IBM’s Zurich Research Lab reaches out to students in eastern and central Europe with its "Great Minds" internship initiative

Zurich, Switzerland, and Moscow, Russia, 11 Sept 2008—In ten central and eastern European countries, computer science students can participate in this year's "Great Minds" program and get a chance to win internships at the IBM (NYSE: IBM) Zurich Research Laboratory.

"Innovation is paramount to the continued success of the IT industry, and young, talented people continue to be a driving force behind many of those innovations," said Jai Menon, IBM Fellow, Vice President Technical Strategy & Global University Programs and Vice-Chair of the IBM Academy of Technology, at Innovation Day at IBM’s Software Research Lab in Moscow. "Opening up the Greatminds Challenge to a new group of talented students can only spark additional ideas and innovations in an increasingly globally integrated marketplace."

"It is great to see such a high number of students enrolling in computer science studies in this part of the world. With the Great Minds initiative we want to promote skilled young talents by giving them the opportunity to work alongside IBM’s experts on some of the most challenging 'real-world' problems in IT," confirms Matthias Kaiserswerth, Director of IBM's Zurich Research Lab.

With its second roll-out this year, the initiative is building on the success of the 2007 program. Last year's six winners, who spent their internships in the Zurich Lab this summer, found it an excellent experience that gave them a taste of "how research really works," as one female student from Ukraine put it.

As temporary members of Europe's premier industrial research lab, the Great Minds student interns have the opportunity to join a truly multicultural and interdisciplinary community, where they can apply and extend their knowledge and enhance their communication and reasoning skills.

The Great Minds 2008 internship competition is open to all students who are enrolled full-time in a college or university Master’s program in one of the participating eastern European countries, comprising Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Candidates have to be nominated by a faculty member. All nominations are then reviewed by a committee of experts, and the best students will then be invited to the Zurich Lab for a summer internship. IBM would especially like to encourage women to participate in this competition. The winners of the internship receive travel expenses to and from Zurich as well as accommodation and an internship allowance.

More information on the Great Minds initiative and how students and faculty members can participate can be found here.

About the IBM Zurich Research Lab—Member of a global research community

IBM Research - Zurich is the European branch of IBM Research. This worldwide network of some 3500 employees in eight laboratories around the globe is the largest industrial IT research organization in the world. The Zurich Laboratory, which was established in 1956, currently employs some 330 persons, representing more than 30 nationalities. World-class research and outstanding scientific achievements—most notably two Nobel Prizes—are associated with the Zurich Lab. The spectrum of research activities ranges from basic science and fundamental research in physics and mathematics, to the development of computer systems and software, to the design of novel business models and services.