Calgary Herald

Tech giant Infosys opens downtown office

- JOSH ALDRICH jaldrich@postmedia.com Twitter: @Joshaldric­h03

Infosys will bring 1,000 new jobs to Calgary over the next two years, the company announced as it prepared to open its new office in the downtown core on Monday.

This is double the 500 workers over three years that was promised when the company announced its expansion to Alberta in 2021.

“Today is the beginning of our next chapter in Canada as we open the Infosys Digital Centre in Calgary,” Ravi Kumar, president of Infosys, said in a news release. “Calgary's IT innovation potential is unlimited, and we are delighted to be a part of its future.”

Kumar said Calgary was chosen due to its booming tech centre, access to talent and strategic talent that allow Infosys to work with clients across sectors, such as energy, natural resources and agricultur­e.

Infosys offers next-generation­al digital services and consulting, and will be located in the Gulf Canada Square at 401 — 9th Ave. S.W. The company helps clients develop cross-industry solutions to challenges in intelligen­t automation, green technology, user experience and advanced digital technologi­es, including big data and cloud. The new digital centre will train, up-skill and re-skill employees in these technologi­es.

Infosys has a footprint in 50 countries around the world with more than 300,000 employees. This expansion to Calgary is part of the Canada-wide strategy with a commitment to doubling its workforce in Canada to more than 8,000 people by 2024.

The Infosys office will play a significan­t role in the city's burgeoning tech sector with a number of major companies expanding and moving to Calgary, such as IBM, Mphasis and Unity. The sector continues to draw record venture capital investment while homegrown companies like Neo Financial begin to make a global impact.

“Infosys's choice to establish Calgary as a major technology centre is a big moment for our city and further demonstrat­es our city as a prime destinatio­n for the world's leading technology companies,” Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said in a news release. “… In particular, Infosys' partnershi­ps with local universiti­es to train Calgary students and create job opportunit­ies will help propel us forward.”

One of the big challenges facing the sector is meeting the workforce requiremen­ts. Many of these companies have partnershi­ps with post-secondary institutio­ns like the University of Calgary, SAIT, Mount Royal University and Bow Valley College.

Infosys has partnered with the University of Alberta since 2016 and will continue to expand on that relationsh­ip.

“Uniting the research expertise at Infosys with the U of A's talented students and our excellence in artificial intelligen­ce, machine learning, and digital science and technologi­es secures a mutually beneficial link between global industry and post-secondary expertise,” said Bill Flanagan, president of the U of A.

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