Georgia to seek business opportunities in Turkey

ATLANTA, GA (WRCB) -- Gov. Nathan Deal will lead a high-level delegation of state of Georgia officials and business leaders to Turkey May 28-June 1. The mission will visit the cities of Istanbul, Ankara and Mersin and meet with prominent members of the Turkish government and corporate community to explore business and trade opportunities in this strategically located market.

"Turkey has opened its doors to Georgia by naming our state as one of just six U.S. states with whom it intends to increase trade, and this delegation will introduce Turkish leaders to our tremendous capabilities for business," said Deal. "This mission will ensure our message will resonate at the highest levels of commerce."

The Georgia delegation's itinerary includes "Discover Georgia" presentations hosted by the state in Istanbul and Mersin, which will target prospects for business and trade with Georgia. In Istanbul, the delegation will learn about opportunities for doing business with Turkey from ISPAT, the Investment Support and Promotion Agency of Turkey.

Deal and members of the delegation will also meet with a number of Turkish ministers in Istanbul and in Ankara, as well as with the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Francis Ricciardone. The Istanbul leg of the mission will also include a tour of Koc University, a visit to UPS's Turkey operations and a bilateral exchange dinner hosted by Coca-Cola Chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent.

Following meetings in Ankara, Deal will lunch with Georgia airmen and women serving at Incirlik Air Force Base. In Mersin, Turkey's sixth-largest city, Deal and delegation will meet with the governor and the mayor of Mersin, tour the port and visit the city's Chamber of Shipping and the Mersin Free Trade Zone. The Mersin International Seaport is the primary supplier to the Middle East and the gateway to the rest of Turkey, including the Mediterranean.

Turkey and the state of Georgia already have a strong foundation for business. The Turkey market shares many characteristics with Georgia, especially in agriculture, Georgia's largest industry. In 2011, Georgia was the seventh-leading exporter to Turkey among U.S. states, with around $600 million exported. Leading exports such as cotton/fabric, machinery and vehicles all grew by triple digits in the last quarter. Both imports and exports between Georgia and Turkey increased in 2011.

The Port of Savannah, the fourth-largest and fastest-growing deepwater port in the United States, offers weekly service to Istanbul, Gemlik, Izmir and Mersin. Delta Air Lines partners with several other airlines to offer flights between Atlanta and Istanbul.

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Georgia Tech students see business opportunity in Vietnam, cleaner brick kilns - Atlanta Journal Constitution

By David Markiewicz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The environmental and health issues facing Vietnam's rural brick-making industry likely are of little concern to most college students, or just about anyone else in Atlanta. But a team of Georgia Tech students has taken on the problem and developed a solution they hope to turn into a profitable business with a social good.

Mekong Green Tech wants to clean up brick-making operations across Asia by using a simple, low-cost technology. Rural industries in developing nations often burn waste biomass, a dirty process that emits carbon dioxide and other pollutants. Brick kilns are one of the main offenders, and Vietnam is cracking down on the industry. Mekong Green Tech developed a gasifier to cut emissions; it can be used with existing kilns.

Unlike some student-launched businesses, Mekong Green is well beyond the concept stage, with a demonstration model of its gasifier in use in Vietnam. Interest among local brick makers is high, team members said.

The business recently won first prize in Georgia Tech's Ideas to SERVE Competition for innovative business concepts that can help society or the environment. And this week, Mekong Green is in the Rice Business Plan Competition in Houston, where 42 finalist teams (out of 400 entrants) are competing for more than $1 million in prizes and the chance to attract investors.

Mekong Green started with Marc-Antoine Pare, a 2010 graduate, who did his senior design project on gasification in cooking stoves in Nicaragua. After graduation, he moved to Vietnam to work on the stove project when he saw a bigger problem with brick kilns. There are more than 100,000 brick kilns across Asia, the team said, citing Brick by Brick, a report on Asia's brick industry.

"He said this is a much bigger opportunity," said Chris Quintero, a mechanical engineering senior and team member.

