Microsoft is going to build an innovation center in South China’s Hainan province, this according to a new report today from China’s Xinhua news agency. The Redmond based company and Hainan provincial government have reached an agreement to build an innovation center, the first of its kind in China. It will be based on Microsoft’s “leading technology platform” and is expected to attract software enterprises in the tourism and agricultural niche to Hainan province, said Li Guoliang who is the deputy Governor of this province. Microsoft’s Group Vice President Orlanda Ayala said that this new initiative will aid Hainan in becoming a major international tourist destination as well.
Apart from this innovation center the company will also build a “Microsoft IT Academy” in the province, where training of IT experts will be done. As per the memorandum of understanding reached, Microsoft will strategically cooperate wtih the province for software training, technological devlopment and preotection of intellectual property rights. This is just the first one of its kind, perhaps Microsoft will see it fit to establish more innovation centers in mainland China.