Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR and IBM, the US multinational technology company, have established a joint venture called Caspian Innovation Center LLC, SOCAR said in a message posted on its website Jan. 15. The joint venture was created for the purpose of building and operating a competitive analytics and delivery center to provide IT, business transformation and business consulting services in Azerbaijan, the Caspian Region and other countries. “The SOCAR-IBM joint venture will offer its services to SOCAR and other companies in the region, in order to facilitate digital business transformation and boost the efficiency of production in the energy industry and across sectors,” the message said. “The transformation program will bring the best-practice processes and technology from IBM to Azerbaijan and region. The joint venture will set a basis for practical solutions and IT-related analytics in Azerbaijan, thus essentially contributing to the development of the human capital.” This strategic partnership will engage SOCAR’s industry expertise and IBM’s digital, cognitive computing and data science capabilities in building differentiated industry solutions and competencies in the region, according to the message. Based on the reached agreement, the SOCAR-IBM joint venture may expand its activities into other business intensive areas, such as in new geographies or with various customers. Source: Trend News Agency