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HP to hire 400 people in Oz 'innovation centre'

Also down under, IBM teams with government on defence research

Stricken giant Hewlett Packard will put 430 more people on its payroll in the Australian city of Adelaide.

A great many of the new hires will work at a new “HP Innovation and Collaboration Centre” to be located at the University of South Australia.

Just what kind of innovation will be undertaken at the centre is not clear. Neither HP nor The University of South Australia have responded meaningfully to The Register's inquiries, other than to send a canned statement from the State's Premier (think Governor) that says the jobs will come in “high-end fields such as software development”. The statement also notes the centre will be the beneficiary of “a $5.5 million grant” to get it up and running. The University will also offer some new technology degrees and work with HP to funnel some students into internships.

The announcement will play well in South Australia, as General Motors recently announced it will leave the state in coming years, taking with it several thousand jobs. The new HP centre is therefore being positioned as a chance for auto-workers to retrain as software developers.

Also in Australia, and announced within an hour of HP's hiring spree, comes of “ … a new alliance between the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and IBM to conduct research in a range of high-end defence technologies.”

The alliance will cover “cyber security, analytics and cognitive computing”. IBM has told The Reg it may take a while to find someone who can offer more detail than that. ®

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