Paris, August 31, 2005 – ESI Group (ESIN FR0004110310) announces the keynote speakers for its EuroPAM 2005 Virtual Engineering European Conference and Exhibition scheduled for October 5-7 in Germany. The three day event will be held at Seminaris Seehotel in Potsdam, near Berlin. EuroPAM’s keynote speakers will feature Prof. Dr-Ing; Axel S. Hermann, Head of the Composite Technology Center (CTC), Airbus and Pat Hearn, Director, Advanced Fuel Cell Products, Ballard Power Systems.

Axel Hermann, graduated from the Clausthal University of Technology, obtained his PhD from the Institute of Applied Mechanics, TU-Clausthal. He is General Manager of the Composite Technology Center (CTC) GmbH, a subsidiary of Airbus, as well as the head of “pre-development” at the Center of Excellence Vertical Tail Plane, Airbus Deutschland GmbH. He is professor in production technology at the University of Bremen. In 2004, he founded the research and supplier network “CFK-Valley Stade e.V.”

Pat Hearn is Director of Advanced Fuel Cell Products at Ballard Power Systems, and is responsible for coordinating and advancing new fuel cell technologies and products that enable Ballard to maintain leadership in its automotive, power generation and residential co-generation fuel cell business. Prior to this, he was Platform Director for Ford and DC Automotive Fuel Cell Stacks and Director of R&D at Maxtor Management Corporation.

Other presenters include : Thomas Schnorf, Aluminium Casting and Polymer Forming Simulation Alcan Technology & Management Ltd, Dr. Hariaokto Hooputra, Department of Crashworthiness Simulation BMW AG, Prof. Dr. ir; Johan Steelant, Division of Propulsion and Aerothermodynamics ESA-ESTEC, and Dr.-Ing. Philipp Hein, Automotive Research Center Arcelor Flat Steel Europe.

First held in 1990, EuroPAM is a unique venue where the latest developments in digital simulation are presented and demonstrated by, and to, global industry leaders. EuroPAM 2005 is expected to draw more than 400 delegates representing a wide cross-section of industries, including aerospace, automotive, biotechnology, defense, electronics, energy, and manufacturing.

During three days, attendees will have the opportunity to participate in parallel to five conferences dedicated to Crash and Occupant Safety, Stamping, Casting, Vibro-Acoustics and CFD. A Predictive Manufacturing Welding / Heat Treatment workshop is scheduled on October 5th as well as Open Virtual Try-Out Space and the Simulation of Low Cost Material on Aerospace workshops on October 7th.

For more information regarding the agenda and registration, please visit http://www.esi-group.com

About ESI Group

ESI Group is a world-leading supplier, and a pioneer of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI Group has developed an extensive suite of coherent, industry oriented applications to realistically simulate a product’s behaviour during testing, to fine-tune manufacturing processes in accordance with desired product performance, and evaluate the environment’s impact on product performance. ESI Group’s products, which have a proven track record in manufacturing and have been combined in multi-trade value chains, represent a unique collaborative and open virtual engineering solution known as the Virtual Try-Out Space (VTOS), enabling virtual prototypes to be improved in a continuous and collaborative manner. This integrated protocol allows all the company’s solutions to work with each other and with applications developed by independent software vendors. By significantly reducing costs and development lead times and enabling product/process synergies, VTOS solutions offer major competitive advantage by progressively eliminating the need for physical prototypes during product development. The company generated sales of circa €60m in 2004, employs almost 500 high-level specialists worldwide covering more than 30 countries. ESI Group is listed in Eurolist compartment C of Euronext Paris. For further information, visit www.esi-group.com.

ESI GROUP has been qualified as “an innovative company” since January 20 2000 by the ANVAR and is eligible for inclusion in “FCPI” (venture capital trusts dedicated to innovation).

Virtual Try-Out Space® and VTOS® are registered trademarks of ESI Group. All other products, names or companies are the brands or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

ESI Group - Press Relations
Nathalie David-Franc
nathalie.david-franc@esi-group.com
Phone : + 33 (0)1 41 73 58 35