Cognizant opens a Digital Business collaboratory in Melbourne, Australia

Cognizant today announced the opening of its Digital Business Collaboratory in
Melbourne, Australia. The Collaboratory provides a dedicated space, technology,
managed innovation process, and a team of experts so clients can work with Cognizant
and partners to design, prototype, and build innovative solutions for the
digital economy. Philip Dalidakis, Minister for Small Business, Innovation and
Trade, Government of Victoria, inaugurated the Collaboratory by cutting the
digital “ribbon” with a Virtual Reality light sabre.  

“Cognizant’s new Collaboratory opening in Victoria is a huge vote of
confidence for our local tech sector and the growing talent pool we have here,”
said Philip Dalidakis. “To have another world leading digital company choose
Melbourne as its operational base for Australia cements our reputation as a
magnet for tech and business investment.”

As part of the opening ceremony, Cognizant conducted a workshop to
demonstrate the power of the Collaboratory in reimagining Melbourne of 2030
through innovative applications of technology. These ideas include making data
about Melbourne’s people, places, services and events available on a single
platform to Melburnians; creating the world’s safest and most ecofriendly
network of autonomous vehicles that can understand each other’s location, speed
and intent by using broadcast signals from beacons and other vehicles; and
making customer purchases available across a wider array of cafés to expand the
‘pay it forward’ initiative where customers pay for an extra coffee or meal
with their purchase to help a homeless person.

“A great example of the power of digital technologies is our customised
data capture platform designed by Odecee to give us real insights into our
hospital programs and enable Starlight to have a greater impact on seriously
ill children,” said Louise Baxter, CEO of Starlight
Children’s Foundation, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to brighten
the lives of seriously ill children, adolescent and their families. Starlight
worked with Odecee, a Cognizant Digital Business company, to develop a system
that captures and reports on how people are interacting with their programmes
and does so in a way that is sensitive to the users’ needs and appropriate for
the hospital environment. “These insights show Starlight how children and their
families are using our programmes and will help us to make positive changes to
our programmes and enable us to reach even more seriously ill children,” said
Baxter.

“We’ve learned that success in the digital economy means balancing new
technologies with a deep understanding of human wants and needs,” said Dr. John
Burgin, Head of Digital Business — Asia Pacific and Middle
East, Cognizant. “Our Collaboratory in Melbourne will bring the Internet of
Things (IoT) to life and apply artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver brand
new experiences for people. The Collaboratory integrates these elements in a
practical creative space that will help our clients and partners innovate
securely and quickly.” 

About the Collaboratory

The Collaboratory includes a showcase of new technologies in action, a
fabrication space for prototyping, tools for “making” and collaboration, and configurable
work spaces for innovation. The Collaboratory will provide clients access to
the end-to-end managed innovation offerings of Cognizant Digital Business —
integrating human insight, strategy, design, analytics, interactive content, and
intelligent products — to address their digital opportunities. The Melbourne
Collaboratory will connect into Cognizant’s global network of digital solution
facilities, allowing business leaders to gain from shared perspectives,
prototypes, and experiences.

About Cognizant Digital Business

Cognizant Digital Business helps global clients imagine and build the
digital economy. By integrating human sciences, strategy, analytics, design, intelligent
products, interactive content, and industry expertise, Cognizant Digital
Business helps clients imagine, build, and run digital business solutions to
drive growth. For more information, please visit www.cognizant.com/digital or join the conversation on LinkedIn.