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V <br />CRBRRRUS <br />❑ a U R T Y c v 6 <br />Charlotte Observer <br />Ecuador's president visits research campus <br />Correa hopes for alliance on research, academia <br />November 2, 2012 <br />President Rafael Correa of the Republic of Ecuador and a delegation of ministers from <br />that nation spent Oct. 30 touring the 16 university and corporate research programs at <br />the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis. <br />Correa and his delegation of more than 60 Ecuadorian government officials met with <br />David Murdock, founder of the biotechnology hub, and the campus's lead scientists. <br />Correa is studying the research, scientific instrumentation and collaborative <br />environment of the research campus as a model for the development of Yachay, a <br />planned city of science and technology being built in Ecuador's northern province of <br />Imbabura. <br />"Amazing! Outstanding!" said Correa. "A learning experience for us. We are building, in <br />our country, a planned city of knowledge, (and) we want to learn from your experience. <br />This (Yachay) is the biggest project in Ecuadorian history. We are (changing) from a <br />traditional to a knowledge -based economy." <br />Nathalie Cely Suarez, Ecuador's ambassador to the U.S. and part of Correa's <br />delegation, said, "We've seen other knowledge centers all over the world, but we <br />wanted to see something that was close to one of our interests, which is the <br />combination of agriculture, nutrition, science and health. <br />"We had the opportunity to see (that) here in (a) way that is fascinating, because it is <br />very practical and (has) very concrete applications," Cely said. <br />Officials broke ground on Yachay this year and plan for it to grow into a center similar to <br />Kannapolis' research campus, where research and innovation from both universities <br />and companies will be tapped as an economic booster and job creator. <br />One-third of Ecuador is rainforest, and the country recognized as one of the world's <br />most biodiverse. Research into bioactive compounds in plants — a major focus of many <br />of the Kannapolis campus's partnering institutions and companies — and its application <br />to improve human health, agriculture and food were particularly interesting to the <br />Ecuadorian delegation. <br />4 <br />Attachment number 3 <br />Media Coverage November <br />2012 <br />1 -2 <br />Page 207 <br />