IBM says expansion in India's emerging clusters to build professional pools
Sandip Patel, IBM's MD (India/South Asia), said the company opened software labs in Gandhinagar and Kochi, and delivery centres in Mysuru and Bhubaneswar.
Technology giant IBM has said it has been expanding its footprints beyond metropolitan cities in India. During the Think 2023 in Mumbai, the company said it has been creating ecosystems in other cities, dubbed as 'emerging clusters.
“Over the last few years, we are expanding. We just launched Software labs in Gandhinagar and Kochi. We have also opened delivery centres in Mysuru and Bhuvaneshwar. When we expand, we are creating new ecosystems around it. The expansion is in terms of partnerships with universities, skilling programmes in conjunction with universities so that we can create a professional pool in these emerging clusters not only for us to employ them, but which also benefits industry at large”, Sandip Patel, managing director (India/South Asia), IBM, said while replying to a query by Hindustan Times at the event.
Stating that IBM has been carrying out skill initiatives in remote areas, Patel cited examples of how girls in Nagaland are designing drones and coding.
“We are now doing a lot of skill initiatives in very remote parts of India. We have some initiatives in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh and Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu. The talent you find there is amazing. We got girls in Nagaland creating drones. Honourable finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman went there and told me, its very impressive. These are girls who are doing coding, That is the kind of talent we see in India. That is the potential”, he added.
Further, IBM said that skilling is a key focus of its corporate social responsibility initiatives. It added that the company has strong collaborations with the academia, government, and industry bodies in India to scale our efforts.
“With the changing technology paradigms, IBM has been an advocate for STEM education preparing students for new-collar jobs. Our commitment to education and investing to skill people - especially in STEM careers is aimed at addressing market, business, and societal needs to impact and invest in the future of work and close the skills gap”, the company told HT.
“We partnered with CBSE to develop an AI curriculum for school students - so that they have a basic knowledge and understanding that they can build on”, it added.
IBM said its SkillsBuild programme helps learners develop new skills through over 1,000 courses in Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, Data Science, and Security and with time, more and more topics are getting added.
“This online learning is complemented by customised practical learning experiences delivered in collaboration with a network of partners. Through the platform students and learners get access to enterprise-grade licensed software including access to IBM Cloud and software and a host of self-learning and instructor-led courses for a hands-on learning experience and also earn Digital certificates and Badges which carry weightage in the industry”, it added.
