RICHARDSON, Texas (March 14, 2005) – Helping small foreign companies enter the U. S. market and assisting small- and mid-size U. S. companies establish themselves abroad is the focus of a new partnership between The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) School of Management and the International Bridge for Business and Technology (IBBT).
In announcing the partnership today, Dr. David Springate, associate dean for executive education at the university, said IBBT’s mission is to bolster the regional economy as well as help both American and foreign companies.
UTD’s School of Management new partnership with the
International Bridge
for
Business and Technology will aid
small foreign companies entering the U.S.
market as well as
small-
and mid-size
U.S. companies abroad.
“The school’s partnership with IBBT will benefit the economy by helping the expansion of U. S. business in foreign countries and also by giving this region early access to innovative products and solutions developed abroad,” Springate said.
With offices located in the UTD School of Management’s Executive Education Center, the partnership will make the university’s international business resources available to potential IBBT client companies. These resources include research capabilities, the school’s partner network with foreign universities and its existing industry contacts throughout the United States.
Establishment of IBBT at UTD was the idea of Masayoshi Shimizu, an entrepreneur and international industrialist who has production facilities in Japan, the U. S. and Europe. Shimizu graduated from UTD in 1996 with an Executive MBA degree. He was named a UTD School of Management Distinguished Alumni in 2000, and he remains an active alumnus, currently as a member of The UTD School of Management Advisory Council.
Shimizu is serving as IBBT’s managing director, while Dr. Hans-Joachim Adler, director of international business development at the School of Management, is serving as chief operating officer.
Adler holds a master’s degree in engineering and electronics from the University of Darmstadt, Germany, and a Ph.D. in information processing from the University of Lyon, France. Before coming to the United States, Adler was a professor of computer sciences at the University of Giessen-Friedberg in Germany.
Shimizu said that while he was a student at UTD, he developed a unique understanding of the need of many of the North Texas region’s small companies for international markets.
“I saw the role UTD could play in helping innovative foreign companies establish markets in the U. S. and the positive impact that would result for this area’s economy,” he said. “In addition, by locating the IBBT at UTD, I saw that we would be helping the School of Management link classroom education and real-world business practice.”
Shimizu has stipulated that any profits that come from IBBT’s activities be donated to the university’s management school.
School of Management Dean Dr. Hasan Pirkul said he welcomes the establishment of the IBBT and Shimizu’s intentions to donate profits to his alma mater.
“We continue to expand our programs to make the resources of the university available to the business community in innovative ways. Such programs as the IBBT help the UTD School of Management stay abreast of the latest developments in industry. We also appreciate Mr. Shimizu’s willingness, as an alumnus, to give back to the school,” Pirkul said.
More information on IBBT is available by contacting 972-883-5921 or IBBT@utdallas.edu.
About The UTD School of Management
The School of Management is the largest of UTD’s seven schools, with an enrollment that has doubled over the last nine years to more than 4,400 students. The school’s new, 204,000-square-foot building — featuring classrooms with state-of-the-art audio and visual equipment, wireless connectivity, video-conferencing facilities, a computer lab, faculty offices, meeting rooms and an executive education center — opened in August 2003.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor®, enrolls more than 14,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu.