Opening ceremonies for the Cognizant Accelerator center, located at 1301 Walnut St., in the heart of Boulder, included remarks by Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Cognizant Accelerator President Sean Middleton, and Cognizant Accelerator Vice President and General Manager Todd Paoletti. The ribbon-cutting event was attended by Boulder Mayor Suzanne Jones, state and local officials, and other special guests. 

Cognizant Accelerator is the company's incubator and venture investing division that develops new product concepts, and oversees their development and market introduction. Most recently, Cognizant Accelerator has played a key role in developing Cognizant's offerings in artificial intelligence, block chain and Internet of Things, as well as launching two new life sciences products. Using the latest in lean and agile development methodologies, the 100-person Cognizant Accelerator team in Boulder is also the locus of Cognizant's own software development capabilities. 

Cognizant is a Fortune 200 leader in business, digital and technology services. The company has a Colorado workforce of approximately 1,400 people who provide a variety of services for Cognizant clients in various industries, including healthcare, life sciences and insurance. Cognizant has nearly doubled its presence in Colorado in the past five years, acquiring Englewood-based healthcare software company TriZetto in 2014, and Boulder-based custom software developer Quick Left in 2016, which is now part of Cognizant Accelerator.

"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," said Colorado Governor, Jared Polis. "We are proud of how Colorado has become a home for top technology companies and startups alike."

"Having our center in Boulder enables us to capitalize on the region's rich, dynamic talent base of experienced tech professionals," said Todd Paoletti, Vice President and General Manager, Cognizant Accelerator. "We're thrilled to be a part of this thriving hot spot for innovation with one of the highest densities of startups in the U.S.  This ready access to talented people, combined with a thriving innovation community, allows us to even better prepare to respond to our clients' needs in the era of lean, agile, development." 

"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.  We look forward to working with Governor Polis and his team," said Sean Middleton, President, Cognizant Accelerator.  "Boulder, in particular, has established itself as a vibrant tech community, an ecosystem of educational institutions, startups 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."