The Qingdao High-tech Zone signed an agreement with Microsoft (China) on March 26 in the to jointly build a Microsoft Incubation Base.

An office building of Microsoft (China) in Qingdao. [Photo/qing5.com]

The two sides will strategically combine their respective advantages to build an ecological innovation system in the fields of technology business incubation, big data research, and artificial intelligence applications.

Approved by Microsoft, enterprises from Qingdao High-tech Zone are responsible for building and operating the Microsoft Incubation Base.

The incubation base will adopt Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Office 365 public cloud services based on Microsoft technology, and combine them with incubation services to promote the development and applications of new information technology on the cloud platform.

Microsoft (China) will actively provide global innovation resources for the Qingdao High-tech Zone and its enterprises.

According to the agreement, those eligible enterprises can join the Microsoft BizSpark project to accelerate their international development.

Meanwhile college students from the zone can also participate in the Microsoft Imagine program which supports campus innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as the Microsoft Learning Partner project, which is designed to enhance students' IT capabilities and practical experience.

Microsoft (China) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation in China, and has the largest research and development base in the world, with the exception of its US headquarters.