San Francisco, May 6 (IANS): Microsoft has announced a comprehensive $1 billion investment plan to accelerate innovation and digital transformation in Poland.

It combines investments in long-term talent upskilling, strong local partnerships, support for digital transformation and latest cloud technology to help realize vision of "Polish Digital Valley" and boost digitalisation and innovation for companies, government and citizens, the company said in a statement.

"I deeply believe that Microsoft's investment in Poland will be important for enterprises, public institutions and the education system and will enable them to digitally transform and implement new work standards," said Mateusz Morawiecki, prime minister of Poland.

The plan builds on Microsoft's nearly 30-year track record of working successfully with Polish organisations and businesses of all sizes and with a network of more than 6,000 local partners.

The initiative extends over the next seven years and combines extensive digital transformation expertise with a strong focus on upskilling local talent with the latest cloud-based competencies.

"This investment will also provide strong support for the continued success of Poland's developer talent pool and beyond, creating critical skilling and learning opportunities for an estimated 150,000 employees, partners and students. Our mission is to empower the people and organizations of Poland to achieve more," said Jean-Phillippe Courtois, executive vice president and president, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations.

The skills development programme will include trainings, e-learning programs, workshops and hackathons covering cloud computing, developing with AI and machine learning technologies, big data and the Internet of Things (IoT).

The new cloud datacenter region joins Microsoft's global footprint of cloud regions, now totaling 59 regions announced, with Microsoft Azure available in over 140 countries.