Microsoft made it clear today where the company is headed with regard to education: full speed ahead, and in all parts of the world.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates concluded Microsoft’s Government Leaders Forum (GLF) Asia conference by introducing the centerpiece in the company’s action plan to help transform educational opportunity around the globe. For five years, Microsoft’s Partners in Learning program has been nurturing and supporting the world’s most innovative teachers and schools, and later this year it will expand to incorporate new innovations for students with affordable licenses to mainstream Microsoft products and services. The new Microsoft Student Innovation Suite rounds out the company’s Partners in Learning program by adding an offer for governments that provide PCs directly to students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The Microsoft Student Innovation Suite aims to open up new worlds of opportunity for students in lower-income and disadvantaged communities by making the software most universally used in education today – Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office – available at a deep discount. Microsoft developed the innovation suite as a vital new commitment to its vision for education, which holds that all people of all ages should have the ability to realize their potential through access to high-quality educational opportunities.

To get the story behind today’s announcements, PressPass spoke with Orlando Ayala, senior vice president of Microsoft’s Emerging Segments Market Development Group; Gerri Elliott, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Worldwide Public Sector organization, and Will Poole, corporate vice president of the company’s Market Expansion Group. Among other topics, the three executives explain how the creation of new products and programs – by Microsoft and its industry partners – can help bridge the gap in learning opportunities that exists today between developed and developing countries.