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Bengaluru Tech Summit: State sharpens edge to attract investments ‘Beyond Bengaluru’
Under the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), the state is looking to provide more employment by skilling graduates and creating a talent pool that often finds its way to Bengaluru where most of the opportunities are created at least until the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Karnataka government on Tuesday said it will continue to hand-hold inventors and companies to look beyond Bengaluru as a measure to bridge the skill gap, equitable growth and development that continues to hover around India’s IT capital.
Under the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), the state is looking to provide more employment by skilling graduates and creating a talent pool that often finds its way to Bengaluru where most of the opportunities are created at least until the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr CN Ashwath Narayan, Karnataka’s minister for higher education; IT & BT, science & technology; skill development, entrepreneurship & livelihood, said the pandemic induced migration has seen a considerable number of the workforce operate out of small towns as they utilise “work from home” policy. “Covid has played a big role in digitisation and the way forward,” Narayan told HT on Tuesday.
However, there remains a huge gap between how many graduates, especially in engineering, the state produces and how many are actually employed or employable since a significant number of institutions do not provide necessary industry-relevant skills.
To be sure, more than 100,000 engineering graduates pass out from 542 colleges in the state and of this at least 60% remain unemployed after campus placements, according to information shared by the state IT department.
The Karnataka government will hold the 24th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit from November 17-19 with the theme “Driving the Next” to highlight the role of digital and technological innovations that continue to support the growth of various sectors in the post-pandemic world.
While cities like Bengaluru continued to thrive on account of its established technology ecosystem and enabling “work from home”, other cities saw a reverse migration of sorts, that has emphasised the need to create similar infrastructure in these small towns and cities to attract investments.
Narayana said “Beyond Bengaluru” initiatives will include fresh graduates to get 4-week free launch pad training in emerging technologies and that the department has identified over 2000 job opportunities.
Successive governments in Karnataka have attempted to lure investors away from Bengaluru and set up shop in other regions of the state as a way to distribute growth and employment opportunities to less developed parts.
However, this initiative has met with little success in the past as the same governments continue to fixate on development in Bengaluru than build better infrastructure and connectivity to other parts of the state. This has led to inequitable distribution of growth with better healthcare, education, opportunities in Bengaluru and neglecting other regions.
The per-capita income of the region was ₹128,761 in 2018-19 as against Bengaluru which stands at ₹301,748.
The Kalaburagi division, which covers the Kalyana-Karnataka region, home to six of the most backward districts in the country, at ₹114,133, according to the 2020-21 economic survey of Karnataka. The per capita income of the Mysuru division stands at ₹205,829 and ₹156,729 in Bengaluru rural (not including Bengaluru city), according to data provided in the economic survey.
Narayan said though there was a push earlier, the government is now “hand-holding” to assure investors of moving to other regions.
To be sure, more than 100,000 engineering graduates pass out from 542 colleges in the state and of this at least 60% remain unemployed after campus placements, according to information shared by the state IT department.
S Gopalakrishnan (Kris), Co-Founder, Infosys, Chairman of Axilor Venture, and Chairman, Karnataka Vision Group on Information Technology said there was a significant amount of technology adoption during the pandemic.
“The entire world increased its dependency on Indian IT during the crisis and the industry came out with flying colors. It is essential that industry and tech leaders come together to understand and strategize on the emerging opportunities in the IT field in the days to come,” he said.
Bengaluru Tech Summit is expecting participation from over 30 countries, scheduled to have 300 speakers, over 20,000 exhibitors, over 5000 start ups, and expect an overall digital reach to over a half a million people.
