MapInfo Chairman stresses importance of school-business connection at 17^th annual Regional Tech Awareness Day
(December 2005, Albany, NY)

John Cavalier, Chairman of the Board of Map Info, Inc. and keynote speaker at Regional Technology Awareness Day at the Desmond Conference Center in Albany on Friday, December 2 said Tech Valley is growing and our area needs to be ready. He told the large audience of educators about the importance of businesses and schools working together to prepare students technologically for the workforce of the future.

“A crisis is a terrible thing to waste,” said Cavalier. “In this country, there is a crisis in the ability to keep up with advancing technology worldwide, and the competition will only get more intense.”  Tech Valley is growing and we need to have first class educational systems that start at the high school level to support that growth, he said.

“When asked to get involved with the Tech Valley High School project, I thought that this was something really worthwhile,” said Cavalier. “Keeping interested students in our area is the first step toward building a high-tech workforce. So far, much of the workforce for area high-tech companies has come from this area, but management has come from outside of the area. One of the things that must be done is keep students at home. We as educators and business people can’t get involved too early or too soon.” 

MapInfo, Inc. is donating space for students to attend Tech Valley High school, a joint initiative of Capital Region BOCES and Questar III BOCES that aims to introduce students to current technologies in a project-based learning environment. New York State Governor George Pataki approved legislation necessary to move ahead with this innovative school in November 2005. Beginning in the fall of 2007, the school plans to recruit students from public school districts throughout the region, starting with 50 freshmen in the first year. The school will work with many local business partners to offer project –based instructional techniques relevant to current technologies.

“As an executive in a technology-based business, I am always looking for new and fresh talent, someone who can think outside of the box,” said Cavalier. At the Tech Valley High School, the idea will be to develop many ways to teach students, including fostering an interest in entrepreneurship. 

According to Cavalier, MapInfo came about twenty years ago because four students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute dared to develop a new technology and go out on their own. Last year, MapInfo earned revenues of over $150 million and now does software mapping and demographic analysis for companies in over 60 countries worldwide. One client, Home Depot, looks to MapInfo for information about where to place stores, how large to make the stores, what type of people will shop at the stores, and how to price merchandise offered to consumers.

Regional Technology Awareness Day is the largest event of its kind hosted by the Northeastern Regional Information Center (NERIC). This year’s event was the 17th annual and the 5^th one held at the Desmond with 450 attendees and representatives invited from 137 school districts. In addition to attending the keynote address early in the day, educators had the opportunity to talk with technology company representatives staffing 28 vendor displays, and attend presentations by NERIC staff and technology companies about the many uses of technology in education.

For more information about Regional Technology Awareness Day contact Jerry Carozza at 862-5331 or Denise Graminski at 862-5303.