Microsoft Outlines Plans for First US Microsoft Innovation Center

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It might be weird for some, but just as you can see in the image from below, at the moment, there isn’t a single Microsoft Innovation Center in the United States, but is soon bound to change as Microsoft officials say they plan to open the first one in downtown Miami.
microsoft innovation center us
As of now, Microsoft has 115 innovation centers across the world, with most of them being locate in Eastern Europe, India and Brazil. These act as partnerships between local government organizations, universities, industry organization, software or hardware vendors and Microsoft with the purpose of growing local software economies. At the moment, there are none in the United States, but Microsoft will be opening in the near future in downtown Miami at a tech incubator and accelerator called Venture Hive and a second center is said to open in Houston, as well.

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Microsoft finally opens first innovation center in the United States

The first U.S.-based Microsoft Innovation Center will come with the latest technology and tools to increase job creation, train technology specialists, and to facilitate collaboration with Microsoft’s partners. Sanket Akerkar, vice president of Developer & Platform Evangelism at Microsoft, said the following:

The opening of the Microsoft Innovation Center in Miami signals our commitment to providing our cities and local communities with resources and technology that help spur economic development and create opportunities for shared learning. By building the center in the heart of Miami and making it available to the people, especially youth and students, we’re helping empower the city to become a more prosperous place to live and work.

The Miami Microsoft Innovation Center will target students which will receive guidance on curriculum development and research projects and support for improving their technical skills; startups and entrepreneurs who will receive trainings, mentoring and networking opportunities, and membership in Microsoft BizSpark; the government as the the new venue will acts as a source for job creation. Carlos Gimenez, mayor of Miami-Dade County, also added the following

The Microsoft Innovation Center in Miami has all of the leading-edge tools and technologies needed to motivate our citizens to innovate and grow. With all of the training services and engagement opportunities available, the facility will undoubtedly help Miami further transform into a 21st century city. Having the first Microsoft Innovation Center in the U.S. located in Miami demonstrates that our technology community is not only growing, it’s thriving. The access we’ll have to top technology and highly specialized workers will be immensely valuable in developing and sustaining our communities — both locally and worldwide.

Microsoft will also open one of their first training centers in the United States on the east campus of the former St. Elizabeths hospital, in one of the poorest areas of Southeast Washington D.C. Washington Post shares more details:

Microsoft plans to present its plans for D.C. to prospective real estate developers and academic partners Tuesday in an open house on the St. Elizabeths campus. Gray’s economic development team is in the midst of choosing a real estate developer to overhaul the campus. The administration is also searching for a college or university to anchor what the outgoing mayor fancies as a new hub of jobs, residences and shopping across the street from where the federal government plans to consolidate the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The campus is along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE, between the Anacostia and Congress Heights neighborhoods.

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