Start-ups are the future of the country and it is very necessary to promote entrepreneurship in the youth of the country, Union Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday while inaugurating Centre of Excellence (CoE) at Indian Institute of Technology – Gandhinagar (IIT-G). This is the third such CoE in the country.
“Start-ups are the future of India. We need to promote entrepreneurship in the youth. This is a major opportunity for them and I wish them the best of luck,” Prasad said during the inauguration of the CoE, that has come up with the joint efforts of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) of central government, Department of Science and Technology (DST) of state government, IIT- Gandhinagar and National Association of Software Services Companies (NASSCOM). The minister also urged NASSCOM to ensure that these start-ups are properly integrated with the mainstream industries.
As part of the Digital India initiative in 2015, the Centre of Excellence for IoT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) was announced by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Since then, CoEs have come up at Bengaluru (in 2016) and Gurugram (in 2018), to leverage the power of technology to accelerate innovation that can benefit the common man. The nationwide program is driving innovation in healthcare, manufacturing, agriculture, Banking Financial Services and Insurance (BFSI) as well as retail.
Talking to DNA, Jaimin Shah, member of Trustee Board of NASSCOM Foundation said that the CoE in Gujarat will create an opportunity for the state to leapfrog in futuristic technologies like IoT and AI.
“It is said that Gujarat has missed the IT bus. However, this CoE will be a crucial link in leveraging the advantages of the traditional manufacturing sector of Gujarat, the IT sector in Gujarat and the start-ups. Gujarat is a manufacturing hub, which needs to apply modern technology to its advantage,” said Shah.
