Monday – April 2, 2007

WATERCRAFT COMPANY SEEKING LOCAL MANUFACTURER TO LICENSE PRODUCTION – A United Kingdom watercraft company is seeking a U.S. company to manufacture the company’s line of recreational watercraft for sale and distribution in the American market. The company produces a line of RIB recreational models and a commercial water taxi. For more information, please call Phil Ehlinger, Business Manager, at 386/248-8048.

STATE LAUNCHES NEW EMPLOYMENT SITE – The state recently has launched a new web site called the “Employ Florida Marketplace." The site, employflorida.com, matches job seekers with available employment opportunities. Individuals can create a resume online and either post it to the web site or send a cover letter along with the resume to specific employers. Employers can post their job openings on the site or search by county – or even statewide – to find potential employees for specific job occupations. For example, a personnel manager at a local business could find 36 resumes today based upon a statewide search for mechanical engineers. Using this information, an employer could schedule telephone interviews and then in-person interviews of the top five candidates. Take a few minutes to check it out at www.employflorida.com.

ORMOND BEACH COMPANY AWARDED FEDERAL SBIR RESEARCH GRANT – Avancen LLC was awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award for $99,475 from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md. The grant is for the further development of the company’s innovative oral medication delivery device for pain management. Information regarding funding opportunities from NIH is online at www.grants.nih.gov/grants/oer.htm.

WANT TO KNOW HOW YOUR COMPANY CAN QUALIFY FOR SBIR FUNDING? – If your business is American-owned, independently operated, for-profit and employs fewer than 500 employees, you may be eligible for applying for funding for a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grant from the federal government. Through a unique partnership between the county’s Department of Economic Development and the engineering team from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, a SBIR Users Group is being formed to help identify and apply for potentially millions of dollars in federal research grants for product development and commercialization. The first meeting of the SBIR Users Group will be held Wednesday, April 4 at 1:30 p.m. at the ATC Entrepreneurial Center in Daytona Beach. To participate or learn more about the SBIR Users Group, please contact Jackie Dreher, Business Manager, at 386/248-8048 or e-mail her at jdreher@co.volusia.fl.us.

DBCC’S ENTREPRENEUR SPEAKERS FORUM TO FEATURE DR. CAIRNS OF OCEAN DESIGN – Dr. James Cairns, co-founder of Daytona Beach-based Ocean Design Inc., will be the first in a series of speakers for the DBCC’s Small Business Development Center’s new Entrepreneur Speaker Series on Tuesday, April 10 at 7 p.m. Author of The Inventor’s Pathfinder, Dr. Cairns will share his prospective on the invention process and offer practical hints for successful inventing. To reserve your space for this free event at the DBCC Daytona Beach campus, please call 386/506-4723.

CERTIFIED AND READY TO BUILD INDUSTRIAL PARCELS AVAILABLE AT DELAND CROSSINGS – Half of the available industrial parcels at the DeLand Crossings Industrial Park, at the intersection of I-4 and S.R. 44 near DeLand, have been sold. Two new factories currently are being scheduled for construction. Several additional FULLY PERMITTED and SHOVEL READY parcels are still available. Each parcel is capable of providing space for a 40,000 to 65,000 square-foot production facility. If you know of a manufacturer that needs immediate acreage to build, please contact Pedro Leon, Project Manager, at 386/248-8048.

INTERNATIONAL GOLD KEY GRANTS AVAILABLE TO AREA COMPANIES – If your company is seeking opportunities for selling a project of service overseas, contact Paul Mitchell, Business Specialist, at 386/274-3439.

NEWS ITEMS WANTED! – Please send your business news items to Dave Byron, Volusia County Community Information Director, 123 W. Indiana Ave., DeLand, 32720-4612, by fax at (386) 822-5072 or by e-mail at dbyron@co.volusia.fl.us.