Bangalore: German software firm SAP on 30 August opened a new facility here with a capacity to seat over 2,000 employees as part of its future strategy.

“This new facility is both a sign of SAP’s acknowledgement of the breadth and quality of work being delivered by our colleagues in India, and our commitment to deepen our engagement with Indian engineering talent further”, SAP AG CEO Henning Kagermann said told reporters.

SAP Labs India is today a critical link in the company’s global strategies and the firm expects it to continue to play a definitive role in its future strategy as well, he said.

The company also announced SAP Scholar Programme in association with IIIT-B and BITS-Pilani, an initiative SAP said is to encourage engineering talent to opt for advanced degrees combined with professional training.

Under the programme, students are selected through a technical entrance test and an interview on soft skills and behavioural analysis. Once selected, the students enroll in a post-graduate programme with either IIIT-B or BITS-Pilani while spending a portion of their time working on a part time basis with SAP Labs.

On successful completion of the programme, students get an offer to join SAP and are treated on par with experienced candidates, officials said.