Microsoft Malta today announced that it will be granting Maltese Start-ups €1 million worth of cloud services through the Microsoft Innovation Centre.
The investment being made available to Maltese start-up companies through Microsoft's BizSpark programme was announced today by Ed Steidl, Microsoft Global Head for the MIC Programme during a visit to Malta's Microsoft Innovation Centre located at Skyparks. The visit was also attended by Hon Evarist Bartolo, Minister for Education.
During his announcement, Mr Steidl expressed his satisfaction at the achievements registered by Malta's MIC over the past two and a half years.
"Malta's Microsoft Innovation Centrehas been chosen by Microsoft Corporation for this investment due to the very positive results it has achieved throughout these first two and a half years of operations. The MIC has been an incubator for 80 start-ups which have been expertly mentored and supported by Microsoft's local team. More importantly, we are also aware that local start-ups are exploiting cloud technology more than similar start-ups in other countries. In fact over 10% of start-up cloud consumption across Microsoft'sCEE MulticountryRegion, which is a region consisting of 24 countries within Central and Eastern Europe, is by Maltese start-ups," announced Mr Steidl.
Mr Steidl also spoke in the light of a recent report published by the IDC claiming that by 2016, more than 65% of enterprise IT organizations will commit to hybrid cloud technologies, driving the rate and pace of change in IT organizations.
"Microsoft is a major pioneer in cloud technology and today's pledge to Maltese start-ups confirms our commitment to ensure that Malta's businesses are aligned to the current global trend. Furthermore we once more reinforce the MIC's three main objectives which are those of bridging the gap between academics and the industry in order to help provide the workforce with the needed expertise, encouraging the adoption of ICT amongst more students as well as to leverage entrepreneurship."
The Microsoft Innovation Centre last year also donated a grant of €100,000 worth of cloud services for a whole year to students and academics at tertiary level namely University and MCAST. Microsoft announced that this grant is being repeated again this year.
Microsoft BizSparkis a global program that helps software start-ups succeed by giving them access to free Microsoft software development tools, connecting them with key industry playersand providing marketing visibility to help entrepreneurs starting a business.
The program seeks to develop and support a global ecosystem of start-ups, provides value to these partners in the rapidly changing technology industry and seeks to foster innovation, opportunity and economic growth around the world. Today, BizSpark includes a global network of partners and advisors through which Microsoft provides valuable assistance to more than 45,000 start-ups worldwide.