Soft Center Duluth Only U.S. Nominee For Prestigious

International Technology Award / Only Six Finalists WorldwideNominated in New Business Structures Category DULUTH, Minn. (PROTEXT) - Soft Center Duluth's IntegratedTechnology Campus First of its Kind Soft Center Duluth has been chosen from among 700 projectsaround the world to receive a finalist's award for its powerfulnew business model. Duluth representatives will attend Sweden'sGlobal Bangemann IT Challenge ceremonies at Nobel Hall inStockholm on June 9. The King of Sweden will present the awards. Soft Center Duluth, founded by the City of Duluth in 1998 andoperated by the nonprofit organization Soft Center Duluth, is aninternational alliance with Soft Centers in Sweden. It's a large-scale effort to develop a new industrial base of software andelectronic commerce. Soft Center Duluth's innovative "technology campus" modelharnesses educational institutions, government resources andprivate industry to deliver the greatest benefit to businessesand communities -- changing the nature of how these entities canwork together by integrating work, living environments andsocietal institutions. Support services include training andretraining, recruitment, state-of-the-art infrastructure,investment and funding packages, space planning and socialservices. Soft Center Duluth expects to generate 1,000 new jobs andattract U.S., Canadian and European companies. It has raisednearly $40 million U.S. dollars through privite and publicinvestment. Plans are also underway to grow into othet U.S.communities. The 1999 Global IT Challenge is the second time in four yearsStockholm officials have invited cities from around the world toparticipate in developing new and innovative ways to applytechnology in creating the Information Society. The Challengerewards excellence in information technology projects whilebuilding a network of cities involved in information sharing.ots Original Text Service: Soft Center Duluth Internet:http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Alan Yelsey of Soft CenterDuluth, 800-652-5524, Fax 218-723-3903, info@softcenterduluth.orgWeb site: http://www.softcenterduluth.org

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