“The Government of West Bengal is keen on taking forward digitization for a sustainable development of the state,” said Mr Debasish Sen, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Information Technology & Electronics, GoWB, Chairman & Managing Director, WBHIDCO & Chairman, Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority in his Keynote Address at the 18th ICT East organized by CII in Kolkata today. Mr Sen took the instance of a Taiwanese IT business delegation visiting Kolkata today to scout for investments in the IT Hardware parks at Sonarpur, Naihati and Falta. He also spoke about the Government’s efforts to build an “ecosystem for innovation” through the FinTech Hub, Silicon Valley Hub and the IT hubs in the state and the collaboration that the MSME department is working on with Microsoft to use technology for a mass scale impact in terms of developing a website for the weavers in the handloom hub of Bengal – Nadia which would showcase and share designs, have e-marketing and various other aspects to spread the craft globally. Mr Sen called for disruption in 4D printing which the Government, according to the Additional Chief Secretary, is needed for the surgical equipment cluster in Howrah and similar such places. Emphasizing on the fact that technology and digitization are the building blocks of “sustainable development”, Mr Sen requested the businesses present at the ICT East forum to register their skillsets in the Government website so that the state can showcase the skills resources to potential investors.

Addressing the IT professionals, decision makers, influencers and a plethora of businesses at ICT East 2019, Mr Sudhir Nayar, Managing Director, Cisco India Pvt Ltd said that digitization, which now is a “continuous process” has a direct correlation with the GDP growth of the country as well as the states. India, Mr Nayar added, is moving steadily on the digitization ready journey and there are huge opportunities for the country in this. Digitization, according to the Managing Director of Cisco India, is “revolutionizing every business and businesses are doing things in new ways”. New markets are being created, he said, and IT would need to gear up to the different requirements that are arising almost daily due to digitization. Competition, Mr Nayar emphasized, has become old fashioned and everyone has to collaborate and co-innovate. With industries being disrupted almost every moment, the three essentials of digitization now are innovation, experience and security, he added.

Giving the welcome address, Mr V V Rajasekhar, Chairman, CII Eastern Region ICTE Subcommittee & Group Chief Information Officer, ITC Limited said that digitization has brought about a redefinition in terms of access to technology and this has led to a “true democratization of businesses”. Mr Dipankar Chakrabarti, Co-Chairman, CII Eastern Region ICTE Sub-Committee & Executive Director, Technology Optimization Lead, PricewaterhouseCoopers India Pvt Ltd opined that industry needs to work closely with the government to actualize digitalization.

The 2-day conference had deliberations on important topics like strategy for leveraging digital technologies;     execute digital strategy to garner profit; digital technology for cost optimization; smart & sustainable manufacturing – towards better future; reaping profit through data and be secure in the era of pervasive computing.

10 September 2019 

Kolkata