MinTIC and Google announced this quarter 10,000 new scholarships to develop digital skills and boost employability.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications, interested individuals will be able to access two virtual programs: the Google Career Certificate in Cybersecurity and the new course on Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence.
Said Mauricio Lizcano, ICT Minister, “These free courses are a route to employment, which makes it easier for people to transition to building a business, a company, or to continue a project with an IT route. We want to train a million Colombians and build, together, a Digital Potential country.”
“This is a very important announcement for our sector, because this is how we can move this ecosystem forward,” added the Minister.
The announcement follows news of data cloud company Snowflake opening its first office in Colombia.
Snowflake is an AI data company that is looking to make enterprise artificial intelligence efficient and trusted. The publicly traded company employs over 7000 people and operates a platform that provides data storage via cloud computing.
The decision by the Montana-based tech goliath to open an office in the country, according to the company, was part of its plan to strengthen its presence in Latin America.
“Companies in all industries in Colombia can unlock the true potential of their data with Snowflake, fostering informed decisions, efficiency, and innovation”, said Ernesto Serrano, Snowflakes Country Manager for Colombia. “We are excited to invest in Colombia and expand the reach of Snowflake Data Cloud.”
The investments by Snowflake and Google into Colombia are expected to also bring access to its partners. This month SQream, a GPU-based acceleration platform, introduced a native Snowflake connector that enables big data projects to integrate its patented technology into the company’s platform.
The technology handles data 2X faster and at 1/2 of the cost, according to the company, equivalent to reading 25,000 copies of the Oxford English Dictionary in less than an hour.
The demand for cloud in Latin America continues to grow, with tech giants increasingly looking to the region.
According to the United Nations, Latin America’s 26% expected annual growth rate for cloud storage is higher than both Europe and the Asia-Pacific.
This article includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company