Governor Carcieri talks with Dean Jeff Seeman of the University of Rhode Island, second from right, as he arrives yesterday at the state’s booth at the BIO International Convention in Boston.

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / Gretchen Ertl Gretchen Ertl

BOSTON — Nebraska served up slices of Omaha steak. Louisiana brought beads and King Cake, a Mardi Gras treat. Belgium advertised a beer-and-fries reception.

There was Dynamic Korea, Biozona, and North Carolina, the state of minds.

In the middle of it all was Rhode Island, operating a booth for the first time at the annual Bio International Convention.

"I would take it as a good sign that we were here," said Jeffrey R. Seemann, dean of the College of Environment and Life Sciences at the University of Rhode Island and a chairman of the Rhode Island Science and Technology Council. "We are a player."

Actually, Rhode Island, having registered later than most, was in the back of it all, by the food court and the pavilion for Puerto Rico, the "bio island."

The Ocean State’s booth, with its giveaway of Hershey Kisses, had to compete with drawings for iPods and elaborate promotional displays, including a film, playing repeatedly on a flat screen TV, boasting of the biosciences sector in Kansas.But the businesses and state agencies represented at the Rhode Island booth said their presence sent an important message: the smallest state hopes to become big in biotech.

"We want to make sure people are aware of the research and development core in Rhode Island. You don’t have to just think about Cambridge when you think about biotech," said Kathie Shields of the Tech Collective, the private nonprofit trade group that organized the Rhode Island pavilion. "People never recognize Rhode Island as a biotech community. They’re shocked to hear that we have biotechnology going on in the state."

In all, 20,000 conventioneers from more than 60 countries attended the first day of the convention at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Jabbering into cell phones in dozens of languages, they weaved their way to hundreds of pavilions and collected invitations to parties scheduled for last night throughout the city.

Those lured to the "Destination Innovation" (the Rhode Island booth) met representatives from 10 local companies, a handful of state agencies and officials from URI and Roger Williams University.

Together, the participants split the $100,000 cost of the pavilion, with the state Economic Development Corporation contributing $20,000. In return, they got the chance to seek out collaborations, pitch their products and rub shoulders with Governor Carcieri and his wife, Sue, who spent a half hour at the booth promoting the state. (Carcieri later spoke at a panel of New England governors and hosted a reception at the Seaport hotel.)

Start-up companies had their names listed on so-called community boards at the state booth. Major donors — including Amgen and Rhode Island Hospital — were listed as sponsors at the entrance to the Rhode Island booth.

Visitors to the gray-carpeted pavilion received state maps, travel guides and pamphlets from participating companies.

Shields said organizers did not expect to immediately persuade entrepreneurs to set up shop in Rhode Island, or to woo a second Amgen facility.

The steady foot traffic, she said, was enough to improve the state’s visibility in an industry that is creating high-paying jobs wherever it flourishes.

Rhode Island’s booth will operate today and tomorrow.

"You’re not necessarily expecting to have sales," said Robert F. Valentini, chief executive officer of Myomics Inc., a drug company in Providence with six employees. "But having a presence is important. It’s networking."

If nothing else, organizing the state booth led companies to cooperate and spend a day together, a surprisingly challenging feat when they’re in Rhode Island.

Company executives traded advice about what lawyers to hire to defend their intellectual property rights, and they met potential investors, who were attracted to the booth by the Slater Technology Fund, which provides loans and helps recruit venture capitalists to support entrepreneurs in Rhode Island.

"There’s ideas that get shared," said Randal W. Spencer, president and chief executive officer of Concordia Fibers, a Coventry firm with 55 employees. "We’ve had a lot of people come by and ask what we’re doing."

bgedan@projo.com