Penn State President Graham B. Spanier will accompany Gov. Tom Ridge on a one-week trade mission to Israel and Ireland beginning May 22. The mission will also include other Pennsylvania leaders in business and higher education.
Acting on recommendations to boost Pennsylvania's standing as a high-technology state, the governor sees the mission as a way to bolster Pennsylvania's global competitiveness in the technology arena.
Gov. Ridge said that Israel has the most Internet startups anywhere in the world, outside the Silicon Valley. In addition, Ireland has the fastest growing software market in Europe.
"This trade mission will bring some of Pennsylvania's hottest companies to some of the world's hottest technology centers," the governor said.
"For Penn State, participating in this trade mission is an extraordinary opportunity to find new ways to collaborate on an international scale and discover approaches that will help Pennsylvania be more competitive," Spanier said. "It is also an opportunity to witness first-hand the impact technology has on these nations."
Known as Technology 21, the comprehensive, industry-led group that recommended the trade mission has devised a strategy to ensure Pennsylvania takes its place as a technology leader. In 1997, Pennsylvania was ranked fourth in the nation for high-tech export growth by Export Today magazine, and now is one of the nation's emerging high-tech hot spots, according to the governor. Also in 1997, Business Facilities magazine ranked Pennsylvania among the top 15 states for high-tech growth.
According to the Technology 21 report, issued several months ago, Israel targeted scientific inquiry and technological advancement as part of its quest to develop as a modern state. Home to almost 2,000 high-tech companies, Israel has developed into an export-oriented, technology -based powerhouse, according to the report. Ireland also has been pinpointed as an emerging technology leader in Europe. The Republic of Ireland is ranked first in Europe for information technology and the nation has developed a strong electronics industry. Export of electronics and software in Ireland now account for 40 percent of that country's total exports. More than 4 percent of all PC-packaged software and 60 percent of all PC business-application software sold in Europe are produced in Ireland.
Last year, Pennsylvania's exports to Ireland were valued at more than $112 million, and the state's exports to Israel were worth nearly $111 million.
"Our goal is to showcase our workers, our great universities and our technologies in these fast-growing markets," Ridge said. "We want to create financial and educational partnerships in Ireland and Israel that will lead to jobs and important new discoveries."
Accompanying Spanier and the governor on the trip will be executives from Westinghouse Electric Corp., MoreCom Inc., Boeing, MCR Systems Inc. and Noble Medical Technologies, to name a few.
On the academic side, the presidents of Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pennsylvania, the chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh will travel to Israel and Ireland.
"Penn State is one of the nation's most technologically advanced institutions but still we need to vastly expand our offerings to keep up with the explosion in information science and technology," Spanier said. "Being able to tap into the knowledge base already in existence in both Ireland and Israel will be of great benefit to Penn State and Pennsylvania."
Spanier is the chair of the Commission in Information Technologies of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges; chair of higher education's Presidential Advisory Board on Information Technology; and a founding board member of the University Consortium for Advanced Internet Development (Internet 2).