News and Events

On Thursday, January 26, 2012, Jeff Borling represented the region at the 2012 Minnesota Green Chemistry Conference, delivering a presentation highlighting the many opportunities available in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin for chemical and fuel companies utilizing renewable wood resources to produce value-added goods. Borling noted the closure of the three Ainsworth wallboard factories in northern Minnesota as a clear opportunity for these growing companies, both in the advantage of leveraging existing assets at the plant sites themselves, and in the advantage of recapturing the un- or under-utilized timber resources no longer being harvested for these production facilities. 

An overview of the progress made by APEX and the Itasca Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) in redeveloping one of these plants as the Itasca Eco Industrial Park was also provided, with high-level information regarding the integrated development concept IEDC and APEX are leveraging to promote the growth of synergistic wood products companies at this location. As talks progress with a potential anchor tenant at the site, this site could offer significant competitive advantages to co-located companies seeking to produce green chemicals and other value-added goods from wood, or from the byproducts generated by the anchor tenant. 

Aditional speakers at the conference included representatives from Dow Chemical Company, SC Johnson, Ecolab, Segetis, Reluceo, the Minnesota Dept. of Employment & Economic Development (DEED), and the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, among others.  These and many other well known companies are in the process of developing and/or bringing to market exciting new products that could very well be made from wood feedstocks in the near future. 

These products include plastics, reinforced composites, pigments and inks, paint additives, adhesives - even compostable baby diapers - all of which would be a welcome addition in helping to diversify the forest products industries of Minnesota and Wisconsin and all of which would be welcome additions as manufacturing processes housed at the Itasca Eco Industrial Park.

To learn more about Minnesota's Green Chemistry activities or the opportunities available for your business at the Itasca Eco Industrial Park, please contact Jeff Borling: 218-326-9411 x.23

On Tuesday, September 20, 2011, APEX President & CEO, Rob West, and Director of Itasca Business Development, Jeff Borling, participated in the 2011 Minnesota Bioscience Summit, presented by LifeScience Alley and the BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota.  This year's event, entitled, "Three Technology Mega-Trends That Are Changing Our World," showcased major advances in Minnesota's biopharmaceutical, medical device, animal health, renewable energy and renewable materials industries. Experts in Minnesota's bioscience community described how their worlds are being shaped by: 

        • The Genomics, Proteomics and Synthetic Biology Revolution 
        • Disruptive Platform Technologies in Materials Science 
        • Bioinformatics as the Ultimate Enabling Technology

With a welcome address from Governor Mark Dayton and a keynote address delivered by Dale Wahlstrom, CEO of LifeScience Alley and BioBusiness Alliance of Minnesota, this year's summit attracted more than 300 members from Minnesota's bio-based scientific, engineering, and technology industries, as well as policymakers, academic leaders, economic developers, media, and investors. 

APEX was on hand to represent the northeast region of Minnesota and to identify key insights and opportunities to be factored into regional business expansion and attraction efforts. With several renewable energy and materials projects in various stages of development throughout the region, not to mention a small group of quietly-emerging medical device companies, Minnesota's fast-changing biosciences industries continue to grow in importance to the Northland economy. 

For additonal information about the 2011 Minnesota Bioscience Summit, or to learn more about APEX's activities in this arena, please contact Jeff Borling at: (218) 326-9411

On Thursday, March 3, 2011, the APEX Board of Directors and general membership came together for their regular board meeting at the Holiday Inn in downtown Duluth. In addition to regular business, it is customary for APEX to invite guest speakers to present valuable information on new business development opportunities. This month's speaker was Mat Johnson, Founder of GeaCom, an innovative tech company based in Duluth. GeaCom's flagship product, Phrazer™, is the world's first hand-held multilingual medical communication system, designed to eliminate language barriers, reduce errors and increase efficiency in healthcare and emergency response situations.

At the March board meeting, Johnson outlined GeaCom's business plan and commercialization strategy, while further updating the group on his Company's most recent successes. In addition to the Phrazer™ device itself, APEX members were interested to learn that GeaCom has protected intellectual property in all aspects of handheld devices, from its non-combustible lithium battery, to a higher resolution screen and a larger storage capacity than is currently available with any handheld device found on the market today.

Also notable was GeaCom's dedication to the Northland region, evidenced by the names for Phrazer™ prototypes: "Ranger," "Bulldog" and "Superior." Beyond these nods to the region they call home, Mat Johnson and his team described GeaCom's unique approach to collaborative partnerships and supplier agreements that promise additional benefits for the Northland economy in years to come. The GeaCom headquarters will remain in the DeWitt-Seitz Building in Duluth, but for the first few years, manufacturing support will be contracted through suppliers in other areas of Minnesota. However, as new sales push production volumes upward, GeaCom will consolidate its manufacturing in the Twin Ports area.