IBM’s play into Startups, DeveloperWorks, Startup America

The news is already out on the news outlets. This thing is huge. It is a proud moment for me. If you have known me personally, you will know that I am all about the startups. The creative energy that surrounds the startup culture is inspirational.

At IBM, we have always valued the creative expertise of our emerging entrepenurs. With that being said, we have been looking at ways to connect with the students, startups and people making it work.

Today, senior White House and Cabinet officials are joining with IBM and top key entrepreneurs to announce a series of new commitments, all with the goal of increasing the prevalence and success of American entrepreneurs.

We are a key partner in this new Obama Administration initiative — called Startup America — to promote entrepreneurship and high-growth startups.

As part of this new initiative, IBM will invest $150 million in 2011 to fund programs that promote entrepreneurs and new business opportunities in the United States, as part of the White House-led Startup America campaign.

The investment will be used to:

• Coach and mentor startup businesses throughout the United States initiative
• Expand education, build skills and mentorship programs in collaboration with the academic and venture capital communities.
• Provide skills and business opportunities to the growing community of software developers who collaborate on emerging technologies.

Last year, we launched the IBM Global Entrepreneur program and we have helped over 500 new businesses in key areas such as green energy, cloud and transportation. Some examples for your reference: Carecloud, Streetline and Sproxil etc.

As a developerWorks Social Web Strategy Leader, who has been immersed in the web/digital side for over 14 years, I am very humbled to work with the masterminds who launched developerWorks around 10 years ago. A community, A web community for software developers. It has become community for Social Business with 8 million participants. We will use the same model to intergrate with the Academic and Startup communities we work with. Unlike other firms, our program focuses directly on the people and resources involved in developement of new projects and companies.

We work closely with the VC community to identify high potential companies whose strategy aligns with ours. We then provide coaching, mentoring, market visibility and contact with our customers. It is all about building skills.

As part of the Startup America program, IBM will collaborate with other participants as the company works to expand its ecosystem of more than 100,000 partners, more than 8 million developers and nearly 6,000 universities in programs to help develop new technologies and prepare students and developers with the skills to succeed in a global market.

Additionally, there are five IBM Innovations Centers in the United States where IBM provides access to technology, education and hands-on assistance to help business partners and startups design, build, market and deliver new technologies and solutions to the country’s most difficult problems. The 5 US IIC’s are located in Austin, Dallas, Chicago, Waltham, Mass., and San Mateo, Calif.

The new investment will be used to bring these diverse communities together, encouraging collaboration and innovation around new solutions to some of the planet’s toughest challenges with a series of IBM-led forums that bring together civic, academic, business and entrepreneurial leaders to discuss the key challenges facing our cities and communities.
#ls11

The BarackBerry – The Hummer of all Blackberries

It uses it’s own satellite for the signal and apparently is hackproof. It was only ~4k, so if you have some money to kill – but even if you do, I doubt you can get it. Enjoy the weekend folks!