Asheville's Climate Services Community Will Be on Display at National Conference in Atlanta

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by Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce
on Thursday, January 21, 2010

Asheville's growing climate services community will be on display in Atlanta on January 18-21 when the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County (EDC) partners with the Centers for Environmental and Climatic Interaction (CECI) to host an exhibit at the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) 90th annual meeting in Atlanta. The AMS annual meeting is the world's largest trade show for weather and climate-related businesses.  The Asheville exhibit will highlight Asheville's unique assets related to climate data and information, its growing technological workforce, its numerous collaborative partnerships, and regional opportunities for education and research.

"This is the fourth year that Asheville, as a community, has exhibited at the AMS annual meeting and we see the positive impact of this effort grow each year that we are involved," said Ben Teague, EDC's executive director. "The exhibit is a joint effort with the goal of attracting new business to Asheville that can benefit from utilizing the extensive data at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). This effort is a long-term investment, as Asheville is gaining exposure every year as a community that is actively recruiting businesses and public investment in the climate change, environmental and green business sectors."

The Asheville exhibit is a collaborative effort coordinated by the EDC and CECI and staffed by the University of North Carolina Asheville/RENCI, Education Research Services, ERC Broadband, Scientific Research Corporation (SRC), Biltmore Farms, and the North Carolina Arboretum. CECI and its partners are working to position this region as the leading location for public investment and private business growth related to the need for clear and meaningful climate information. "Participating in AMS allows us to present a unified message as a community that we are eager to build this cluster of companies that want to be close to NCDC, and which will be important in providing climate services and products," explained George Briggs, executive director of the North Carolina Arboretum and President of the Centers for Environmental and Climatic Interaction.

The exhibit will feature developments in Asheville's climate sector such as NOAA's Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites which announced its Asheville co-location in May 2009, Climate Alive!, a seven-minute feature about Asheville's role as a leader in climate data and information (see the film at www.climatealive.org), and TechNOW, a recently released video that highlights Asheville's diverse technology community and outstanding resources to support new-economy industries. (See www.meetthegeeks.net/tech.)

About the Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County

The EDC for Asheville-Buncombe County is a public-private partnership committed to: creating and retaining high quality jobs, community leadership, and being a resource for better business decisions. The EDC accomplishes this mission through its four core services: business retention and expansion, small business and entrepreneurship, research, and marketing and recruitment. The EDC is funded by Buncombe County, the City of Asheville, the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and the Advantage Asheville Campaign.

About CECI

The Centers for Environmental and Climatic Interaction is a non-profit education and research partnership among government, academia and industry whose goal is to encourage the development of trusted climate change information and analyses for policymakers, governments, businesses and the public. Located in Asheville, home of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center, CECI is supported by the Asheville Hub and many other partners and is administered through the North Carolina Arboretum. For more information, visit www.climatealive.org.

Content Source: www.ashevillechamber.org

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