IBM opens GenAI innovation centre in Kochi

Technology major IBM on Tuesday opened a Gen-AI Innovation Centre in Kochi. Kerala's industries, law and coir minister P Rajeeve opened the office at Infopark. The facility has a potential for 5000 jobs.

Kochi has been IBM's fastest-growing campus in the world, the minister said. Work from Kerala is the new policy of the government, leveraging the unique advantages the state offers, he added.

Kerala prides in its special features such as sustainable transport facilities, clean air and water besides open-minded people. “We have created an environment where Malayali employees of global companies can work by staying in their home-state,” Rajeeve said.


Terming IBM's new Gen-AI Innovation Centre as highly promising, the minister said the facility currently has 1500 workers. "We expect the figure to touch 5000 in the future," he said.

Higher education institutions will go for increased collaboration with the Gen-AI Lab on IBM's WatsonX platform designed for high-quality customer service experiences. Students and educational institutions will have a system that facilitates AI experiments at the Innovation Centre, he said.

IBM India vice president Vishal Chahal said the centre will feature a new system that caters to the company's international customers. "Mainly we have three elements: a facility for international customers to make presentations; another for employees to conduct workshops and consultations with customers, and a third one to groom students and startups, " he said. "With this, Kochi will become an important destination in the eyes of international IT customers."

Chahal said Kochi had IBM's best office system in the world. "The entire development activities of the WatsonX platform will be in Kochi. Higher education institutions and students can conduct product prototypes and experiments at the Gen-AI lab free of cost, he said.