University of Ottawa and IBM Create New Analytics Research Center

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ibmIBM and the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, today, announced the creation of an international center of excellence for business analytics.  The new center’s goal will be to help prepare students for careers in “economy of tomorrow” industries that are expected to significantly benefit from recent provincial and federal stimulus investments.  The Telfer School will invest more than $4.8 million in cash and IBM will invest a similar amount in the form of R&D, software, services, consulting and support staff.  IBM will also contribute hardware with the Telfer School establishing a new $1million endowment fund as an institutional contribution to the new center.

Analytics can be applied to every day challenges to vastly improve our lives and provide highly marketable skills to our university students entering the workforce,” said Dr. Greg Richards, Professor of Performance Management, University of Ottawa Telfer School of Management.  “One of the challenges with research in the field of Performance Management and Analytics is the lack of integration across different disciplines addressing the topic. This new Center will allow us to collaborate across disciplines to drill into integrative processes and methods that dramatically improve organizational productivity. Focusing these research efforts on some of the wicked problems facing our planet will deliver long-term benefits to organizations and to the communities in which they operate.”

To innovate, we have to continue to invest in skills that are in-demand by organizations worldwide. Analytics is becoming mainstream as we prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow. These kinds of skills are no longer solely the domain of IT analysts, mathematicians or statisticians,” said Rob Ashe, general manager, business analytics, IBM. “Through collaboration, the University of Ottawa is helping to lead this charge by combining essential business and technical skills for students who will help transform key industries with modern techniques.”

For more info on the new collaboration, read their full release here.