These new CoEs will be spread across 20 states and will be selected from the top 300 engineering colleges in the country.

The IBM CoEs are aimed at creating a platform for the development of software skills among the students and also gives them the opportunity to acquire new skill sets around IBM software as well as help them develop world-class business solutions, the release added.

Also read: IBM opens CoEs in six Maharashtra colleges

In addition to extending high-quality education on emerging technologies through these CoEs in colleges, IBM also plans to bring its Global Entrepreneurship Initiative (GEI) to some of these colleges. This initiative helps start-ups capture new business opportunities by providing access to technology resources from IBM.

“Apart from providing training, certification and software which is free of charge to these colleges, IBM plans to take the CoEs to the next logical level of converting them into Incubation Centers, to bolster software skills and ensure industry-ready professionals,” said Himanshu Goyal, Country Manager - Academic Initiative, Developer Works & Globalization, IBM India/South Asia.

“Under this concept, the company aims to work towards creating a bridge between the industry and academia by creating a program where industry can use the CoE set up and the certified resources in the college to create innovative software projects and proof of concepts,” he added.

IBM’s Academic Initiative, under which these CoEs are being launched, has been ensuring certified and industry-ready software professionals, hitherto producing nearly 10,000 certified candidates from the various CoEs, said the release. The number is expected to increase by 6000 certified candidates in 2010.

Also read: IBM opens CoE at three colleges in MP

Last year, the CoEs were launched at several engineering colleges in the states of Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan, among others.