Springs shares its business acumen

Mezyad Alterkawi, chief executive of the Riyadh Technology Incubation Center at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia, is visiting the Colorado Springs Technology Incubator through Friday (Aug. 10) to learn more about how such facilities operate in the United States.
Alterkawi arrived at the Springs incubator July 10 to gather information about technology entrepreneurs, private investing, venture capital, small businesses, technology-transfer programs and the details of managing an incubator. He also is meeting with officials from the city of Colorado Springs, the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce, the Colorado Springs Economic Development Corp., the U.S. Air Force Academy and the University of Colorado at Boulder and Colorado Springs.
The Riyadh incubator, which now houses one company specializing in radio frequency-identification devices, opened in temporary quarters in May and will move into a 12-story building now under construction in about 18 months, Alterkawi said.
The Springs and Saudi incubators last week signed an agreement to sit in on each other’s meetings through video teleconferencing and form relationships between incubator companies that could include joint ventures, investments and other business opportunities.
The visit was set up through Khurshid Quershi, president and chief executive of zeeWAVES Systems Inc., an incubator tenant that develops antennae for wireless networks.