Louisiana, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, and software company IBM are partnering to expand LSU’s computer science program, revamp downtown property, and bring 800 jobs to Baton Rouge.
IBM will open a new service center downtown in 2015, but will employ 300 locally in 2014.
Under the partnership, LSU’s school of engineering is expected to double its computer science faculty and jump to the top 15 nationally in number of graduates.
IBM senior vice president Colleen Arnold said incentives were a big help in attracting the business to the state. “But we looked at the talent pool," Arnold said, "because when it’s all said and done, you can have incentives, but without a pool of talent, you can’t deliver on the vision, you won’t do it for a longterm.”
In addition to the partnerships with the state and LSU, IBM was offered a performance-based incentives package including grants totaling 29.5 million dollars over 12 years.
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