Chapter 3
Through the Country Digital Acceleration program, Cisco has a seat at the table in 37 countries around the world—encompassing 60% of the world’s population and 75% of global GDP. We have credibility, relevance and trust with the highest levels of government leadership at national, state and local levels, and now we can step forward and say “let us be your partner” as they expand stimulus initiatives. By also making strategic investments with academia and industry, CDA is responsive to the needs of countries, and as those needs change, CDA and Cisco are well-positioned to quickly pivot and serve.
During the COVID-19 global pandemic, we demonstrated our agility by soliciting, vetting, selecting, funding and executing seventy projects in 25 countries within the first 10 days of the global shutdown. The very nature of stimulus funding is that it’s done rapidly, and the CDA process can help sort through the priority areas and indicate specifically where investment makes sense—where investment is going to have the greatest impact for GDP, job creation and fostering digital inclusion for the nations’ populations. It’s a process that we have already employed in 37 countries across the Americas, EMEAR and APJC, and it helps governments and education leaders at all levels focus on the projects that can be completed in the short, medium and long term.
NOVA School of Business and Economics | Portugal
NOVA School of Business and Economics wanted to build a new campus from scratch to attract top talent from around the world, become one of the top 10 European universities, and provide the best experience to its students, university staff, and teachers. After receiving a €16 million loan from the EU to construct a new SBE campus in Carcavelos, the university initiated a massive funding drive to attract €51 million in donations from corporations and alumni. Cisco CDA partnered with NOVA to design the “Digital Campus of the Future”—a blueprint for a fully digital university environment.
The CDA program documented all of the digital architecture that the new campus could deliver and expanded NOVA’s understanding of what was possible with a fully digital university environment. Construction finished in 2018 and the campus opened for 2019 students.
With Cisco’s Digital Network Architecture, NOVA can provide a modern, connected experience to students, staff, and lecturers, including: secure Wi-Fi across campus, online classroom bookings, collaboration facilities where guest lecturers can deliver lectures digitally, and an Experience Hub to promote collaboration between students, researchers and companies.
Take a tour of the campus.
University College London | United Kingdom
University College London wanted to significantly enhance its AI Strategy by creating new AI technologies and advising on the use of AI in science, industry and society with the goal to help make AI a positive reality for all. In 2018, Cisco provided investment from the Country Digital Acceleration program and Cisco Research Centre to shape the vision of progressive research and training across higher education researchers. In 2019, the physical center, combining research, study, and innovation was officially launched. This center provides researchers the opportunity to use real data to solve real problems, bringing non-consumer facing use cases—including industrial, enterprise, manufacturing, and public sector—to the table.
Learn more about Country Digital Acceleration.
Cisco Partner Incubator Program | Netherlands
Cisco partners were experiencing difficulties recruiting new IT-talent. Country Digital Acceleration partnered with the Cisco Networking Academy to help our partners to find and hire new talent so that they could focus on growing their businesses.
Country Digital Acceleration created an incubator program in the Netherlands to connect talented NetAcad students to the channel partners by offering internships in combination with a Certification program. Learning Partner Fast Lane provided the certification program (CCNA) at a discounted price for the students in the incubator program. With this initiative, partners have been able to hire new recruits in a very tight labor market without paying high recruitment fees. Simultaneously, students can jump-start their careers by obtaining CCNA & CCNP certification at the very beginning of their journey.
Learn more about the Cisco Networking Academy.
