75 new CoEs to come up soon: IBM

 Targeting to complete 150 Centers of Excellence, IBM will be establishing 75 new Centers at engineering colleges across 60 cities in India. These new CoEs will be spread across 20 states and will be selected from the top 300 engineering colleges in the country. 

The CoEs are aimed at creating a platform for the development of software skills among the students and also gives them the opportunity to acquire new skill sets around IBM software as well as help them develop world-class business solutions.

IBM also plans to bring its Global Entrepreneurship Initiative (GEI) to some of these colleges. This initiative helps start-ups capture new business opportunities by providing access to technology resources from IBM. 

"Apart from providing training, certification and software which is free of charge to these colleges, IBM plans to take the CoEs to the next logical level of converting them into Incubation Centers, to bolster software skills and ensure industry-ready professionals. Under this concept, the company aims to work towards creating a bridge between the industry and academia by creating a program where industry can use the CoE set up and the certified resources in the college to create innovative software projects and proof of concepts," commented Himanshu Goyal, Country Manager - Academic Initiative, Developer Works & Globalization, IBM India/South Asia.  

The program coupled with the company's ‘The Great Mind challenge contest' will mentor students and enable them create commercially viable projects that can tap market opportunities. Through its GEI program, IBM will select few projects based on their feasibility and provide guidance to take them to market and build sustainable business for the inventor/entrepreneurs.