Center aims to link environment, economy By MICHAEL JACOBSON Pacific Rim Enterprise Center What do you get when you cross an environmentalist, an entrepreneur and an investment banker? In this case, instead of a divisive debate that sees these issues as antagonistic, you get the newly formed Pacific Rim Enterprise Center. This business-oriented non-profit operates with a vision that encourages environmentally responsible economic development. Based in Seattle and Richland, the Pacific Rim Enterprise Center is actively engaged in a number of issues affecting environmental protection, innovative technologies and the environmental industry. The Center's stated goal is to "identify and mobilize resources to protect and restore the global environment by providing innovative solutions to critical environmental problems." Roger Collis, Pacific Rim Enterprise Center director, said, "We see ourselves as part of a growing network of companies, organizations and concerned government agencies who know that environmental and economic sustainability are mutually reinforcing," he said. The Perma-Fix treatment process involves stabilizing and solidifying waste material. The Pacific Rim Enterprise Center's first target has been the critical environmental problems at Hanford. With a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (USDOE) and working with the site contractors (Fluor Daniel Hanford and Bechtel Hanford) and others, the Center has developed a business and technical assistance program. The assistance program is to find business opportunities at Hanford and other USDOE sites such as Rocky Flats and make them more straightforward and accessible for small and medium-sized environmental firms. Timothy Kimball of Perma-Fix Environmental Services, said the Pacific Rim Enterprise Center's efforts encouraged his firm to "renew our efforts in time for participation in a major procurement appropriate for our technology." Perma-Fix process treatment technology addresses mixed waste (combined radioactive and hazardous waste). "We appreciate the program and the quality and perseverance of Pacific Rim's efforts. Pacific Rim is playing a positive role in helping companies getting started on the actual (cleanup) work," Kimball said. Current business leads identified by the Pacific Rim Enterprise Center are listed on its homepage. In addition to the business assistance services, the Pacific Rim Enterprise Center has served as an ombudsman at the Hanford site in resolving contracting and technology deployment issues. Working at the request of third parties, the Center has worked through a number of issues affecting businesses and the challenges they face in getting their technology on the ground. Steve Tujague, project director for Arrow Construction, said, "Pacific Rim Enterprise Center's efforts were critical to the successful deployment of our macroencapsulation technology at Hanford. Their knowledge of the contracting process and professional contacts allowed us to overcome impasses that otherwise would have prevented us from getting a contract for our technology." That this type of business assistance and ombudsman work is a key service is not surprising given that the Pacific Rim Enterprise Center staff sees itself as helping promote the regional environmental industry. The Northwest Environmental Business Council (NEBC), which represents the combined environmental industry associations of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Alaska, serves as a key partner in Pacific Rim Enterprise Center's activities. "Pacific Rim's support of NEBC has definitely enabled the five-state organization to become a stronger regional and national player," said David Welsh, NEBC executive director. Beyond Hanford, the Center is developing an innovative technology commercialization program. Building on the experience of other programs, the Center will offer a unique service to companies and organizations with environmentally appropriate technologies. Using a network of venture capitalists, national and university laboratories, marketing agents and distributors, companies can identify resources to assist them in both domestic and international markets. Companies may gain assistance in: developing a business plan, identifying potential venture capital or other financial resources, creating a marketing strategy, evaluating market conditions, or identifying specific business leads. For companies with new environmental technologies, one of the barriers to effective sales is the lack of regulatory acceptance and inter-state reciprocity. Under a new Washington state law (EHSB 1792), the legislature authorized the Washington Department of Ecology to enter into agreements with other states that evaluate technologies and develop a Washington state environmental technology certification program. The Pacific Rim Enterprise Center is supporting the Washington State Department of Ecology by providing a $20,000 planning grant to develop the new environmental technology certification program. The Pacific Rim Enterprise Center held two workshops in May to get input from environmental firms and technology users with interest in this program and plans to continue to work with companies who will benefit from governmental verification of a technology's capabilities. On the issue of reciprocity, the Pacific Rim Enterprise Center sits on the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Cooperation (ITRC) Work Group, a national organization that is addressing how states can work together to increase interstate acceptance of innovative technologies. The Center helped Perma-Fix Environmental Services promote its process treatment technology for mixed waste. The organization's Asia-Pacific program may help fill a need for companies with international aspirations. By finding U.S. technologies that are appropriate to an Asian cultural and developmental context, the Center will build on it's experiences in the Pacific Northwest and nationally to help solve Asia's enormous and pressing environmental needs. Working with existing government contacts and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum members, the Center plans to identify opportunities for U.S. firms. With a geographic scope that encompasses Asia, the Pacific Islands and the Russian Far East, the Pacific Rim Enterprise Center is developing programs that rely on an expanded network of partner organizations that work as an alliance. Using this approach, the Center has already forwarded a U.S. government-developed water treatment technology to a partner organization in Singapore for market and technical evaluation. An organization such as the Pacific Rim Enterprise Center isn't born overnight, and indeed the group has a unique history. A program called the Environmental Technology Partnership was designed in 1994 by the three state economic development agencies of Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The partnership was a response to the challenge of finding "life beyond Hanford," and emphasized environmental technologies as the cornerstone to future sustainability. After a two-year "incubation" period with funding from USDOE, the Environmental Technology Partnership was privatized out of the Washington State Department of Community, Trade and Economic Development (CTED) in 1996 to become the Pacific Rim Enterprise Center. While at CTED, staff helped produce a report called "Finding the Balance: Economic Prosperity and Environmental Progress," which profiles 16 companies and projects that help define sustainable development in real-world terms. Using these case studies, the report makes a convincing argument that environmental responsibility benefits the bottom line. The publication is available from CTED at 464-6282 and is on the Web. In the future, this organization is very optimistic about finding and creating economic opportunities that help the environment. "The Pacific Northwest is the locus of innovative thinking, high technology companies and many existing sustainability models," Roger Collis said. "Channeling these collective capabilities can enhance environmentally responsible economic development in the U.S. and internationally. We see ourselves as identifying the problems and then bringing together the appropriate solutions." Michael Jacobson is deputy director of the Pacific Rim Enterprise Center in Seattle.