Cognizant launches tech innovation hub in Boulder, Colorado

11 February 2019 Consulting.us

New Jersey–based technology and management consultancy Cognizant opened an Accelerator global technology center and innovation hub in Boulder on February 7. The Cognizant Accelerator division’s business and tech experts spearhead new technology development and invest in emerging external startups. The new center will employ 100 professionals.

Cognizant Accelerator’s opening was attended by numerous state and local government officials, including Colorado governor Jared Polis and Boulder mayor Suzanne Jones. Cognizant Accelerator president Sean Middleton and Cognizant Accelerator vice president and general manager Todd Paoletti were also on-site at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

"We are thrilled to welcome the Cognizant Accelerator global technology hub to Boulder and I thank Cognizant for their investment in Colorado's technology community and the people of our state," Governor Polis said. "We are proud of how Colorado has become a home for top technology companies and start-ups alike."

Cognizant is no stranger to the state’s bustling tech sector – Denver is by many accounts the nation’s next big technology hub, and Boulder isn’t far off. The consultancy has an approximately 1,400-person workforce in Colorado delivering digital consulting services to healthcare, life sciences, and insurance clients, among others. Cognizant has nearly doubled its presence in the state over the past five years, absorbing Englewood healthcare software firm TriZetto in 2014, and Boulder software developer Quick Left in 2016.

The Accelerator outpost will engage in the division’s mission of new product development and venture investing. In past years, Cognizant Accelerator has been particularly involved in AI, blockchain, and IoT development. According to the firm, the Boulder Accelerator team will also be the focus for the company’s software development work.

"Colorado is home to a number of our clients, and we expect to continue to grow and invest here as both our development needs and client needs increase,” Middleton said. "Boulder, in particular, has established itself as a vibrant tech community, an ecosystem of educational institutions, start-ups and companies where innovation is flourishing. It's an ideal environment for Cognizant Accelerator and the work we do in finding, fueling, engineering and running the groundbreaking ideas that are helping businesses around the world successfully transform to compete and win in the digital age."

Cognizant has 281,600 global employees and annual revenues of $16.3 billion.