Academia has always been a leader in pushing the boundaries of science and technology, with some of the most brilliant minds in the world focused on how they can improve the tools at their disposal to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges. That’s why, as the Leader of the OpenPOWER Academic Discussion Group, I believe working with academics in university and research centers to develop and adopt OpenPOWER technology is key to growing the ecosystem. The Academia Group is enabling several academicians to do research and development activities using Power CPUs and systems and this creates very strong ecosystem growth for OpenPOWER-based systems. 2016 was an amazing year for us, as we helped launch new partnerships at academic institutions like in A*CRC in Singapore, IIT Bombay in India, and more. We also assisted them in hosting OpenPOWER workshops where participants learned how OpenPOWER’s collaborative ecosystem is leading the way on a multitude of research areas. Armed with this knowledge, our members helped to spread the OpenPOWER gospel. Most recently, our members were at GTC India 2016 and SC16 to meet with fellow technology leaders and discuss the latest advances around OpenPOWER. After joining the OpenPOWER Foundation as an academic member in October 2016, the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba in Argentina sent professors Carlos Bederián and Nicolás Wolovick to SC16 in Salt Lake City to learn more about OpenPOWER. Read more at https://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/openpower-academic-group-carries-2016-momentum-new-year/