COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio State University on Thursday announced plans to use a $110 million donation from the family foundation of IT innovator and CEO Ratmir Timashev to establish a software innovation center with which Aiming to become a new center for new ideas, entrepreneurship and product development.
It is the greatest gift in the history of the university.
“The idea is very simple,” Timashev told the university’s board. “To make Ohio State, Columbus and the Midwest the new high-tech Mecca.”
The Center for Software Innovation will bring the College of Engineering, Fisher College of Business and other partners together in new ways, including through the creation of endowed chairs, cutting-edge academic offerings and hands-on industry experiences for students, the university said.
The center aims to catalyze efforts in a region that has recently thrived on tech industry investments.
Intel is building a $20 billion chip factory east of Columbus, and South Korea’s Honda and LG Energy Solution are building a $3.5 billion battery factory in nearby Fayette County, which the automaker sees as its North American electric vehicle hub.
Timashev said “every company today is a software company” and the time and place is right for the center to thrive.
“Technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing and quantum computing will completely change the world in the next five to 10 years,” he said.
Born in Russia, Timashev earned a master’s degree in chemical physics in 1996 from Ohio State, one of the largest universities in the country. He was co-founder of Veeam Software, a global leader in cloud data management headquartered in America in Columbus, and also a venture capitalist specializing in IT startups.
Ohio State President Kristina Johnson, who is stepping down in May, thanked Timashev, his wife Angela and their family for the gift, saying it will benefit the university and the region and “spur innovation across the country for a very long time.” . ”
The university recently named its new music building after the Timashev family after their foundation donated $17 million to the university’s College of Arts and Sciences in 2020. This building is part of their new Arts District.
Veeam also donated $5 million to the Arts and Sciences College in 2016 to support student scholarship, teaching, and research in data analysis and chemical physics.
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