Annual Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit

asia pacific clean energy summit logoThe 5th Annual Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit and Expo (APCESE) takes place September 9-11, running concurrently with the Islands & Isolated Communities Congress and International OTEC Symposium.  All three gatherings will address the central theme of how government, business, technology, and innovative forward thinking can collaborate to ensure a secure energy future for people globally, especially those living in isolated areas.

Now in its fifth year, the Summit has undergone a remarkable transformation from a conference that was initially created to support Hawai`i companies working in clean energy, to one that is now attended predominately by companies and leaders from international markets, especially Asia and the Pacific Rim.  Event organizers say nearly 90 percent of this year’s exhibitors are from outside Hawai`i.

The Summit will feature a range of notable local, national, and international guest speakers reflecting the importance of its global focus, including:

  • Governor Neil Abercrombie, State of Hawai`i
  • Henk Rogers, Founder and Chairman, Blue Planet Foundation
  • Peter Boyd, Chief Operating Officer, Carbon War Room
  • Tomoyo Nonaka, Chair, GAIA Initiative
  • Thomas Hicks, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy, U.S. Navy

Anticipated to generate buzz among Summit attendees is the Shizuoka, Japan delegation.  Among Shizuoka’s exhibit highlights will be one of the world’s fastest electric cars and its driver, ‘Monster’ Tajima, who just nine weeks ago won the Electric Division of the 91st Pikes Peak International Hill Climb in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Tajima’s car goes 200 kilometers per hour – without making a sound – except for the tires contacting the road.

Hawai`i’s visitor industry will benefit from APCESE with the 1,200 attendees projected to generate $5 million in visitor spending and $487,000 in state tax revenue.

For more information about the APCESE, please visit www.islandsconnect.com.

Global Scientists Convene at Hawai`i Convention Center for 40th Annual Controlled Release Society Meeting

controlled release society

Controlled Release Society is back at the Hawai`i Convention Center for their Annual Meeting.

This week, the Hawai`i Convention Center (HCC) is buzzing with the latest in research and technological developments in the specialty of delivery science as the Controlled Release Society (CRS) holds its 2013 annual meeting and exposition, July 21-24.

The 1,300 attendees represent a truly global workforce of top scientists and industry representatives from more than 40 countries, primarily from North America, the Pacific Rim, and Europe.

Among the CRS’s scientific sessions are topics on challenges around brain delivery, drug delivery for developing countries, emerging technologies, modern agriculture and aquaculture, and drug combination products.

Hawai`i’s economy is benefiting from the CRS meeting with the 1,300 attendees generating an estimated $6.1 million in visitor spending, $600,000 in state tax revenue, and 10,500 booked room nights.

CRS previously held its annual session at the Hawai`i Convention Center in 2004.  “We are thrilled to be back in Hawai`i for this year’s annual meeting,” said Susan Kohn, executive director of Controlled Release Society.  “The location is ideal for us to gather and discuss ‘Emerging Challenges for Global Delivery.’  We’ve been very pleased with the process of doing business here and our meeting attendance numbers have been impressive.”

The Controlled Release Society is the premier society worldwide for delivery science and technology.  CRS serves more than 1,600 members from more than 50 countries.  The field of controlled release encompasses scientific and technical efforts to regulate the spatial and temporal effects of agents in diverse areas including human and animal health, as well as non-pharmaceutical areas such a agriculture, cosmetics, consumer products, and the environment.

Sixth Pacific Rim Meeting on Electrochemical and Solid-State Science to Draw Record Attendance, Feature International Energy Summit

The sixth Pacific Rim Meeting on Electrochemical and Solid-State Science (PRiME) is expected to draw a record 4,000 attendees to the Hawai`i Convention Center from October 7-12, 2012.  The meeting, sponsored by The Electrochemical Society (ECS) and The Electrochemical Society of Japan (ECSJ), will bring together scientists, lawmakers, government officials, and science industry leaders from around the world to present and discuss the latest scientific and technical developments in electrochemical, solid-state science and technology.

The meeting is expected to generate more than $18.8 million in state revenue, with the Center’s hotel partners benefiting from 32,160 room nights.

PRiME will feature the second international ECS Electrochemical Energy Summit (E2S) on October 11, which serves as a leading forum on the challenges of large-scale energy storage.  The summit will cover technical, economic, and social perspectives, highlighting similar themes to the Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative, the state’s commitment to achieving 70 percent clean energy use by 2030.

PRiME will also feature more than 58 technical sessions and 1,000 poster presentations covering breakthrough research; as well as a career fair for registered meeting attendees.  Industry businesses are encouraged to participate in the career fair, which provides an opportunity to recruit qualified candidates at every level of experience, from veterans in the sciences to newcomers entering research, development and academia.

Founded in 1902 as an international nonprofit, educational organization to advance electrochemical and solid-state science and technology, The Electrochemical Society now has more than 9,000 members worldwide.  To register for PRiME 2012, visit www.electrochem.org; for businesses that would like to participate in the career fair, pre-registration is available by emailing david.harkness@electrochem.org.

