Talent pool is praised as Google opens innovation lab in Belfast
A partnership between Google and the professional services firm PwC is to establish an Innovation Lab or “hive”at PwC’s Northern Ireland headquarters in Belfast’s Waterfront Plaza, just 100 miles from Google’s European headquarters in Dublin.
Its activities will be similar to operations in New York and Sydney.
The companies formed the partnership last year, aimed at getting more business clients to use Google’s software products.
It is the first centre of its kind in Europe, however it will not immediately create new jobs in the city. Yet, it is understood that there will be recruitment in the coming months as the workload increases.
Mr Sitaram, who is based in California, said the new hub could help businesses and individuals of all sizes :
“We think it can make decisions faster, hire better talent, we think they can collaborate better and help change the culture in some of these companies”, he explained.
Commenting on the reasons for choosing Belfast, he added: “I think from our perspective, it’s 100 miles away from our European headquarters. The other reason, PwC has a very strong affinity of bringing people from other parts of the world into this region.
PwC employs about 1,300 staff in Belfast and in recent years has been building up its digital solutions “hive” in the city.