The technology also has applications beyond brick making,  he said.

Quintero and fellow team member Hannah Kates plan to move to Vietnam as well after graduation, joining Pare.

"They're so impressive," said Alan Flury, director of the Business Plan Competition. "It's a team that's thoroughly committed."

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Georgia Tech students see business opportunity in Vietnam, cleaner brick kilns - Atlanta Journal Constitution

By David Markiewicz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The environmental and health issues facing Vietnam's rural brick-making industry likely are of little concern to most college students, or just about anyone else in Atlanta. But a team of Georgia Tech students has taken on the problem and developed a solution they hope to turn into a profitable business with a social good.

Mekong Green Tech wants to clean up brick-making operations across Asia by using a simple, low-cost technology. Rural industries in developing nations often burn waste biomass, a dirty process that emits carbon dioxide and other pollutants. Brick kilns are one of the main offenders, and Vietnam is cracking down on the industry. Mekong Green Tech developed a gasifier to cut emissions; it can be used with existing kilns.

Unlike some student-launched businesses, Mekong Green is well beyond the concept stage, with a demonstration model of its gasifier in use in Vietnam. Interest among local brick makers is high, team members said.

The business recently won first prize in Georgia Tech's Ideas to SERVE Competition for innovative business concepts that can help society or the environment. And this week, Mekong Green is in the Rice Business Plan Competition in Houston, where 42 finalist teams (out of 400 entrants) are competing for more than $1 million in prizes and the chance to attract investors.

Mekong Green started with Marc-Antoine Pare, a 2010 graduate, who did his senior design project on gasification in cooking stoves in Nicaragua. After graduation, he moved to Vietnam to work on the stove project when he saw a bigger problem with brick kilns. There are more than 100,000 brick kilns across Asia, the team said, citing Brick by Brick, a report on Asia's brick industry.

"He said this is a much bigger opportunity," said Chris Quintero, a mechanical engineering senior and team member.

The technology also has applications beyond brick making,  he said.

Quintero and fellow team member Hannah Kates plan to move to Vietnam as well after graduation, joining Pare.

"They're so impressive," said Alan Flury, director of the Business Plan Competition. "It's a team that's thoroughly committed."

View the original article here

PTC AND DOD STARBASE BRING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OPPORTUNITIES TO GEORGIA, MICHIGAN AND MINNESOTA STUDENTS - Zacks.com

NEEDHAM, Mass., Mar 06, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- PTC(R) (Nasdaq:PMTC) announced today it is continuing its support of the United States Department of Defense-sponsored STARBASE national youth program to deliver STEM learning opportunities to students in Georgia, Michigan and Minnesota. The program's goal is to motivate young people to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education and careers.

Since its inception in 1989, the DoD STARBASE program has introduced 3-D engineering design and manufacturing using PTC software to over 610,000 students across 75 locations in the United States and expects an additional 70,000 students to participate in 2012. The program provides students with 20-25 hours of real world STEM experiences. The program is a hands-on, minds-on inquiry based curriculum that encourages teamwork through challenging activities.

STARBASE Robins Program, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia. The Houston County Board of Education believes a vibrant engineering and technical education is beneficial to civic, economic and intellectual activity for its county and its state. "In order for our students to succeed and address the challenges of the workforce, we have to better prepare them with curriculum and programs that encourage critical thinking," said Barbara Wall, director of career, technical and agricultural education, Houston County Board of Education. "PTC provides the software and technology to learn design and engineering skills and STARBASE gives us the program to apply the concepts in a real world scenario."

STARBASE One Program, Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Michigan. Students who attend the classes at STARBASE One experience a leading edge curriculum which incorporates physics, chemistry, technology, engineering, math and STEM careers. STARBASE One offers a first class facility that includes workstations equipped with PTC software for modeling, a space exploration lab module, a full scale space shuttle simulator and a Mars room which gives students the chance to manipulate robotic systems. The children recently had the opportunity to design and assemble a space shuttle flashlight using PTC software in a Design and Stratasys Dimension 3D Printers for Manufacturing class.

