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WINSTON-SALEM — Nearly 200 companies were featured at the 2011 Business and Innovation Expo.

The annual expo, hosted by the Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, provided an opportunity for networking and promotion. It also put a spotlight on innovative technologies. The chamber has held a tech briefing for 10 years, but this was the first time the chamber paired it with the annual business expo.

"A lot of times the people that are interested in the high tech companies may not come to the show and see what else is in the community. Likewise people that come to the show may not come to our tech briefings," said chamber president Gayle Anderson.

The expo drew companies including Winston-Salem-based Stantec.

"There are 100 million used shipping containers sitting around the world and it's less costly to build a new one than it is to ship an empty one back," said Stantec managing principal Randy Pool.

Pool's company re-purposes containers, thereby extending their lives for both functional and creative uses. Wake Forest University computer science professor, Victor Pauca, demonstrated a new computer application geared toward people with disabilities.

"We're using mobile technology to create modern assisted technology for communication disabilities that use the power of these mobile devices rather than dedicated devices that are expensive," said Pauca.

It was the expo's inclusion of innovators like Pauca and Stantec's Pool that attracted first-time exhibitors including Atomic Solar.

Anderson said the innovators were helping lay the foundation for the community's future economic growth.