BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) — The President and CEO of Research Park at FAU has been honored by the US Department of State.
Andrew Duffell, president and CEO of the Research Park at Florida Atlantic University was recently invited by the U.S. Department of State to lecture at Paraguayan universities. He was awarded a prestigious U.S. Speaker Grant to speak on “Science and Technology Parks” by the Bureau of International Information Programs and the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section. Visiting the cities of Asunción, Villarrica, Ciudad del Este and Encarnación he addressed two of the developing nation’s leading universities.
Duffell traveled the country, advising civic leaders how to best organize and run their research parks and incubators, as well as their innovation-based economic development strategies throughout the five day mission in October.
Bilingual and fluent in Spanish, Duffell lectured at the Itaipu Technological Park, the Catholic University Science and Technology Park and the National University to students, professors, journalists, and researchers, sharing his expertise on best practices and specifically, how research universities in the United States facilitate lab-to-market transfer of technology. The Itaipu Technological Park, home to the world’s largest hydro-electric dam generating electricity, sits on the Brazil/Paraguay border as a model for international cooperation and economic development potential.
Nurturing economic development strategies in the important Latin American market is useful for the US economy, ensuring that markets remain open to products and services, and that new relationships can be built with innovators overseas.
“It was an honor to serve as a resource for the U.S. State Department and I was privileged to meet many remarkable Paraguayans during the invigorating trip,” said Duffell. “The country’s potential for development is vast and I was proud to have the Research Park at Florida Atlantic University serve as a model university-affiliated institution to which they could one day emulate.”
The Research Park at Florida Atlantic University has been on the international stage since Duffell’s visit to Paraguay. Upon his return, he and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance hosted executives from 20 Chilean companies at the Research Park’s Deerfield Beach campus.
The Association of University Research Parks has selected the Research Park’s Boca Raton campus to host their 2014 International Conference. The conference will be attended by more than 250 respected international and domestic leaders from universities, research parks and businesses.
