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Dr. Denis Fred Simon, Provost and Chief Academic Officer of The Levin Graduate Institute, awarded the prestigious Friendship Award by Liaoning Province, China

For Immediate Release:

New York, N.Y. September 20, 2006 Dr. Denis Fred Simon, Provost and Chief Academic Officer of the Levin Graduate Institute, received the prestigious Friendship Award from Zhang Wenyue, Governor of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. The Friendship Award is given to a very select number of foreigners for their unique and substantial contributions to the economic, social and technological development of Liaoning Province. Only 20 foreigners received the award, representing such countries as US, Russia, Japan, Austria, Germany, Korea, and the UK. The ceremony, which was held at the headquarters of the Liaoning Provincial Government in Shenyang, was attended by leaders from the State Council's Foreign Experts Bureau as well as leading members of the provincial and municipal government.

Dr. Simon was recommended to be a recipient of the Award by the government of Dalian, a municipality of Liaoning, which in 2005 appointed Dr. Simon as its first foreign science and technology advisor. In that capacity, Dr. Simon advises the Dalian government, the Dalian Science & Technology Bureau, and other elements of the Dalian municipal government on how to make Dalian an incubation hub for turning new science and technology based start-up businesses into commercially viable enterprises. Of central importance is a special initiative to help Dalian move more aggressively into the world of IT outsourcing. Dr. Simon also received the Xing Hai Friendship Award from Dalian Government in November 2005.

The Levin Institute, under Dr. Simon's leadership, has organized and conducted customized executive training programs designed to enhance the innovative capacity of Dalian's research organizations and enterprises. A class of 28 mid-to-senior level government and enterprise executives recently graduated from a 6-week Levin Program in late August 2006.

Dr. Simon is a recognized expert on contemporary Chinese affairs, having first visited China back in 1981. Along with a distinguished academic career that has included serving on the full-time faculties at MIT, Tufts University and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he also has worked in the world of strategic management consulting, serving as General Manager for Andersen Consulting in China (1998-2000) (now called Accenture) and as President of The Monitor Group China in Beijing (2001-2002). Dr. Simon has written extensively on the problems of technological innovation in China and is in the process of completing a book manuscript (with Dr. Cong Cao) titled "The Emerging Chinese Technological Edge: The Role of High-End Scientific and Technical Talent."

Liaoning used to be China's main industrial base in China's Northeast, a part of the country often known as China's rust belt because of the prevalence of numerous large, older industrial plants, many of which were built with Russian assistance in the 1950s. With the Chinese government's initiative for "revitalization of the Northeast region," Liaoning has been nurturing a base of new high-tech industries that aspire to become competitive at the global level across a number of key sectors. At the same time, Liaoning also is trying to maintain its position as an important base for equipment manufacturing and raw materials through further opening up and reform.

The Neil D. Levin Institute of International Relations and Commerce is a new graduate level institution situated in New York City under the State University of New York. Its core mission is to train traditional graduate students and working professionals to live and work effectively and ethically in the globalized world of the 21st century. As an academic start-up, the Levin Institute has developed an innovative, modular-type, team-oriented, project based pedagogy that emphasizes the teaching of skills needed to be effective at managing across borders and cultures.

Zhang Wenyue, governor of Liaoning Province; Denis Simon