If all goes as planned, a technology investment that will rival the size of Epic’s Wisconsin campus will materialize soon: Microsoft Corp’s data center in the Racine County Town of Mount Pleasant. What attracted Microsoft to Wisconsin and what will take place over time?
This multi-billion-dollar investment will be the subject of a Thursday, Sept. 12 Tech Council Innovation Network luncheon at the UW-Milwaukee Innovation Accelerator, 1225 Discovery Parkway, Wauwatosa.
Panelists will include Balamurugan Balakreshnan, chief artificial intelligence officer/architect for Microsoft, and Joe Hamann, executive director of the UW-Milwaukee’s Connected Systems Institute.
Registration, networking and hors d’oeuvres start at 11:30 a.m. and the presentation at 12:30 p.m. The cost is $10 for students and returning veterans, $25 for individual members, $35 for non-members and included for Tech Council corporate members.
Likely to be included in one of four possible data centers will be rapidly emerging functions such as AI, but the discussion will also include a look at the latest in cloud computing, productivity tools (such as Microsoft Co-Pilot) and more.
“It’s clear Microsoft wants to make southeast Wisconsin one of its hubs, as the company has purchased about 1,500 acres in or near the Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park,” said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. “We’ll learn more about what makes the county, the region and the state so appealing to Microsoft.”
The Wisconsin Technology Council is the independent, non-profit science and technology adviser to the governor and Legislature, with events, publications and outreach that contribute to Wisconsin’s tech-based economy. To join, go to www.wisconsintechnologycouncil.com or call 608-442-7557.