On June 1st, the ceremonial opening of the first Microsoft Innovation Center in Poland took place in Poznań. The project, co-created by the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center and the Poznań University of Technology, will support innovative solutions and technologies in the field of IT security and outsourcing services. The opening was attended by, among others, Tomasz Bochenek, General Manager for Sales and Marketing for the Central and Eastern Europe region; Marek Roter, General Manager of the Polish branch of Microsoft; Grzegorz Bliźniuk, Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Interior and Administration; Prof. Dr. Wojciech Markiewicz from the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences; Dr. Maciej Stroiński from PSNC, and many other representatives of the world of science and business.
The Poznań Microsoft Innovation Center will serve as a hub for cooperation in the field of scientific research and IT solutions between government institutions, local governments, universities, and enterprises. The main tasks of the Center will include providing Microsoft applications to schools and universities, consulting on improving the level of ICT service security, improving the quality of medical care in the Greater Poland region by refining the Internet teleconsultation system, and offering easy access to electronic services provided by local governments.
– The Central and Eastern European region is becoming increasingly attractive to Microsoft. The potential here is enormous – says Tomasz Bochenek. – Poland is a particularly important market. Today’s opening of the Microsoft Innovation Center is a huge success for Poznań, which has been worked on for many years.
The choice of Poznań as the location for the Microsoft Innovation Center is an expression of recognition for the high competencies of the people working here, especially the employees of the Poznań Supercomputing and Networking Center and graduates of the Faculty of Computing at the Poznań University of Technology.
– It is already a tradition in Poznań that the most innovative ideas appear here first, and are only later implemented in other cities – explains Tomasz Bochenek. – That is why the decision was made – of course, after long-term and objective analyses – to establish the first Polish Center of this type right here in the capital of the Greater Poland region.
Microsoft has invested one hundred thousand dollars in the creation of the Center, which is intended to help in the implementation of the plan defined for the year. Initially, twenty people will find work at the Center – mainly those associated with PSNC and the Faculty of Computing at the Poznań University of Technology.