ACADEMIA

Conferences to bring together esteemed guest speakers, MSC.Software customers and executives to focus on the technologies and processes of virtual product development: MSC.Software today announced its 2007 Worldwide Virtual Product Development Conferences (VPD). The VPD conferences provide the opportunity for the global engineering community to learn from thought leaders in aerospace, automotive and manufacturing -- and from the success of their peers. This year's conferences will take place on October 11-12, 2007 at the Marriott Renaissance Center in Detroit, Michigan, October 17-18 at The Radisson SAS Hotel International Conference Center in Frankfurt, Germany, October 23-24 at the Century Hyatt in Tokyo, Japan, October 25-26 at COEX in Seoul, Korea and October 30-31 at Beijing Eastern Garden in Beijing, China. Attendees will include engineers and senior executives from industries including automotive, aerospace, bio-medical, civil engineering, defense, and general machinery. This year's VPD conferences, themed "gaining competitive advantage through engineering productivity," are designed to help companies maximize their return on simulation investments, ensure right-to-market and minimize time-to-market for products in highly competitive global environments. The conferences will celebrate the best in process management, industrial applications and design innovation. "MSC.Software's driving mission is to help businesses improve their product development process," said Stephen Bodnar, vice president of marketing and product management for MSC.Software. "These conferences are dedicated to providing attendees with the latest information on strategies and technologies that they can immediately use to enhance concept development, design, simulation, testing, manufacturing, and business performance." For more information on VPD Americas 2007, or to register for the event, visit www.mscsoftware.com/events/vpd2007/