SAP CEO Bill McDermott

JOHANNESBURG – SYSTEMS Applications Products (SAP) is to invest over €2 billion in France to accelerate its growth in the cloud and advance a technology community focused on machine learning (ML), blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT) and software as a service (SaaS).

The company also plans to invest in research and development (R&D) over the next five years in the world’s sixth largest economy.

Bill McDermott, the SAP Chief Executive Officer, confirmed the series of planned investments for SAP’s operations in France to accelerate the company’s digital strategy and support France’s growing position as a hub of innovation.

Plans include the opening the second SAP.iO Foundry location in Europe to provide more than 50 startups with mentorship, technology and access to the vibrant SAP ecosystem.

A round sspend by SAP of €150 million yearly in R&D annually has been confirmed as well as investment by SAP.iO Fund in French startups.

SAP will focus on startups that build solutions complementary to the SAP Leonardo system to foster fast collaboration and global scale.

Signaling its continued support for France, SAP estimates a more than €2 billion spend over five years, intended to speed the company’s fast growth in the cloud and advance a technology community.

SAP has acquired Recast.AI Acquisition to accelerate Natural Language Processing Capabilities.

Founded in 2015, Recast.AI’s technology matches the requirements of conversational chatbots and allows high-performance natural language processing that supports more than 20 languages.

“There is a real sense of economic momentum in France,” McDermott said after meeting French President Emmanuel Macron.

McDermott said Macron’s bold embrace of the digital world would help France rise to an enviable position as a global innovation leader.

“We see immense potential in the entrepreneurial spirit of France to disrupt business models, create modern jobs and unleash exciting new opportunities that help the world run better,” he added.

SAP France celebrated its 30-year anniversary in 2017. Thousands of organizations in France rely on SAP solutions and services.

In addition to hosting two of the 19 SAP Labs of SAP Labs Network, the company opened a flagship SAP Leonardo Centre location in Paris last year.

– CAJ News