Microsoft confirmed it will assist in the construction of a new biotechnology center in Colombia, El Espectador reported Wednesday.
The announcement was made by Orlando Ayala, corporate vice president of Microsoft, at the 7th Latin American Faculty Summit in Cartagena, a conference promoting collaboration between computing scientists and researchers in other fields.
The bio-tech center aims to bring together information about biodiversity to enable the Colombian scientific community to carry out projects. It is being developed by the Ministry of Technology and Information with support from Colciencias, the Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation.
Microsoft will be responsible for providing all technology support and will provide a number of internships for Colombians including two reserved for students from the Universidad Nacional, the IT giant stated on its website.
Manizales in the coffee region will be the reported home to the biotechnology center according to a report from Colciencias.
The summit in Cartagena, hosted by Microsoft Research, begins Wednesday and culminates Friday. More than 300 academic and scientific researchers from 80 different institutions and 15 different countries are attending.