IT innovation centre opens in Cape Town

IBM announces innovations centre for Cape Town users

IBM today opened an Africa Innovation Centre in Cape Town to foster the development of information technology and business skills and to expand its customer, business partner and academic community in the Western Cape.

The IBM Africa Innovation Centre in Cape Town will provide visotors with access to training workshops, consulting services, a broad technical infrastructure, and hands-on assistance to help solve business challenges and bring new technologies to market.

The centre supports IBM’s efforts to help grow the burgeoning local IT ecosystem and is part of IBM’s US$120 million (approximately R1-billion), two-year market expansion investment in sub-Saharan Africa.

“Cape Town has a strong innovative spirit, and with access to the appropriate skills and resources, local businesses and academics can collaborate to build a vibrant technical community,” said Oliver Fortuin, General Manager, IBM Sub-Saharan Africa. “The new Africa Innovation Centre demonstrates IBM’s commitment to help build the IT ecosystem to provide the necessary tools for developing 21st century skills and driving economic growth in the region.”

Additionally, IBM has seen substantial growth among South African software developers taking advantage of IBM developerWorks, the largest and most visited global site to gain technology skills. Over 10,600 unique South African developers are visiting developerWorks each month in 2009, gaining access to software tools and code, IT standards and best practices, and skills training in technologies such as IBM and open source software, Linux, Java, XML and cloud computing.