The recently announced partnership agreement between Microsoft and MITA is spread over the next five years and implies a total investment by Microsoft of over €30 million distributed on a number of projects pertaining namely to government licensing, education and the establishment of a Microsoft Innovation Centre.
In her address during a press conference to announce details of this agreement, Adrianna Zammit, Country Manager at Microsoft Malta, explained that this agreement is part of Microsoft’s global commitment to assist governments and agencies embrace change in order to enable their countries’ innovation and success.
“We are truly living in a dynamic era, one in which the IT world is changing, governments’ utilisation of IT is changing worldwide, and businesses are changing how they market by using IT as an enabler for success. Microsoft understands that we live in a non-homogenous IT world where with the development of open source, cloud, service-based technologies, bandwidth improvements are all factors that influence how we conduct our business. Within this scenario, one clear certainty is that governments and agencies that are thriving are the ones truly embracing change,” said Ms Zammit.
Besides substantial investments in government licensing and in a number of major educational drives, Ms Zammit announced Microsoft’s choice to set up a unique and prestigious cloud-based innovation centre in Malta. “The choice of Malta has been possible due to the fact that albeit small in size, Malta has the desire to drive innovation. Facts confirm that Malta ranked first in EU eGovernment Benchmarking in 2010, ranked fifth highest percentage of employees with ICT skills in Europe and fourth among European countries in terms of eSkills activities by the government. The World Economic Forum, in a report on global competitiveness, also recently confirmed that Malta is a country which is innovation driven. Only 20 per cent of countries fall within this category including the US, Switzerland, Japan, The Netherlands and the UK. We achieved this despite the fact that our market is so small,” added Ms Zammit.
“This strategic partnership with the government is a highly important one and also very meaningful for Microsoft not only because of the nature of the exciting projects in the pipeline, but also because this newly announced agreement will see Microsoft and the government collaborating together to enable Malta, as possibly the smallest EU state, to have the greatest impact in the European Union as we drive towards a communal centre of excellence by 2015. To drive this vision at a local level we at Microsoft have put together a plan for the years ahead. Besides the innovation centre, we have also planned further efforts to support education through our ‘partners in learning programme’, advanced IT curriculum and a student option offering in September, where we will be driving subsidized productivity tools throughout the country.”
Ms Zammit also referred to Microsoft’s near future plans to collaborate with local partners to cater for government’s needs where issues like data security, privacy and reliability are non-negotiable.
“We will also be collaborating with the open source community to support not just government’s position but our position on open standards and, lastly, will continue to proactively act through what we feel is our social responsibility to make a difference. All these elements are crucial so that Malta can embrace further innovation. It is going to take work, dedication, and commitment to maintain and enhance our position as eGovernment leaders, but together we have the necessary tools, technologies, resources and commitment to make this happen. We can also leverage the $9.6 billion Microsoft has spent in R&D for cloud computing and $2.3 billion in infrastructure so that anyone who has an innovative idea can make this a reality.”
“Together with the government and the continued dedication of the local Microsoft team here in Malta, we look forward to enabling the next generation of workers, entrepreneurs and citizens in realizing their, and Malta’s full potential and hence why Microsoft chose our country to invest in and impact the local community. Together and through this strategic partnership, we can enable the smallest country for the greatest impact,” concluded Ms Zammit.