Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said the State government intends to increase the floor area of its IT parks by 10 million square feet.
He was delivering the inaugural address at the global digital summit #Future here on Thursday. Mr. Vijayan emphasised the importance of equipping the higher education sector in the State with skills relevant to the emerging economy so that the skilled workforce would get opportunities in Kerala itself. To achieve this, the government was preparing the State to become a force to reckon with in the digital economy.
The first global digital summit is a key step in showcasing Kerala as a global information and digital technology destination. Kerala presents a phenomenal business ecosystem with a 35 million-strong population which is connected and consumption-ready.
“The government is promoting start-ups with both technical and financial support. We are also investing in skill delivery platforms,” he said.
Knowledge society
The summit also provides an opportunity for the State to showcase its multiple initiatives towards transforming into a knowledge society, like the Knowledge City in Thiruvananthapuram, the Maker Village in Kochi, and the Mobility Hub in Kozhikode, Mr. Vijayan said.
Mr. Vijayan held consultations with Jim Chabin, president, Advance Imaging Society; Jake Black, Head of Virtual Reality, Sony; Anuradha Acharya, Founder and CEO, Mapmygenome; Prasanth Warrier, CEO, Qure.ai; Byju Raveendran, CEO, Byju’s App; Arun Kumar, CEO, KPMG; Harish Krishnan, Managing Director, Cisco Systems; Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Infosys; Ajith J. Thomas, Professor, Harvard Medical School; Christoph Mueller, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Emirates Group; and Roland Schuetz, Group CIO, Lufthansa Group among others.
S.D. Shibulal, Chairman, State government’s High Power IT Committee (HPIC), Chief Secretary Paul Antony, and V.K. Mathews, member of HPIC, also addressed the gathering.