"This is a great example of how students can apply math and science skills to develop something that can be used by consumers," said Barbara Koscak, Co-founder of STARBASE. "Engineering is an important part of our country's hopeful future, and I'm glad to part of this incredible program."

"PTC is proud to be part of a technology movement that seeks to bridge the gap between school and industry in order to encourage more STEM-related careers," said Adam Haas, STARBASE program manager, PTC. "Together with our customers like Michigan-based General Dynamics, we will continue to develop a new generation of students that will have the technical knowledge and skills to work for companies like it across all industries around the globe." General Dynamics continues to support the Michigan programs by providing laptops for computer activities.

STARBASE Minnesota, Minnesota Air National Guard Base, St. Paul, Minnesota. "PTC has been a long time advocate of STEM programs through its support of initiatives like the FIRST robotics programs and now STARBASE," said Kevin Tanner, vice president North America technical sales, PTC. "We have a large, state-of-the-art research and development center in Blaine, Minnesota with hundreds of the brightest and most innovative software developers. We are proud to host students from all over Minnesota for training and mentoring, and the opportunity to build stronger STEM programs in the communities across our state."

About STARBASE

STARBASE is a Department of Defense program that serves young people in communities across the country by offering students an opportunity to participate in a variety of hands-on learning experiences designed to increase interest in and knowledge of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). You can visit their website at www.dodstarbase.org.

Additional Resources

-- PTC's Academic Program (web site)

-- PTC and Real World Design Challenge (web site)

-- PTC's Community Relations Programs (web site)

-- PTC and FIRST (web site)

About PTC

PTC (Nasdaq:PMTC) enables manufacturers to achieve maximum value from their product strategies with software and services that optimize key business processes throughout the entire product lifecycle -- from conception and design to sourcing and service. The company's integral solution portfolio unleashes product innovation, improves collaboration and ensures product data integrity within engineering and across the enterprise, supply chain and service partner networks. Founded in 1985, PTC employs nearly 6,000 professionals serving more than 27,000 customers worldwide. More information can be found at www.ptc.com.

Follow us on Twitter - Watch us on YouTube - Connect with us on Linked In -- Join our PlanetPTC Community

PTC and its logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Parametric Technology Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.

SOURCE: PTC

PTC Corporate Communications Beth Ambaruch, 952-435-5058 bambaruch@ptc.com or For PTC Weber Shandwick Kristen Georgian, 617-520-7042 Kristen.Georgian@webershandwick.com

Copyright Business Wire 2012

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Georgia legislators discuss jobs, new business opportunities

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) -

Twelve legislators from the Georgia Department of Economic Development are taking a two day tour of Savannah to meet with developers to discuss job creation, and bringing new business to the area.

Officials are touring Savannah with members from the Savannah Economic Development Authority with stops at Gulfstream, the Georgia Ports Authority and SCAD.

"Creating jobs is extremely important. We want to create not only jobs, but the best and highest paying jobs," says Gretchen Corbin of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

Corbin says to keep the local economy afloat it is vital Savannah and surrounding areas remain competitive and continue to look for new ventures and business opportunities.

Copyright 2012 WTOC. All rights reserved.

View the original article here

Georgia legislators discuss jobs, new business opportunities

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) -

Twelve legislators from the Georgia Department of Economic Development are taking a two day tour of Savannah to meet with developers to discuss job creation, and bringing new business to the area.

Officials are touring Savannah with members from the Savannah Economic Development Authority with stops at Gulfstream, the Georgia Ports Authority and SCAD.

"Creating jobs is extremely important. We want to create not only jobs, but the best and highest paying jobs," says Gretchen Corbin of the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

Corbin says to keep the local economy afloat it is vital Savannah and surrounding areas remain competitive and continue to look for new ventures and business opportunities.

Copyright 2012 WTOC. All rights reserved.

View the original article here