Microsoft will be setting up an “innovation centre” in Malta as part of a five-year, €26.8 million agreement with the government that will include hefty discounts on software in schools.

The innovation centre – which will cost €3 million – will open next year with the aim of creating a local skills base in cloud computing. This essentially means putting material that one would normally have on a personal computer, such as one’s software and data, on the internet (cloud) instead. Under the agreement, students and teachers in all schools, from kindergarten to university level, will also benefit from an 86 per cent discount on Windows 7 Professional Upgrade and Office Professional 2010. They will be able to buy the software for just under €80.

Registration for this €10 million programme will open in September with about 20,000 students and teachers expected to benefit from it.

Another aspect of the agreement is the Live@Edu programme, which is expected to be extended to some 40,000 students and teachers over five years giving them free access to cloud-hosted online services.

DreamSpark will offer post-secondary and tertiary students free access to professional Microsoft developer, designer and gaming software. Apart from the educational benefits, the government has also signed an enterprise agreement with Microsoft that will give it a 12 per cent reduction in annual licensing costs for government offices.

Another school agreement covers all licenses required for Microsoft Windows and Office software in schools leading to a savings of 27 per cent.