IBM, along with 200 universities around the world, is preparing the next generation of cloud service developers

IBM announced the launch of the Academic Initiative for Cloud , an educational initiative that is designed to help future generations of developers gain new skills and inspire them to create innovative solutions using IBM Cloud technologies. The new program will create new academic disciplines for the study of cloud technologies based on IBM Bluemix services in more than 200 universities in 36 countries of the world, in which more than 20 thousand students study. The Higher School of Economics, one of the leading universities in Russia, has also become a participant in the IBM educational initiative.

Moreover, IBM announced a series of industry-wide hackathons involving tens of thousands of new developers and launching several programs to enhance the status and role of women programmers — all using the capabilities of Bluemix services. These activities are aimed at obtaining best practices that will serve as an incentive for the exchange of new original ideas and the creation of innovative solutions for the development of cloud services.

With the help of various services, Bluemix IBM will equip future developers with advanced tools to gain the knowledge and skills needed in today's labor market, including in the field of creating enterprise-level cloud applications for ordinary consumers. The Bluemix open and easy-to-use solution catalog includes more than 100 tools and the most well-known open source technologies combined with IBM services (Watson, IoT, big data and analytics, mobility) and products from other companies.
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“By opening up access for today's and future innovators to the Bluemix platform, we will be able to promote the discovery of new talents for working with cloud services,” said Sandy Carter, director of ecosystem development at IBM. - We will provide our knowledge and experience in the field of cloud technologies for educational programs designed for future developers of services, whether they are researchers or industry specialists. This initiative is a prerequisite for maintaining the industry’s forecasted future growth rates. ”
The new IBM Academic Initiative for Cloud initiative will introduce students to the latest cloud technologies and solutions at the very time when they acquire the skills and abilities needed to start their own business or turn them into industry leaders. This announcement once again confirms IBM’s commitment and leadership in bridging differences in theoretical knowledge and practical skills required based on real market needs. A notable step in this direction was the launch of the academic programs Big Data Analytics (Big Data Analytics) and Cognitive Computing.

Already this fall, more than 250 educational courses and programs based on IBM teaching materials, technologies and methodology will be launched at universities around the world with a focus on using the Bluemix cloud platform in various disciplines: from computer science and information technology to analytics and data processing. mobile solutions and management. 210 educational institutions, including leading universities of the world, became participants in the program: v
• Higher School of Economics (Russian Federation)
• Ben-Gurion University (Israel)
• Carnegie Mellon University (USA)
• Imperial College London (UK)
• International Institute of Information Technology (India)
• National College of Ireland (Ireland)
• National University of Singapore (Singapore)
• Northwestern University (USA)
• University of California, Irvine (USA)
• University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
• University of Southern California (USA)
• University of Stuttgart (Germany)
• University of Tokyo (Japan)

The use of Bluemix in educational institutions will allow teachers to expand educational practices beyond the theory and deepen into practice. Teachers will be able to supplement the curriculum with new practical tasks related to the development of cloud applications, and rely not only on lectures and demonstrations of the cognitive abilities of the Internet of things applications, Watson Analytics and others, but also give students the opportunity to use these technologies.

Teaching staff will receive 12-month access to Bluemix in trial mode, and students up to 6 months of access as part of their educational programs. Accounts of both teachers and students do not require the entry of credit card information.
“Leaders in business and higher education should come together to promote the emergence of a new generation of talents specializing in digital technology,” said Kevin Verbach, a professor and gamification expert at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. “It's great that IBM is so consistently working with the best universities and provides students and teachers access to the latest developments in the field of cloud technologies and business. This experience will help prepare students for their future professional activities. ”

In addition, IBM is launching a new student development community (Student Developer Community) to help start the learning process for cloud technologies. Students will be given quick access to educational resources and information on how they can join Bluemix U, a platform where students can share their achievements and project results.

Support organizations Girls Who Code and ReBoot Accelerator to Diversify the Tech Talent Pipeline Diversity promotes innovation. Today, only 14% of graduates specializing in information technology are women; The figure fell from 37% in 1984. IBM supports the creation and implementation of innovative cloud technologies, including through the development of programs aimed at helping women in technical professions and contributing to an increase in the number of women in technical areas.

As part of this strategy, IBM is collaborating with the Girls Who Code organization to promote the emergence of a new generation of women cloud programmers. To this end, the company conducts a seven-week summer educational program in New York for girls enrolled in the last grades of schools. In 2016, IBM plans to further expand collaboration with the organization to promote programs in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, in addition to the summer school in New York.

IBM has also announced a new collaboration with GSVlabs on the ReBoot Accelerator for Women, a program designed to help women returning to work after years of interruption, to get up to speed, connect with colleagues and gain self-confidence. IBM will hold several briefing sessions on the use of programming on Bluemix in the cloud to dispel programming myths and make this activity more accessible. IBM will also provide guidance and assistance in finding a job with the goal of returning women to work after the break, including with the possibility of building a career at IBM.

Hackatons have become the main means for programmers to access the latest cloud solutions. Within their framework, the participants collaborate with colleagues from around the world and ultimately get real-world experience, which is applicable for innovation in enterprises. In turn, IBM sponsored 25 AngelHack hackathons in the Eighth World Series. 10,000 developers, designers and entrepreneurs will participate in the competition, bringing together the brightest communities of programmers around the world and promoting innovation in products, platforms and brands. As part of these activities, Bluemix and Watson will have an impact on a variety of industries, including healthcare, travel, the food industry, and emergency response.

IBM is constantly working on developing educational programs for developers to help them transform business and manufacturing — these are open source cloud services, hackathons, and developer training. More information is available at this link .