Dr Palanivel Thiyaga Rajan, Minister for IT and Digital Services, addressed the 23rd Connect Coimbatore event, highlighting Tamil Nadu's IT sector growth, connectivity improvements, and future plans for technological advancement.
Coimbatore: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Coimbatore organized the 23rd edition of Connect Coimbatore on September 26, 2024, with the theme "Disruptive Technology Adaption – Call for Action". Dr Palanivel Thiyaga Rajan, Minister for Information Technology and Digital Services, Government of Tamil Nadu, delivered the inaugural address, emphasizing the creation of more inbound employment opportunities for the state's talents.
Dr Thiyaga Rajan highlighted that while Tamil Nadu provides only 11% of the employment in the country's IT sector, it produces 20% of the total workforce generated in this sector. He discussed the success of schemes like TN Fiber Net, which has enhanced connectivity to 12,650 villages with 100 Mbps household connectivity, promoting inclusivity and making remote employment more feasible.
The Minister stressed the need to increase infrastructure and capacity, especially office spaces, to support the growing IT sector. He emphasized the importance of strong backing from the government, academic institutions, and organizations like CII to create SMEs that meet global standards. Dr Thiyaga Rajan also mentioned ongoing structural reforms in the state's IT sector and the government's plans to support sector companies with services like cybersecurity.
Urging companies to focus more on product development rather than just service industries, the Minister highlighted the country's advancements in producing high-value products in the semiconductor sector. He emphasized that the IT sector should aim to move up the value chain in product development.
Dr Thiyaga Rajan discussed the new Data Centre Policy of 2021, which is making Ambathur a data centre hub, and the new AI policy with training subsidies. These initiatives are creating closer-to-home work environments and positioning Tamil Nadu as an important technology destination. He announced that the new ELCOT building in Coimbatore will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister in two weeks, creating new job opportunities.
Naved Narayan, Vice President - Mobility Solutions and Head of the R&D Centre, Bosch Global Software Technologies, Coimbatore, spoke about Coimbatore's resilience in handling technological disruptions across various sectors. He highlighted the convergence of technologies leading to disruptive products and services, mentioning GPUs as an example of computing and AI convergence.
Mahalingam Ramaswamy, Convenor of the ICT Panel and Managing Director of Netcon Technologies (I) Pvt. Ltd, shared insights on AI's growing importance, projecting it to become a $15 trillion industry by 2030. He noted that 70% of global companies and 50% of Indian companies have already adopted AI, using it for predictive analysis and other applications.
G Radhakrishnan, Chairman, CII Coimbatore Zone and Managing Director of Sieger Spintech Equipment Pvt Ltd, mentioned Coimbatore as a strong IT enabling service environment. He thanked the Minister for his active participation in CII events and appreciated the state government for their initiatives in turning Coimbatore into an ICT hub. He also praised Connect Coimbatore for being a game changer in the IT ecosystem of the region.
Dhanasekhar S, Co-Convenor, ICT Panel, CII Coimbatore and Senior Vice President of KGISL, made a closing remark by thanking all the guest speakers and especially mentioning the Minister for his valuable time and remarks. He also emphasized the importance of technology adoption in core industries for a sustainable future.
The conference featured insightful sessions such as Redefining Customer Experience through Technology Transformation, Accelerating Process Innovation, Reimagining Business in the era of Disruptive Technologies and AI adoption – opportunities and challenges engaging discussion on future of technology in business.
Eminent speakers from HCL Tech, IBM Consulting, Nokia, Sundaram Clayton, Hewlett Packard Enterprise addressed at the conference. Over 300 delegates participated in the conference.