There are ever increasing opportunities for the international expansion of Delaware companies, including entrepreneurially oriented small businesses products and services. The global marketplace is not only enthusiastic importers of these products and services, they are also eager to acquire the technological know-how and system support that comes from working with their international trading partners.

If your small business is considering participating in this growing marketplace, you should be aware of and give serious consideration to the factors and barriers that you must consider to be successful. Some of those barriers are:

• Language Barriers
• Marketing Barriers
• Legal Barriers
• Access to Raw Materials and Human Resources
• Government Barriers

The "Growing Our Exports" panel will feature Delaware exporters who have overcome these and other obstacles to successfully export overseas. Come hear the strategies and critical information you need to know to expand your business internationally and increase your opportunities globally for success.

Panel Facilitator:
John Pastor, Director, International Trade and Development, Delaware Department of State
Panel Members:
Naresh Batta, President, Batta Environmental
Charles D. Rudd, President, Mechanical Services, LLC
Ken Grant, Director of Sales and Marketing at Analtech, Inc.

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Many would suggest that the way we use energy presents serious economic, security and environment challenges. Globally, energy use is expected to increase 49 percent from 2007 to 2035, driven almost entirely by economic growth in the developing world. Energy will become an ever more precious commodity, forcing prices up, increasing security risks and accounting for more carbon emissions. The United States and Delaware cannot afford to ignore its energy challenges or the economic opportunities presented by a rapidly expanding clean energy economy. Over the past decade, clean energy investments, businesses and jobs have increased dramatically around the world. These developments are helping to create whole new industries, enhance security and reduce emissions.

What are some of the trends in clean energy investments which will give us a clue where the opportunities are in Delaware? What are some of the policies needed in Delaware that would assist our efforts in transitioning to Clean Energy sources? Solar, Wind, Clean Coal, Shell Gas, what is out there and what is some of low hanging opportunities for Delaware businesses and its citizens in these industries.

The "Accelerating the Clean Energy Economy" will bring conference attendees up to date on what is going on in the important sector of Delaware’s Clean Energy Economy, where we are and what is needed to further accelerating the "clean economy" in the First State.

Panel Facilitator:
Paul Hughes, CEO, ESCOAtlantic
Panel Members:
Thomas Noyes, Chair, Delaware Environmental Summit Organizing Committee
Chad E. Gottesman, President and CEO, Neuwing Energy Ventures
Dr. Michael T. Klein, Director, University of Delaware Energy Institute (UDEI); &
Dan Rich, Chair of Energy, University of Delaware
John A. Moore, Director and CEO, Acorn Energy
Adam Zellner, President, Greener by Design

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It is inevitable that a healthy economy will create new job opportunities, while also displacing existing jobs, as successful ventures survive and grow while others fail– even in good times. The process of job creation and economic growth relies on the constant "churning" of firms. Even so, new firms are responsible for the large majority of net new jobs in the U.S. From 1980-2005, firms less than five years old accounted for all net new job growth in the country.

Do we need to leave the image of a static worker or "lifetime employee" behind and encourage instead more start-ups? Our economy will benefit from a high degree of business and workforce dynamism. How do we best prepare the unemployed or underemployed individuals seriously considering entrepreneurship instead of finding another job for those opportunities? What are the New Economy jobs, from what industries will they come, and how do we prepare displaced workers with the skills that those jobs will demand?

The "Training Workers with the Skills they Need for New Economy Jobs" panel will examine the skills and the industry’s most likely to be in demand for the opportunities sure to come in the New Economy and what Delaware is currently doing to prepare our workforce for those opportunities..

Panel Facilitator:
Sonia Aguilar, Director, Workforce Development, Delaware Economic Development Office
Panel Members:
Honorable John McMahon, Cabinet Secretary, Department of Labor, State of Delaware
Gwen Jones, Executive Director, Workforce Investment Board, State of Delaware
Maureen Whelan, Director of Adult Education, State of Delaware
Maureen Laffey, Director, Delaware Department of Education, Higher Education Office

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As the nation slowly emerges from trying economic times, it is difficult to overemphasize the contributions that entrepreneurs, small business and Hi-Growth businesses will play in creating jobs and expanding the economy.

According to the Small Business Administration (SBA), small firms represent 99.7% of all employer firms, employ just over half of all private sector employees, pay 44% of total U.S. private payroll, and have generated 64% of net new jobs over the past 15 years. Clearly, any strategy to jump-start the economy must have a robust small business component that allows entrepreneurs to access capital and retains existing cash flow from operations in order to start grow and expand their enterprises.

Many great business ideas and promising small businesses don’t even get out of the starting gate, to grow their business or address cash flows issues at critical phases of their expansion without readily available access to capital.

What does it take for promising small businesses to get traditional financing with good terms in Delaware today? What are the non-traditional financing options for those businesses? Is the DEDO Strategic Fund only for larger small businesses, large firms or just for firms relocating to Delaware? What about "commercial financing" options?

The "Accessing Capital" panel will address these and other questions, the answers of which are so vital to entrepreneurship, the expansion of small business and overall net new job creation over the long term in Delaware.

Panel Facilitator:
Bob Rausch, Business Advisor, SBDTC Business Development Advisor
Panel Members:
Regency Business Funding: Gene Abbott, VP Business Development
Benetrends, Dallas Kerley, Chief Development Officer
First State Community Loan Fund: Van Hampton, Executive Director
WSFS Bank: Bill Lang, VP, Small Business Relationship Manager
M&T Bank: Joe Durham, Business Banking Market Manager
Delaware Economic Development Office: Stephen Bach, Business Finance Specialist

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