Jones: Infosys Announcement ‘Catapults Us’

One of Indiana’s best-known tech entrepreneurs says the question following Thursday’s jobs announcement from Infosys is "how will it play out?" The India-based company is planning to create a total of 3,000 jobs between its U.S. Education Center at the former Indianapolis International Airport terminal and its existing downtown Technology and Innovation Hub at OneAmerica. Scott Jones says the connections to universities and other resources throughout the state to create a viable talent pool will be important to the long-term success of Infosys in Indiana. Jones will be a guest this weekend on Inside INdiana Business With Gerry Dick.

"If it does work, it catapults us with 3,000 tech jobs," Jones told Inside INdiana Business. "We would be employing here, they living here, they would be paying taxes here. You know, it’s phenomenal from that point of view and we would be providing services around the country — maybe around the world, I’m not sure of their core business model — but, it seems very interesting, and now, it’s what can we do to make it succeed?"

Infosys says it will make an initial $35 million investment to redevelop more than 70 acres of the former terminal property. Officials announced Thursday the IT services provider’s commitment could grow and eventually involve some 786,000 square-feet of facilities on a live, work, play campus on the city’s west side as part of nearly $245 million total investment.

He says the company could be supported in its training efforts through the pipeline developed at the university level, as well as other skill development partners like Eleven Fifty Academy at Launch Fishers, a coding training business he helped found. Scott Jones is chairman of Grow Indiana Media Ventures LLC, the parent of Inside INdiana Business.