DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PLAN

Microsoft Corp. has announced it plans to invest $1 billion in Poland to accelerate innovation and digital transformation in the “Polish Digital Valley.”

Part of the investment will see the opening of a new Microsoft data center region in Poland through which the tech giant will provide cloud services to the country’s ecosystem of startups, entrepreneurs, enterprises and government.

To bolster the adoption of Microsoft’s cloud services Azure, the company has signed a strategic agreement with domestic cloud provider Chmura Krajowa to provide digital transformation expertise and broad access to its cloud solutions across all industries and enterprises in Poland.

“I am proud to announce our $1 billion dollar investment in Poland’s continued digital transformation and the development of the ‘Polish Digital Valley.’ Today’s announcement builds on our nearly 30-year presence in the country,” said Jean-Phillippe Courtois, executive vice president and president, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations.

“Microsoft’s global-scale cloud in Poland will allow an ever-wider use, faster implementation and more benefits to those public institutions and businesses in critical sectors along with Poland’s thriving start-up community.”

The seven-year investment plan and partnership with Chmura Krajowa will provide a long-term skilling program to boost the digital competencies of an estimated 150,000 business employees and IT professionals, educators, students and citizens to support the digital transformation of organizations.

The skills development program will include trainings, e-learning programs, workshops and hackathons covering cloud computing, developing with AI and machine learning technologies, big data and the Internet of Things (IoT).

“I deeply believe that Microsoft’s investment in Poland will be important for enterprises, public institutions and the education system and will enable them to digitally transform and implement new work standards. Our primary goal is to accelerate Poland’s transformation into a technological hub for the region of Central and Eastern Europe,” said Mateusz Morawiecki, prime minister of Poland.

The new cloud data center region in Poland, joins Microsoft’s global footprint of cloud regions, now totaling 59 regions including those announced or under development, and Microsoft Azure is available in over 140 countries. The new cloud region will provide companies local access to Microsoft’s full set of cloud services including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, compliance, security and privacy.