Florida Tech Accepts $24.1 Million Technology and Program Gift from PTC

University Announces Center for Lifecycle and Innovation Management

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Continuing with its mission to provide opportunities for business and engineering students to develop real world product/process development skills, PTC (Nasdaq: PTC) on Monday, March 31, announced a collaboration with the Florida Institute of Technology to offer students the same industry technology used by 27,000 PTC global manufacturing customers to design and develop sophisticated products.

The gift, which will also foster collaborative educational experiences between Florida Tech’s Bisk College of Business and the College of Engineering, is valued by the university at $24.1 million. The gift is a significant contribution to Florida Tech’s Create the Future campaign which launched in January with a goal of raising $100 million to support the university’s future needs.

PTC will donate PTC Windchill^®software for PLM process requirements and PTC Creo^®software for CAD design to provide an environment for students to design, test and simulate the entire lifecycle associated with bringing new products to market. The PTC donation will form the core of Florida Tech’s Center for Lifecycle and Innovation Management and will be integrated into its management information systems curriculum. The university will provide projects for students to complete, giving them an opportunity to understand and implement best-practices in an actual design, production and management environment.

“Florida Tech’s goal is to be one of the 10 most respected private technological universities in the world,” said Florida Tech President and CEO Anthony J. Catanese. “Delivering this type of quality program to students helps them prepare for business and engineering careers with companies located along the Space Coast as well as around the globe.”

The Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce indicates there will be 2.4 million jobs created in STEM fields in the U.S. by 2018. The need for more graduates in science, technology, engineering and math is felt by many global manufacturers, which makes it critical that universities like Florida Tech are successful in building a qualified work force to fill the pipeline with graduates capable of entering an increasingly technical work world.

In addition to donating software to the university, PTC is providing 20 scholarships for students that want to develop expertise in PTC Creo and PTC Windchill business and system administration.

“The global design process adopted by many manufacturers requires an understanding of Product Lifecycle Management and is a necessary skill for graduating students,” said John Stuart, senior vice president, global education, PTC. “Manufacturers want people that understand all aspects of smart, connected product design to help them make smarter decisions to build better products. PTC is glad to work with the Florida Institute of Technology to integrate world-class technology into its curriculum to achieve that goal.”

Florida Tech is an international leader in education annually serving more than 16,000 students through its Melbourne campus, extended studies sites across the country and online programs. In 2013, Florida Tech was recognized as one of the top 200 universities in the world by theTimes Higher Education of London. The university has been named the third-fastest-growing private nonprofit research institution in the United States by the Chronicle of Higher Education, and is also annually ranked a Tier One Best National University by U.S. News & World Report.