Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will open its first-state-of-the-art training facility in Miami which will also be its first in the United States. The software company already has 100 innovation centers globally, and it will announce the details on Friday. The center is expected to be located at the downtown Entrepreneurial Institute Venture Hive.
Tech related services to a range of clients
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), through this center, will offer its tech-related services to local start-ups, governments, students and faculty. Sanket Akerkar, vice president of Microsoft, told the Associated Press that the center will offer resources and technologies to move economic development, collaboration and learning forward.
The announcement from Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) comes just before the new eMerge America Techweek conference, which promotes technology and innovation in the region. The conference is expected to get attention from investors, start-ups and global companies.
In separate news yesterday, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced that it will set up a new training and development center in Vancouver which will increase its workforce in the region by almost double, adding 400 new jobs and creating the company’s largest center in Canada. The New Excellence Center in Canada will open by the end of 2015 and is estimated to deliver $90 million to British Columbia’s economy.
“We are very excited,” said Microsoft Canada President Janet Kennedy on Thursday. The announcement will see Microsoft become the anchor tenant in the redevelopment of the Pacific Center.
Microsoft betting big on Vancouver
Kennedy said that the headquarters of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) are in Mississauga, but after this announcement and nearly twofold increase in employees, Vancouver will become the largest employee base for the company in the country. Under its “Foundry Vancouver” program, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will offer 50 students from Canadian universities paid 16-week internships each year, starting this summer.
Karen Jones, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel, said they are always in search for talent and opportunity, along with the combination of factors that allows growth of business and workforce. Jones also said that they had been considering Vancouver for some time, along with other locations around the world. In the end, Vancouver was at the top of the list.
“That’s our bet, we’re excited to be helping to lead that,” she said. “We think all the ingredients are here.”