New Venture Positions Company to Capitalize on Escalating Interest in Its
Product Innovation Process Solution Among Manufacturers in French Region

Sopheon, the international software and services provider, announced today the formation of a new venture, Sopheon France SARL, to promote and sell its Accolade solution throughout France and the French-speaking regions of Switzerland. This development is part of a larger Sopheon strategy aimed at building worldwide sales and support presence for its Accolade offering, a software system that has been recognized as best-of-class among product innovation process and portfolio management solutions in the product life cycle management (PLM) market. Sopheon has taken a 20% minority stake in the company, and will equity-account for the participation in accordance with IAS 28.

A recent global PLM market study determined that French manufacturers spent in excess of Eur1.1 billion on PLM solutions in 2005, up by 8% compared to 2004. According to the research, France ranks as the second largest region in Europe for PLM solutions. Sopheon had been seeking to develop a local presence that would allow it to take better advantage of escalating business opportunity in this area. The company reports that more than thirty prospects in France, including a number of significant multi-nationals, have contacted it about its software.

Founding management of Sopheon France are Patrice Duponchel and Jean-Claude Bourguigneau. Both are successful software entrepreneurs, each with more than 20 years of experience in building and operating companies that specialize in reselling enterprise software solutions and providing related services to the French market.

“Manufactured goods account for 75% of France’s proliferating export trade,” said Patrice Duponchel, chief executive officer of the newly formed company. “French manufacturers understand that continuous innovation is essential to competing successfully in global markets. Demand is growing for technology solutions that will enable them to automate, control and rationally execute their innovation processes, and help them make good decisions in the earliest stages of product development. The Sopheon system has proven over and over that it can connect with a company’s innovation strategies and provide process automation and decision support that will lead to higher levels of growth and profits from new products. We believe that Sopheon’s Accolade is the right solution at the right time for the French market. ”

“We see significant potential for Accolade in the French region,” said Andy Michuda, chief executive officer of Sopheon. “We are very pleased to be able to enter this critical market through a partnership with professionals who have the experience, industry knowledge and contact networks to make things happen for us.”

Sopheon Accolade® is a registered trademark of Sopheon plc.

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