| For Immediate Release August 17, 2005
News article written by Ken Black There is a song sometimes played on a Des Moines radio station that talks about Iowa being a state full of corn -- and little else. The singer gleefully exclaims when seeing something as ordinary as a tree. And when the song is not mentioning corn over and over again, it is referring to the occasional city or various agricultural smells. While that song may reinforce a stereotype many people have of Iowa, a group of ambassadors and embassy personnel from around the globe is getting a new perspective of the state as part of a week-long tour sponsored by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. That diversity of industry is something that is mentioned time and again by those attending these tours, which take place annually. "Every time I come here [with an ambassador's tour] I hear it," Grassley said. "For most of them, they have to come here and see it to believe it." This year, the first stop on the tour after lunch was Marshalltown, where the group took a tour of one of the city's most unique company's -- Fakespace. Makers of large-scale virtual reality systems, some of those on the tour expressed surprise that Iowa had a company with such high tech capabilities.
"They were surprised to see something like this is right in the middle of Iowa," said CEO Chris Clover. "It was also good for our company. We were able to make a lot of good contacts." One of those contacts was Vadim Grishin, an economic counselor from Russia. "All that we can see here can be used for Russian companies," Grishin said. Grishin said he had no knowledge that such a company had existed in Iowa before coming on this trip. He was also happy to learn that Fakespace had been talking about a project with a Russian oil company. However, he said that may only be the beginning. "All that we can see here can be [used] by Russian companies," he said. "This can be a good thing for both Fakespace and Russian companies." To help facilitate future discussion and perhaps help Fakespace become more widely known to Russian companies, Grishin said he would like to see representatives from the company attend an information technology conference taking place at Stanford University in November. There, he said the company would be able to make contacts with those who may have many uses for the systems Fakespace designs. Mike Hancock, a vice president with Fakespace, said overseas exports are becoming increasingly important for the Marshalltown company. Currently, approximately a quarter of the company's business comes from clients outside the United States.
Fakespace systems can be found all over Europe, Africa, Asia the Pacific Rim and South America. In all, more than 70 nations are represented on the trip this year. Grassley said the purpose of the tour each year is to network -- build relationships. "We sign very few contracts doing what we're doing this week," he said. "But it creates those contacts." The tour has grown increasingly popular, the senator said. In the first years of the tour, Grassley said he was lucky to get representatives from 20 nations to the state. Now, that number has more than tripled. The tour will continue visiting various locations the state, before concluding on Friday. ---
Times-Republican Ken Black may be reached at kblack@timesrepublican.com ### About Mechdyne Corporation Mechdyne Corporation is the world’s largest company dedicated to consulting and development of immersive, networked and collaborative visualization systems. The company addresses complex projects where an in-depth understanding of user requirements leads to the development of products and customized solutions involving elements of visual, software and support systems. Mechdyne’s product divisions provide advanced display technology, audio/visual systems design, and implementation services, as well as immersive and interactive software development and support. Headquartered in Marshalltown, Iowa, Mechdyne’s customers include leading government laboratories, military research programs, energy companies and a variety of ‘edutainment,’ manufacturing, and other users of visualization technology. More information is available at www.mechdyne.com. Mechdyne Press Contact Jeff Brum Matt Schmidt |
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