Canada offers the most promise to Delaware companies looking for trade and partnership opportunities abroad.

That was the message Delaware’s new foreign trade representative for Canada drove home to local business owners during a recent roundtable at the New Castle County Chamber of Commerce.

“Canada is a neighbor and a natural partner,” said Ludovic Ortuno, an experienced international trade and development professional working and living in the Montreal area. “It has a well-developed, mature market with diverse industries organized into clusters, and a long and successful trading history with the U.S.”

Ortuno was recently engaged by Global Delaware to help Delaware businesses find partners in Canada. He works in-country to perform market research and analysis, develop product strategies for market entry, identify potential customers, provide in-country logistical, translational and related support services, and even negotiate with distributors on behalf of Delaware companies.

With many years of experience working with premier international trade and development agencies, Ortuno has an extensive understanding of what it takes to launch new products in Canada and other markets. “Ludovic is a seasoned trade expert and a strategic thinker. He can help companies with all aspects of marketing, find resources, identify the right partners and navigate Canadian rules and regulations,” noted Global Delaware Director Andrea Tinianow.

During the roundtable, Ortuno told participants that Canada is the largest export market for the U.S., with bilateral investment and trade between Canada and the United States reaching $1 trillion annually. Canada has the largest growth in GDP of the G-7 countries, he noted, and is ranked as the most favorable country with which to do business of the G-20. The International Monetary Fund predicts its Gross Domestic Product will grow consistently at 2 percent annually through 2020.

Ortuno cautioned that although Canada’s geographic proximity and comparable business culture make it an easier export target market, it is still a different country. “Canada is friendly to the U.S., but has its own certification processes, regulations, business and labor laws,” he explained. “Delaware companies need the proper tools and resources to successfully sell their goods and services across the border.”

State efforts to help companies seek opportunities abroad

Connecting Delaware businesses with foreign trade representatives is part of Global Delaware’s Strategic Export Plan to increase business opportunities and jobs for local companies. Foreign trade representatives have extensive contacts with in-country industry associations and government agencies, chambers of commerce and public and private organizations, as well as specialized expertise in assisting U.S. companies establish distributor and customer networks in their country markets.

In addition to developing a network of foreign trade representatives, Global Delaware will organize trade missions to key markets for qualifying businesses and provide access to an exhaustive database of international distributors.

“We want more Delaware companies to be part of the $1 billion that goes back and forth across the Canadian border daily,” Andrea Tinianow said. “We are building the bridges, tunnels and railways so our businesses can join the global economy; we are committed to getting them there.”

To learn more about Global Delaware, please visit: global.delaware.gov

When/Where: Saturday, July 4th, 2015 @ 9:00 AM/ Kent Country Memorial Park

Let’s start the 4^th of July celebration with helping those who have served our beautiful country! Start the morning with a great work-out and have no guilt trips when you enjoy your cookouts!

The FREEDOM 5K Run/Walk/Roll will be held on Saturday, July 4, 2015, 9:00 AM, at the Kent County Memorial Park (near Kent County Administration building & Blue Hen Mall (rain or shine). Registration starts at 8:00 AM. You can also register online @ www.trisportsevents.com. All participants will receive a quality “Freedom 5K” tee shirt. Post-race festivities include free food and beverage. All proceeds will benefit the Delaware Veterans Trust Fund that provides assistance to Delaware’s veterans in financial crisis. Can’t make the race, but would still like to support this event! Register as a Silent Hero! Thank you all for your support!

(Dover, DE) On Saturday, July 4, 1:00 p.m. the Delaware Public Archives will celebrate the holiday with a special program titled “Flags on the Moon.” Presented at the Delaware Public Archives in Dover by local author and former NASA engineer Jack Clemons, this program marks the 46th year anniversary of the moment when Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped out onto the lunar surface to become the first human being to set foot on another world. Apollo 11 was the first of six Apollo spacecraft to land on the moon. From these six missions, a total of twelve men walked on the lunar surface. Beyond the exploration and the scientific experiments they carried out, each Apollo crew planted an American flag at their landing site. The flags are still there, perpetual monuments to the imagination, resourcefulness and determination of the human spirit. As this program will reveal, each of these flags has a story to tell.

