Smith School Brings Global Week of Entrepreneurship to China

College Park, Md. – October 2, 2008 – The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced its “Global Week of Entrepreneurship” from the school’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship highlighting leading global entrepreneurship research and practices. A series of events – starting in Shanghai, on Oct. 23 and ending in Beijing on Nov. 2 – will engage and benefit Smith students, entrepreneurs and alumni, as well as their counterparts based in China, with a lineup designed to build knowledge and connections.

The program will include expert panel discussions at a Smith co-sponsored Pacific Rim Entrepreneurship Summit in Shanghai from Dingman Center directors, networking opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs in Shanghai and Beijing, and Dingman Center-delivered entrepreneurship workshops. A focal point will be the Smith School’s 2008 China Business Plan Competition, sponsored by NYMEX and Fidelity Asia Ventures, and now in its fourth successful year. The event, co-hosted by Beida University’s Guanghua School of Management, will offer aspiring student and established entrepreneurs the chance to win cash prizes totaling $50,000.

“Entrepreneurship is undoubtedly the engine of the global economy,” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “The business environment of the 21st century demands an entrepreneurial mindset and skills – the ability to think creatively and to adapt to ever-changing circumstances. We’re creating a great opportunity for mutual learning, and to share Smith global best practices in an extremely dynamic and important market.”

The Smith School’s “Global Week of Entrepreneurship” will include a delegation of directors, entrepreneurs-in-residence, students and business executives from the Dingman Center that will focus on interaction with local early-stage firms and entrepreneurs in China – encouraging cross-pollination of ideas and the transfer of center best practices.

“The Smith School has a long history of engagement with China – starting with study abroad trips more than a decade ago, and leading to the current delivery of the school’s China Executive MBA program and offices in Beijing and Shanghai,” said Asher Epstein, managing director the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “I’m very pleased that the Dingman Center is playing an instrumental role in further deepening our presence with the ‘Global Week of the Entrepreneur.’”

The “Global Week of the Entrepreneur” will kick off the Dingman Center’s “Year of Entrepreneurship,” an initiative that will highlight global, local and social entrepreneurship trends.

About the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research for the digital economy. One of 13 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, Executive MBA, MS, Ph.D. and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations on three continents – North America, Europe and Asia.