SMART Technologies establishes SMARTer Kids Foundation to fund technology in the classroom

Foundation to provide over US$11 million in Grants to North American schools

Calgary, Alberta --- November 6, 1997 --- SMART Technologies Inc., the industry leader in interactive whiteboards, announces the formation of the SMARTer Kids Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping fund technology in North American classrooms. The SMARTer Kids Foundation will provide over US$11 million in Grants to public and private schools, colleges and universities during the 1997/1998 school year to help instructors equip their classrooms with SMART Boards, interactive whiteboards that facilitate computer-based teaching and learning.

"Educators are looking for ways to effectively integrate computer-based curriculum into the classroom, and the Foundation now offers them an affordable solution," says Nancy Knowlton, executive vice president of SMART Technologies. "It is not only an opportunity for schools to create a dynamic learning environment, but it is also a fundamental step towards providing students with the skills they will need to successfully participate in a technology-driven society."

The SMARTer Kids Foundation will expand upon the pilot program launched by SMART Technologies in September 1996, the SMART Education Grant Program, which was limited to 27 states and six provinces. In just over a year, the program allotted approximately US$1.2 million in funding to schools interested in incorporating SMART Boards into their classrooms.

Applying for a SMARTer Kids Foundation Grant
Educators can apply for a grant by completing an application form outlining how they intend to use a SMART Board in their classroom. Schools can call the Foundation’s Grant Application Committee at 403.245.0333 to have an application sent to them, or they can visit the Foundation Web site at www.smarterkids.org and complete the necessary form on-line.

The SMART Board in Education
The SMART Board transforms a desktop computer into a group computer that can easily be viewed by the entire class and used to deliver interactive, dynamic lessons. Educators and students use their fingers to press on the SMART Board to control projected Windows or Macintosh software and multimedia materials, such as CD-ROMs, directly from the Board’s surface. By simply picking up a pen from the SMART Pen Tray, an instructor can use SMART’s intuitive whiteboard tools to write on the Board, just as he would on a conventional whiteboard. SMART Notebooksoftware, included with all SMART Boards, saves notes and annotations written over top of software images so they can be printed from a computer printer, posted to a network, e-mailed or copied and pasted into other applications.

About SMART
SMART Technologies, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, is a private company that maintains Intel Corporation as a significant shareholder. In operation since 1987, SMART has become a world leader in the design and manufacture of award-winning interactive whiteboards. For more information on SMART Technologies and SMART Boards, visit SMART's Web site at www.smarttech.com.

- # # # -

Please note that SMART is in all capital letters.