INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING Administration Building, Suite 136 355 N. Lansing Street Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-2896 317-274-7711 Fax: 317-274-5457

CONFERENCE TO SHOWCASE TECHNOLOGY PARTNERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
AT IUPUI

INDIANAPOLIS - IUPUI will support Indiana in its quest to become the Midwest leader in technology, as it brings together its faculty and researchers with local business during the campus's first ConnectTech 2001 Conference on December 6.

The conference, hosted by IUPUI with the Indiana Information Technology Association (INITA) and the Indiana Health Industry Forum (IHIF), will be held at University Place Conference Center, 850 W. Michigan Street, from 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m.

"ConnectTech will provide a place for industry, students, faculty and community leaders to renew our resolve to make Indiana the Midwest leader in high technology and the health sciences," said IUPUI Dean of Faculties Bill Plater.

The conference will feature interactive presentations on technological innovations on campus that would lend themselves to partnerships with business and industry. Topics include biomedical research, manufacturing, informatics, information technology and more. Attendees will also be able to tour campus research labs.

"Tech companies in the state have a hunch already that there's value in partnering with the university on research and/or other projects," said Donna Gastevich, INITA President. "They read about discoveries taking place on campus and they're definitely intrigued. The trouble is they don't know how to gain access or what the first step is in partnering. ConnectTech is the perfect opportunity to learn about the opportunities for engagement and to meet the people who are actually doing the work."

Mike Winter, president of Indianapolis-based technology firm VIFI, will discuss one such partnership during the conference breakfast. VIFI houses the IUPUI CyberLab, a research laboratory that allows IUPUI interns to work on real-life information technology projects. IUPUI Chancellor Gerald Bepko, IU Vice President of Information Technology Michael McRobbie, and Ann Eskensen, president of the Innovation Development Institute, also will speak at the conference.

Sponsors of the conference include the Central Indiana Corporate Partners, the IU Office of the Vice President of Information Technology, the 21st Century Fund, University Place Hotel and Conference Center, Women in High Tech, Aventor, Pervasive Technology Labs, and the IU Advanced Research and Technology Institute.

Representatives from business and industry are invited to attend the full-day conference, but must register by November 23. The cost is $25 per person. To register, please contact Mary O'Neill at (317) 278-7602 or moneill@iupui.edu or log on to www.connecttech.iupui.edu. For more information about the conference, please contact Teresa Bennett at (317) 274-8703 or at tkbennet@iupui.edu.

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