9 April 2013-Microsoft is expected to establish an innovation centre in south China’s Hainan Province, the first of its kind on the Chinese mainland. Microsoft will also build a “Microsoft IT Academy” in the province to boost the training of IT experts.
An agreement in this regard was signed between the company and the Hainan provincial government, state run Xinhua news agency reported.
“Based on Microsoft’s leading technology platform, the Microsoft Innovation Centre will attract software enterprises in the fields of tourism and agriculture in Hainan,” Li Guoliang, deputy governor of Hainan said.
Microsoft Innovation Centres are state-of-the-art facilities designed to foster collaboration on innovative research, technology and software solutions, involving a combination of government, academic and industry participants.
Li said the government hopes to nurture an ecology-related industrial software chain worth 5 billion yuan ($798 million).
The technology giant will carry out strategic cooperation with Hainan regarding technological development, software training and intellectual property rights protection, according to a Memorandum of Understanding inked by the Hainan provincial government and Microsoft (China) Co Ltd on the sidelines of the ongoing Boao Forum for Asia.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates is currently in Hainan attending the Forum.
Microsoft Group Vice President Orlando Ayala said global tourism hot spots are moving to the Asia-Pacific region, adding the company’s cooperation with Hainan will prop up the province’s efforts to become a major international tourist destination.
INDIA TODAY
