Africa Innovation Centre Overview:
The Africa Innovation Centre is fundamentally an enablement facility for crucial ICT skills such as Software Development, and will critically advance the creation of new quality jobs.
- The Africa Innovation Centre facility is tied to IBM’s steadfast commitment to intensify its investment on the African continent.
- It is a direct response to President Thabo Mbeki’s call to industry to invest in initiatives that support and advance Skills Development.
- It flows directly from the discussions of the Presidential International Advisory Council (PIAC) and is located within the objectives of the e-Skills Council.
- Imperatively, it is well positioned to support the Software Development industry locally and the rest of the continent, and leverage IBM’s existing investments in three Open Computing Centres which are located in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban. Furthermore, these centres, as with the Africa Innovation Centre hub, will benefit stakeholders ranging from the Academia, Small Entrepreneurs, emerging Software Developers, and both the Public and Private Sectors.
- IBM’s Africa Innovation Centre will also house the Software Solutions Lab The mission of the Software Solutions Lab is to help IBM customers throughout Africa understand and implement the latest solutions from IBM to achieve their business goals. We are establishing a high performance technical team focused on local enablement, innovation, and knowledge transfer. The centre will draw from the latest and best skills of IBM Research and Development and include the following capabilities:
- Executive briefings
- Showroom for integrated IBM solutions
- Architectural design sessions
- First of a kind implementations
- Proofs of concept
- Skills transfer & mentorship
- The South Africa lab joins a global network of seven specialised IBM facilities, including sites in Brazil, China and India, as well as Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
- This investment firmly puts South Africa – and Africa at large - on the global radar of IBM’s development strategy and at the centre of the company’s growth agenda on the African continent.
- Is aligned to IBM’s $1 billion company-wide Project Big Green – which is aimed at saving energy within the corporation and ensuring that the same is enjoyed by customers across all offerings.
Mission of the Africa Innovation Centre:
The AIC provides an innovative client and partner environment which aligns industry knowledge, partner and academic enablement, and technical expertise in an integrated centre, providing an end to end solution sales experience to drive revenue growth.
The AIC’s goals include
- Positioning IBM as an Innovation Partner in Africa for Emerging Markets
- Growing the opportunity pipeline and deepening our relationships with key clients by developing high performance technical teams focused on local enablement, innovation and knowledge transfer
- Catering for the client experience in emerging markets, which is a key differentiator for IBM
Key Elements of the Africa Innovation Centre
- Technical Exploration Centre (TEC)
- IBM Innovation Centre for Business Partners (IIC)
- Software Solution Lab (SSL)
- Kaleido - The IBM Innovation Experience
- Systems & Technology Solutions Lab (STSL)
- IBM Global Technology Services (GTS) South Africa