COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The University of Missouri has won federal funding to broker new business opportunities for environmental entrepreneurs in China.
The university will use the $287,000 federal grant announced Friday to open a new environmental technology office in Beijing in March. Staffers will forge liaisons with Chinese officials and attempt to make inroads for American businesses specialized in wastewater and drinking water treatment and solid waste management.
The University of Missouri was one of five grant recipients. The money will pay for consultant salaries and office space.
Tom Clevenger, an engineer who will direct the Beijing project, said seminars and training sessions in both countries "will provide a unique opportunity for U.S. environmental technology to be presented to Chinese decision makers" in an academic setting.
One firm poised to benefit is Environmental Dynamics Inc., a Columbia-based company that builds wastewater-treatment systems. EDI President Chuck Tharp anticipates the company's market share in China will grow between 50 percent and 100 percent each year.
The office will also assist American environmental cleanup firms in surmounting cultural barriers to working in China, said Republican U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof.
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