Construction is under way on the extension to the Tech Park building, and is expected to be complete by the end of the year.

Inside the 'Watson Centre', IBM will have "high-end displays and ways to interact with big and diverse data sets that are inherent in much of modern research", according to a media release.

It's the next stage of a 25-year partnership between the company and Federation University, vice-chancellor Professor Duncan Bentley said, with hundreds of workers, including university graduates, based at Mount Helen.

"Our success as a regional university is in large part due to the strong partnerships we foster between industry, government, and community," he said.

"If you look at what IBM's done across the globe - it is transformational for business, the industry, the government, in the places these hubs are located.

"If you look at the use cases that we will be able to develop with partners here, in food, in energy, in water, in climate, in liveability of cities, these are all the hot-button points which are absolutely front of mind for everyone globally."

Professor Bentley suggested farmers accessing agricultural data, or water utilities designing new systems using information at the centre as examples for possible uses.

IBM's managing partner for Australia and New Zealand, Doug Robinson, said the new space will help foster collaboration and "help solve real-world challenges".

"We're not seeing industry transformation that doesn't involve technology, it's a shift from 10 years ago, but if you're talking to CEOs today - process optimisation, robotics, data insights, and again, I think this emerging technology hub will help in that," he said.

"The emerging technologies hub is exciting because in that space, we don't know what's going to come out of it, it's going to be industry-changing."

The Committee for Ballarat is also based in the SMB's Tech Park, and counts Federation University and IBM among its members.

Chief executive Michael Poulton said the company was a "sleeping giant" in Ballarat.

IN THE NEWS

"A key part of this is the collaborative nature of the work IBM's doing - (they're saying) we're not going to lock ourselves away and just do this and not tell anyone about it, we're going to provide a service here where all boats can rise on the same tide," he said.

"It's a great opportunity for businesses to experience that and benefit from it."

Have you signed up to The Courier's variety of news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in Ballarat.