After months of negotiations, Investments, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt yesterday put pen to paper with International Business Machines (IBM) executives to sign off Malta’s fifth vertical strategic alliance (VSA) with a leading technology company.
The agreement follows similar agreements reached with the likes of Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Oracle and Cisco – all with the intention of placing the future of Malta’s economy in the area of information and communications technologies (ICT), the knowledge economy and the information society.
Speaking at a press conference called yesterday to announce details of the agreement, Dr Gatt referred to the signing as representing more than the run-of-the mill VSA. The agreement, he explained, is extremely “people-centric” in that it will see manifold benefits and opportunities being presented to students, businesses of all sizes, and Malta’s growing research and development sector.
“ICT is about people,” Dr Gatt commented yesterday following the signing. “This vertical strategic alliance will provide enormous benefits for Malta’s students, researchers and business community.
“It is a question of providing education and the right resources, and then taking those resources out into the real world. Partnering with IBM was a natural development, considering the fact that Malta looks for the best people with the most varied of experience.”
Also speaking yesterday, IBM general manager Amparo Moraleda explained how the agreement would empower IBM to contribute and collaborate with Malta in the area of the knowledge economy, specifically in the areas of education, research and development and business development.
The University and MCAST will be involved heavily in IBM’s educational initiative with a view to meeting the demands of the ICT industry. Local facilities will be linked to the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, which has been key to IBM’s formidable R&D activities over the years and which will share its expertise with Maltese institutions. Businesses of all sizes are also expected to benefit from the agreement, which will see a number of IBM business solutions becoming available.
“I am convinced that this is the first important step in what will be a lasting relationship, Mrs Moraleda commented, “We are proud to have partnered with the government of Malta and we will work hard to promote Maltese talent in new technologies and to improve Malta’s position in the EU.”
A number of educational initiatives are expected to emerge from the agreement including student placements through the IBM Education Initiative, a number of programmes at elementary school level and student placements at IBM laboratories and facilities.
Numerous research and development collaborations are also envisaged, one of which is to provide for 15 Maltese students per year at the Zurich laboratory, a specialised R&D programme for graduates and joint Malta-IBM participation in EU-funded FP6 and FP7 projects.