Saarland Visit Fosters Utah-Germany Technology Collaboration

German representatives discuss new technology opportunities with University of Utah and local companies

SALT LAKE CITY – Oct. 19, 2006 – Numerous technology collaboration opportunities exist between Utah and German companies and universities said company executives from the German state of Saarland. Officials and CEOs from companies in Saarland met with Utah Technology Council members and presented their companies’ technology advances during a visit to Salt Lake City recently.

Officials from Saarland have been visiting Utah for 11 years to help foster international collaboration between companies in Utah and Germany. “These international collaborations are good. They help foster understanding,” said Franz Kolb of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, noting that significant business deals have resulted from previous visits.

One area where Utah and Saarland are exploring cooperative opportunities is in ray tracing, the process of computer modeling 3D images to look as lifelike as possible. The University of Utah recently hosted a ray tracing symposium, and inTrace, a company in Saarland, is marketing ray tracing technology. Michael Scherbaum, CEO of inTrace, said their ray tracing software can save 30 percent in time and costs in building a car model, and the company is also helping companies in the aerospace industry. Scherbaum stated that with Utah’s expertise in ray tracing this area would be a great place to set up joint venture projects.

“Increased collaboration between Utah companies and international organizations will advance our areas of expertise and make our companies more competitive,” said Richard R. Nelson, president of UTC. “The Saarland visits have resulted in a number of companies forging partnerships, along with increasing their knowledge and capability.”

Prof. Dr. Philipp Slusallek, of the University of Saarland and CEO of high-tech spin off, Motama, discussed Motama’s software that creates universal control of multiple devices, such as mobile phones, PDAs, set top boxes and stereo systems. With Motama’s software, a user can watch TV on the mobile phone or any other mobile device.

Another Saarland company has the vision of bug-free software systems, said Tom in der Rieden, CEO of Verisoft. In der Rieden said estimates of economic damage from software bugs are in the billions of dollars. In fact, he says, in just 10 minutes in 2005, a software bug caused an estimated $280 billion. Verisoft is working with numerous industrial and academic partners to test beta versions of bug-testing software.

Dr. Christian Ferdinand, CEO of Absint, a software company providing advanced development and validation tools for embedded systems designed to speed up time-to-market, lower testing/validation costs and improve software efficiency, also presented and was very pleased with the warm reception received in Utah.

Saarland, Germany is an international center of business located in the center of the European market and boasts a variety of international businesses and research institutes from Ford Motor Company and Intel to the Max-Planck Institute for Computer Science and German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence.

About UTC
As the premier professional organization for Utah’s more than 3,900 technology companies, the Utah Technology Council, the power of UITA and ULSA, exists to form closer relationships with industry and community leaders, develop superior management talent, sharpen professional skills and help gain access to capital. For more information on UTC, please visit http://www.utahtechcouncil.org.

UTC Contact:
Judy Young
T) 801.568.3500

PR Agency Contact:
Snapp Norris Group (SNG)
Cheryl Snapp
T) 801.208.1100
cheryl.snapp@sng.com

| 10/19/2006 3:41:37 PM | 0 Comments