New IT firm plans to be among first in SmartCity

A new IT company that has set up shop in Malta and plans to employ around 600 people within the next five years wants to be one of the first ICT corporations in SmartCity.

Robert Altinger, chief executive of Atlas Technology Group, said that although still in its initial stages, the company had already clinched its first international clients and was in advanced negotiations with major international firms.

"In carrying out our extensive research on the choice of the location for a base in Europe, it has clearly emerged that Malta has a lot to offer to our company, particularly an enthusiastic workforce that speaks multiple languages and a government which is showing commitment to exploit the potential of Malta as an ICT centre on the world stage," he said.

Atlas has set up a temporary headquarters in Gzira with 20 employees. The company, which will provide software support services worldwide, has already invested more than Lm1.2 million over the past year.

Mr Altinger is a support management veteran who has worked in executive positions with various leading companies including JP Morgan and Microsoft. Smart City will be a Lm110 million ICT village in Ricasoli to be run by Dubai-based Tecom Investments, which operates Dubai Internet City.

The government says the project will create more than 5,000 jobs over the next decade and a half, the bulk of them in areas related to information and communications technology.

IT Minister Austin Gatt said that in synergy with Atlas's investment in specialised training, the country "must and will rise to the challenge.

"Having risen to the challenge of creating hundreds of new jobs, we must rise to the challenge of preparing the hundreds and the thousands to fill those positions," he said.

MCAST has this year reported a trebling of registrations in its ICT programmes over last year. The same patterns are repeated at the university, he said.

The ministry has been working closely with MCAST and the Ministry for Education to make sure that the ICT student intake is expanded so that the number of potential ICT graduates will continue to grow.

Dr Gatt expressed his satisfaction that Atlas's reasons for choosing Malta confirmed that the government had made the right choices over the past few years.