First Three EDC Sites Announced at the 2008 ESRI Developer Summit
Redlands, California— May 1, 2008 — Three universities have been approved as sites for an ESRI Development Center (EDC), a special opportunity that is part of a new design and development program for geospatial technology. On March 18, at the 2008 ESRI Developer Summit in Palm Springs, California, the first three EDC sites were announced including the University of Redlands and Claremont Graduate University in California as well as University College London in the United Kingdom.
The EDC program was created to give recognition and status to exemplary college departments worldwide that educate students in the advanced development of ESRI's geographic information system (GIS) technology. Students and faculty working in an EDC have the capabilities to further apply their area of expertise in shaping GIS such as extending core GIS software, system integration, computer science and information technology related to GIS, and application development for a particular domain.
"EDCs are designed to promote the development of GIS software at the core and application level as well as to recognize institutions with existing excellence in this important aspect of GIS technology," says David Maguire, chief scientist, ESRI. "Business, computing, engineering, information technology, geography—any department with research and teaching in software engineering—can qualify."
An EDC combines education and innovation and fosters essential software development in industries such as energy and conservation. By becoming the site for an EDC, a higher education institution will be able to do the following:
- Have student access to ESRI software and support from ESRI or their ESRI distributor.
- Teach and develop state-of-the-art applications in a prototype lab.
- Get ESRI-provided training focused on the department's academic specialty.
- Offer student recognition through an annual achievement award.
- Receive paid registration for two students or professors to the ESRI Developer Summit.
- Use the exclusive EDC logo on program materials.
An EDC can be housed in one department or be a multidisciplinary, stand-alone GIS center. Large universities may need more than one EDC on campus. ESRI will be accepting applications during this initial enrollment period until September 15, 2008, after which there will be open enrollments twice a year in January and June. To learn more about the EDC program benefits, qualifications, application process, and frequently asked questions, please visit www.esri.com/edc.
About ESRI
Since 1969, ESRI has been giving customers around the world the power to think and plan geographically. The market leader in GIS, ESRI software is used in more than 300,000 organizations worldwide including each of the 200 largest cities in the United States, most national governments, more than two-thirds of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. ESRI applications, running on more than one million desktops and thousands of Web and enterprise servers, provide the backbone for the world's mapping and spatial analysis. ESRI is the only vendor that provides complete technical solutions for desktop, mobile, server, and Internet platforms. Visit us at www.esri.com
Press Information:
Allyson Lawson
ESRI
Tel.: 909-793-2853, extension 1-2337
E-mail: press@esri.com