Georgia Institute of Technology’s Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER) will expand the ties linking business and academic institutions in Georgia to their counterparts in India and Korea this year.

The new focus was announced at a meeting of CIBER’s advisory board, held last week at the Wardlaw Center at Georgia Tech.  The U.S. Department of Education first funded the center in 1993 to provide an academic and research resource for regional small- and medium-sized companies looking to become more globally competitive. 

Today, the center hopes to tap into Georgia’s Indian and Korean communities, and also take advantage of Georgia Tech’s international faculty members and their contacts in the respective countries, John McIntyre, director of CIBER, told GlobalFax.

“There are many areas where we need to look into seriously expanding the relationship between Georgia and India, including the high-tech, information technology, biotechnology and aerospace engineering sectors,” said Ani Agnihotri, president of the Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (GIACC) and a newly-appointed member of the CIBER advisory council.  He also pointed to the more traditional carpet and poultry industries as potential areas of increased trade between the two regions.

The CIBER-GIACC partnership will work to explore the possibilities through conferences and a trade mission, still in the planning stages, from Georgia to India next year, Mr. Agnihotri said.

Mr. McIntyre explained that CIBER’s Korea initiative will be especially important in view of South Korea’s pending free trade agreement with the U.S. 

There are existing agreements in place for faculty exchanges from Georgia Tech to Seoul University next year, as well as a relationship with the National University of Singapore’s Logistics Institute – Asia Pacific, he said.  Georgia Tech professors are additionally slated for exchange programs at management institutes in Bangalore and Madras, India next year.

Scheduled CIBER initiatives also include better global training for graduate students entering the paper industry through the Center for Business Industry Paper Studies at Georgia Tech, as well a new degree program in global economics and language, Mr. McIntyre added.

Call John McIntyre at (404) 894-1463. Contact Ani Agnihotri at (770) 310-3998