Jack Clemons was an industry engineer and team leader on NASA’s Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs in Houston, Texas. He later served as a Lockheed Martin executive and led engineering teams that designed air traffic control systems for the United States and the United Kingdom. An author, his non-fiction and short stories have appeared in numerous magazines, books and anthologies. He has given talks across the mid-Atlantic region on the Apollo Moon Program, the design and first flights of the NASA Space Shuttle, and the subject of “Why Science Matters.” He has also appeared in the “Command Module” segment of “Moon Machines,” the Discovery Science Channel’s award winning six-part documentary about the Apollo Program. He writes a bi-weekly space and science blog for Amazing Stories Online Magazine.

The program is free to the public and will last approximately one hour. No reservations are required. For more information, contact Tom Summers (302) 744-5047 or e-mail thomas.summers@delaware.gov.

The Delaware Public Archives is located at 121 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard North in Dover. The Mabel Lloyd Ridgely Research Room is open to the public Monday – Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. On the second Saturday of every month the research room is open from 9 a.m. to 4:15 p.m.

The Traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Museum

Date: July 2 – 5, 2015
Time: Open to the public 24 hours a day
Location: Kent County Veterans Memorial Park
S. Little Creek Road, Dover
(near Kent County Admin Bldg & Blue Hen Mall)

Opening Ceremony scheduled for Thursday, July 2, 2015, 10:00 am

If you would like to volunteer for this event, please contact Sherri Taylor at (302) 257-3117 or sherri.taylor@delaware.gov – we appreciate your support!

Freedom 5K Run/Walk & Roll

Benefits the Delaware Veterans Trust Fund

July 4th at 9:00 am (rain or shine)

Kent County Memorial Park – next to Kent County Admin Bldg, 555 Bay Rd, Dover

Vietnam Wall News Release Flyer

Distinguished Delaware physicians, scientists and entrepreneurs will meet with colleagues from around the world at the University of Delaware’s STAR campus to discuss exciting work being done in the fields of translational medicine and oncology research here in the State.

Members of the international bio-science community will meet with Governor Jack Markell in the morning, followed by a lively discussion with area experts to learn about ground-breaking work being done here in the search for tests, tools and treatment that can be used to combat diseases such as cancer. They will also take a tour of the state-of-the-art facilities at UD’s STAR campus and hear details about the wet lab incubators currently under construction at UD and at Delaware State University.

This exclusive one-day event comes at the conclusion of the week-long International BIO Convention in Philadelphia and demonstrates Delaware’s prowess for moving R&D innovations to the marketplace.

“Delaware is committed to providing companies with the support and resources needed to convert research into results that can be used to detect disease, equip caregivers and provide patients with treatment and therapies,” said Governor Jack Markell. “Our small state makes it easier for researchers to connect with community healthcare facilities and accomplished healthcare providers to accelerate the pace of moving medicines, equipment and therapies from the lab bench to the patient’s bedside.”

The event features some of the brightest minds in the State, including scientists from the Center for Translational Cancer Research and DSU’s Optical Science Center for Applied Research, as well as executives from bio-science start-ups Genome Profiling and Incyte and from Delaware Technology Park. Industry veteran Ian Wright and Dean of UD’s College of Health Sciences Kathleen Matt are hosting the event.

“This is a unique opportunity for international bio-science executives and scientists to connect with an exceptional group of professionals doing cutting-edge research, and to appreciate how Delaware provides the perfect environment for this caliber of work,” said Ian Wright. “We are confident that we will provide our colleagues from with serious food for thought as they contemplate the best place in the U.S. to bring their bio-science business.”