Tech Companies Convene to Bring Growth to New Mexico; ''Thinking'' Computers Featured at Innovative Conference at Santa Ana Pueblo.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SANTA ANA PUEBLO, N.M.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 13, 2003

New Mexico has quietly become the world leader in a sophisticated technology that enables computers to "think" ahead, so they can predict everything from future stock prices to whether a drowsy driver is likely to fall asleep at the wheel.

The technology is called informatics and many new companies using this capability -- and other equally promising innovations -- will be featured at a ground-breaking conference at Santa Ana Pueblo on Jan. 30, where scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and investors will put their heads together to begin building some of the new companies that will bring future growth to New Mexico.

The conference, Fueling Technology Growth in New Mexico, will be held at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya in Santa Ana Pueblo. It was organized by Innovation Investment Partners (www.innovationinvestmentpartners.com). Corporate sponsors are Merrill Lynch, Los Alamos National Bank, the Santa Fe Business Incubator (www.sfbi.net) and Wellborn Strategies, LLC.

The conference is open to the public. Register in advance online at www.nmtechgrowth.com. Subject to space availability, participants may also register at the hotel on the day of the event. For more information, call 415/867-4234.

"With premier universities, top national labs and the second highest number of PhDs per capita in the country, New Mexico is fertile ground for world-class innovation," said Mike Pogue, the Chief Executive Officer of Innovation Investment Partners and a veteran investment banker in California's Silicon Valley. "Given these abundant strengths, New Mexico is the obvious place to find the talent and ideas that we can wed with capital to build new high-growth, high-tech enterprises."

"The energy and contacts provided by this conference perfectly fulfills our mission to bring innovation and growth to Northern New Mexico," said Marie Longserre, Chief Executive Officer of the Santa Fe Business Incubator. "We are delighted to combine our deep knowledge of this vibrant community with the sophisticated resources afforded by Innovation Investment Partners and its affiliates."

The tech growth conference will include participants from each of the groups necessary to create a successful company -- technologists, executives, investors and such professionals as bankers, attorneys, accountants and more. Joint sessions will provide many opportunities for the varied participants to mingle with one another. Working sessions will help investors learn more about new technologies and will teach entrepreneurs how to raise capital and manage their young businesses.

Among the companies presenting innovative technology and new business models are those that specialize in the sophisticated technology called informatics. Using complex software, informatics experts crunch vast volumes of known data to predict future outcomes. Three Santa Fe companies already use this technology to buy and sell stocks according to their expectations of future market swings.

Beyond trading stocks and predicting forest fires, informatics has found a variety of valuable business applications. Among them are:

-- Advanced data mining techniques were applied to a Citibank process that forecast delinquency rates in credit cards. The new techniques uncovered $200 million in exposure that Citibank did not realize it had. Citibank became the industry standard-bearer for this technology.

-- DuPont used informatics techniques to create adaptive control systems for its chemical plants. DuPont expects to save $500 million annually when the systems are fully implemented.

-- Procter & Gamble reduced portions of its supply chain cycle from 65 to 30 days using informatics research. The consumer products goods company also reduced its cost of getting goods to the consumer by one-fifth using simulation techniques.

-- A non-invasive system was developed using informatics to detect drowsiness in drivers. The automotive industry is examining the technique to significantly reduce the number of traffic fatalities from the current 8,000 per year due to drivers who fall asleep at the wheel.

-- Southwest Airlines significantly improved the efficiency of its cargo delivery system.

-- The Internal Revenue Service implemented a fraud detection system for electronic filing. The system resolved 80 times more problems than the IRS's previous fraud-detection technology.

MEMO TO EDITORS

The press is welcome to cover all sessions of the conference on Jan. 30 at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya, Santa Ana Pueblo. Coffee and registration begin at 7 a.m. with the keynote speech at 8 a.m. To arrange for credentials, contact Mike Pogue.