See ECS President Fernando Garzon on Hawai`i News Now Sunrise show:

Hawaii News Now – KGMB and KHNL

Fourth-Annual Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit & Expo to Showcase Hawai`i as Leader in Energy Advancement and Business Opportunities

Photo: Luci Pemoni/Diamond Head Photography

The Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit & Expo will draw more than 1,000 attendees to the Hawai`i Convention Center from Aug. 13-15, 2012, to explore breakthrough advancements in energy technologies, as well as opportunities for new projects throughout the state.  The meeting is the latest to advance Hawai`i’s focus on renewable energy and science industries, which were highlighted in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (APEC) Four Pillars, or theme areas, in November 2011.

This premier high-level global networking forum and scientific meeting allows companies from throughout North American and the Pacific Rim to better understand Hawai`i’s clean energy opportunities and advance the state’s goal of achieving 70% clean energy use by 2030, as outlined by the Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative.  The fourth-annual meeting, which has grown in attendance each year, also offers global and defense projects, as hundreds of business leaders, development agencies, and economic offices gather to find partners.

Highlights from this year’s meeting will include the Defense Energy Technology Challenge, an effort continued from 2011 that allows selected companies and organizations to present new technologies to the defense, clean energy, and investment communities.  More than 250 submissions were received, covering areas such as renewable power, vehicle technologies, and energy storage.  New this year is the Project Finance Connect Program, which connects growth-stage companies and clean energy projects with finance sources, developers, and partners.  More than 100 submissions were received.

Photo: Luci Pemoni/Diamond Head Photography

The meeting will also draw participation from more than 45 exhibitors, including global companies Toyota, Caterpillar, and Lockheed Martin, as well as a new poster program, which attracted more than 200 submissions from around the world, 80 of which were selected for presentation.

The Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit & Expo is hosted by the State of Hawai`i Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism in partnership with the Clean Technology and Sustainable Industries Organization (CTSI).

Hawai`i Convention Center Welcomes Public to SEE-IT Exhibit

The SEE-IT Hawai`i science, engineering and technology exhibit, which debuted at the Hawai`i Convention Center during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in November 2011, is now open to the public at locations throughout the Center during the Center’s regular public operating hours.

SEE-IT, which stands for Science, Engineering Exposition – Innovative Technologies, Hawai`i, features exhibits on topics including biomedicine, defense systems, IT development and renewable energy.  It incorporates the work of 18 Hawai`i-based companies and organizations that have developed or use cutting-edge technologies and solutions.  Exhibitors include online gaming company Avatar Reality Inc., with a virtual world entertainment system; Hawaiian Electric Company, with a look at the future of renewable energy technologies; and astronomy researchers such as the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES), the W.M. Keck Observatory, and University of Hawai`i’s Institute for Astronomy.

The 12,000 sq. ft. exhibit will be open at the Center through 2012, and will be relocated to a permanent venue in the near future.  The long-term goal of exhibit co-founders Henk Rogers, Galen Ho, and Dr. Peter Crouch is to create a permanent discovery exposition to motivate young people in Hawai`i to embrace careers in science, engineering, and technology.  SEE-IT Hawai`i, Inc. is a nonprofit organization founded to provide opportunities for people to connect with leading science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)-based enterprises in Hawai`i.

For more information, visit www.see-it-hawaii.com.

Superb Idea to Come to the Hawai`i Convention Center

The Hawai`i Convention Center has a variety of rooms ideally suited for our purposes; our thousands of posters were available in one site; the service and food & beverage is good; and the internet access was good.

– Prof. Howard Alper
Congress Chair, Pacifichem 2010
December 15-20, 2010
12,678 delegates

Read about this event on the HCC blog

 

International Chemical Group Gathers in Honolulu

What better way to ring in UNESCO’s International Year of Chemistry than attend the premiere scientific gathering in the Pacific Rim?  The International Chemical Congress of Pacific Basin Societies (Pacifichem) has returned to Honolulu this month with record interest.

Pacifichem is holding the sixth in a series of co-sponsored scientific conferences at the Hawai`i Convention Center from Dec. 15-20, 2010, with the theme of “Chemistry, technology and our global environment.”  An all-time high of nearly 13,000 papers have been submitted from 72 countries for presentation in oral and poster format.  Student poster submissions totaled more than 3,000, out of which 240 were selected for a special poster presentation.

The biggest Pacifichem conference ever is expected to bring about scientific breakthroughs and inventions that will eventually reach the marketplace, similar to previous meetings.  Discussion topics cover industries ranging from energy to aeronautics to pharmaceuticals.

Outside of conference activities, Pacifichem is also featuring a new element this year:  The integration of Hawaiian cultural education, where displays and demonstrations such as lei making will be available to the international field of attendees.

Founded in 1984, Pacifichem has been held in Honolulu nearly every five years.  For more information, visit www.pacifichem.org.