Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that the company will invest US $1.1 billion in Mexico over the next five years.

“Today I am very excited that we are announcing a new $1.1-billion investment over the next five years, focused on expanding access to digital technology for people and organizations across the country,” he said in a video presented at President López Obrador’s Thursday morning news conference.

The investment will include the creation of a new data-center region in Mexico to “deliver comprehensive, intelligent, secure and trusted cloud services to help every organization really get an advantage and drive the digital transformation.”

The president of Microsoft’s Latin America division, César Cernuda, said that the investment plan, called Innovate for Mexico, will include the construction of three state-of-the-art laboratories to lead to new breakthroughs in digital services and technologies.

The labs will drive a “solid educational program” directed at university students, said Cernuda.

“With this, higher education teachers and students in every field of study will strengthen their knowledge and reinforce the skills required by society and the current and future labor market,” he said.

He added that a consulting council will be created in conjunction with the Mexican Business Council (CMN) with the goal of “sharing experiences of digital transformation in order to attend to the needs of the people and the market.”

Also part of Innovate for Mexico will be an initiative to support conservation efforts for the endangered shortfin mako shark in collaboration with the organization México Azul.

The company will provide technical support in the form of open-source software that will help monitor the species and analyze its habitat and migration routes.

President López Obrador said that the announcement was good news for the country because it will drive technological development in several fields.

Source: El Financiero (sp)