- Digital consulting company Infosys recently announced that it has partnered with Arizona State University to accelerate workforce development
Digital consulting company Infosys recently cut the ribbon for a new Technology and Innovation Center in the SkySong ASU Scottsdale Innovation Center. This is the sixth U.S. hub for Infosys, which hired 10,000 Americans over the past 2 years.
Infosys will move from SkySong to its permanent site in the Novus Innovation Corridor — a 350-acre public-private partnership that will eventually include nearly 10 million square feet of office space, apartments, retail, and an athletics village — entirely on ASU land. And Infosys will have a 60,000-square-foot facility at Novus.
Recently, Infosys announced a partnership with InStride that will allow employees to complete degree programs and continuing education courses through ASU.
InStride is a global learning services firm that links with employers to provide opportunities for their employees by earning degrees and credentials through the highest-quality universities. InStride had launched in partnership with ASU.
“There was the academic ecosystem and availability of a large pool of talent that we will nurture and build through our hubs,” said Infosys president Ravi Kumar said. “As we go through this journey we believe STEM skills are very important but we will actually be looking for skills in liberal arts and skills in design. We’ve already started hiring them.”
Infosys’ hub at the new SkySong Building 5 includes labs that produce prototypes in virtual reality, augmented reality, and robotics. And Infosys develops solutions for clients in areas such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, user experience, and advanced digital technologies like big data and cloud computing.
“You won’t be able to create what you want to create as a person until these machines are capable of doing the things you don’t want to do so you can focus all of your energy as a human,” added ASU President Michael Crow. “If you forget human capital and you think you only need coders and they only need to know coding, you’re not very smart. Because they will not be able to adapt quickly enough to the changing markets and opportunities.”
Gov. Doug Ducey had attended the event at SkySong and pointed out that tech jobs in Arizona increased by 15%.
“Infosys could have gone anywhere to grow their business,” explained Gov. Ducey. “All told, our state has added 300,000 new jobs since 2015 and with Infosys, you can tack on 1,000 more.”
Featured image credit: SkySong.com
