Kochi: #Future, the global digital summit, being organised by the state government and industry bodies in Kochi on March 22 and 23 will offer a platform for decision-makers to place Kerala in the forefront of the digital revolution and soft-sell its strengths, S.D. Shibulal, chairman of the High Power IT Council of the state government, said here on Monday. The meet, with the theme ‘towards a digital future’, will deliberate on six topics in which Kerala is well-positioned to take advantage of -- health, education, banking, retail, travel and tourism and information technology, Mr Shibulal told reporters here.
Experts who will speak on the topics include former RBI governor Raghuaram Rajan, Infosys co-founders Nandan Nilekani and Kris Gopalakrishnan, economic advisor to the chief minister Gita Gopinadh and faculty of Harvard Medical School Ajit K. Thomas. Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella and head of artificial intelligence unit Joseph Sirosh will speak in the meet through video conferencing. The meet is expected to be conducted every two years and will have continuous engagement to soft sell Kerala to the global investor community. “But we do not envisage this as an investor meet though the idea would be to attract investment to Kerala,” he said.
V.K. Mathews, chairman of IBS Software and convenor of the meet, said Kerala needs to be prepared for the disruption in every segment of economic and social activity. “Artificial intelligence and big data are going to be the game changers and hence we need to think of ways to galvanise our resources and make the most of them,” he said. “Unless we plan it, the demographic dividend we have been talking bout would become a demographic liability.”
The HPIC has suggested formation of a network of digital achievers, he said. “We are looking at the creation of about 150 such people,” he said. The HPIC also suggested setting up a cell in the chief minister’s office to follow up on the initiatives and also to prepare a digital architecture for the state. “We believe the government is following up on them,” he said.
