Microsoft intends to launch its first U.S.-based Innovation Center in a downtown Miami incubator next month.
The software giant is slated to announce the new center on Friday. Microsoft plans to set up a 5,000-square-foot facility within downtown’s Venture Hive, a hub for tech startups. The Miami center is expected to be the first of many Microsoft opens throughout the nation.
Miami’s Microsoft Innovation Center would provide services to startups, governments, students and the broader community, company executive Sanket Akerkar told the Miami Herald. Technology training programs and other workshops are expected to be held at the center.
“There’s a great commitment to the local economy in Miami, and it’s a vibrant community,” Akerkar told the Herald. “We also see a lot of alignment with the universities there. It’s also a great hub and launching off point for Latin America from a business-building standpoint.”
Microsoft has operated a Latin American headquarters in Fort Lauderdale for about 20 years. The company employs 400 people in those offices. [Miami Herald] — Eric Kalis