Taking IT beyond Tier-2 cities: KTR

Hyderabad: Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao said that with an objective of spreading IT revolution across the state, tier-2 cities will also get IT Towers to attract software companies and generate employment opportunities in districts. Five IT Towers would come up in districts on the lines of Karimnagar and Warangal, he said.

Welcoming the guests at World Congress IT (WCIT-2018) and Nasscom ILF 2018, KTR said: “With five lakh IT professionals, Hyderabad is the country’s second largest IT exporter. Technology that doesn’t benefit common man is futile. Country’s largest incubator T-hub houses over 200 startups and second phase in progress. Telangana state has been ranked number one state by the Centre in Ease of Doing Business. 10million houses in Telangana will get FOC.”

Highlighting the role of Big Data that’s revolutionizing the way technology has been functioning, Nasscom Chairman Raman Roy said: “Data is oil, but our ability to explore it will be minimal unless we build skill and change our mind set.”

Yvonne Chiu, Chairman, WITSA, said: “This is 22nd edition of WCIT. Free flow of data and domestic workforce are needed to make digital age a success. For this, private partnership, entrepreneurship and reliable infrastructure are the need of the hour.”

CP Gurnani, chair at NILF and CEO & MD at Tech Mahindra, said that “160 startups will showcase their solutions everyday, while 20 new startups joining us. I hope this event will help startups take benefit of networking opportunity with their mentors and investors.

Social innovation awards will be announced on final day of this event. Leadership awards will be announced on Monday while Social Innovation awards will be announced on Wednesday, the closing day of the event. Best inspiring tweets done by individuals on the event will also be awarded on Wednesday.”

Participating in a brief panel discussion, Rishad Premji, Vice-Chairman of Nasscom, said: “IT companies will witness lot of upskilling and reskilling activity in the days to come. Data First and Cloud First world is gradually emerging.”

Jim Poisant, WITSA Secretary General, briefed the participants about future schedule of WCIT. “Armenia will be hosting the WCIT-2019, Malaysia will host WCIT-2020 and Bangladesh hosting the 2021 conference.”

More than 2,000 representatives along with business delegations from over 25 countries are taking part in WCIT-2018. The 3-day WCIT-2018 is being held in Hyderabad for the first time in India. The event is focusing on exploring ideas, innovation, conceptualisation, strategy, business, brainstorming on the future of technologies. Themed ‘Amplify Digital – Disrupt The Core’ the event will showcase latest technology trends, user cases, focused panels on women leaders and feature strategic discussion on building a digital future.

Meanwhile, IT Minister KTR took part in Ministers' Round Table at WCIT 2018, where he said that Telangana’s digital push rested on five important pillars - connectivity, digital literacy, skilling, innovation and intellectual property.

The Ministers’ Round Table on "Rethinking Governance in a Digital Economy" held on the sidelines of WCIT 2018 being held at Hyderabad. Union Electronics and IT Minister Ravishankar Prasad chaired the session in which IT Ministers from Armenia, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and State Secretary from Sweden participated.