Sessions

Mobile phones has reached across the globe much faster than any other preceding technological innovation with India being the country with the second largest number of mobile subscriptions in the world. There seems to be an ever growing need to determine how the mobile phone can be used for various businesses and personal transactions. Mobile Commerce has clearly established its inevitability in the recent past. Mobile commerce could be an answer to the complicated mission of achieving inclusiveness with its personal unique link with the consumer and the ease with which it can be used for transactions. Mobile phones, Social Networking, Analytics with Big Data- all of these are altering the Business Models and Approach of Organisations, not just for interacting with consumers but also for large Business and Government transactions.

The plenary session will discuss how ICT has been influencing the design and delivery of products and services in sectors like education and healthcare. The session will also highlight the changes that are unfolding in these sectors. The nuances of where and how ICT can impact these sectors will also be dealt with.

Availability of well educated Human Resources has been the key reason for the growth of ICT industry in Tamil Nadu. However, this advantage cannot be sustainable over the long run – unless there are efforts to have kept it relevant to the changing market environment. Innovation in educational institutions and training centers become critical in achieving this. Our students should have an analytical and research oriented mind-set right from early education and this is the only way to build a culture of enquiry and innovation in young minds. With 440 engineering colleges churning out 19,000 graduates every year, why is Tamil Nadu not in the forefront of innovation? The total number of patents applications filed by Indian applicants from Tamil Nadu amounts to just over 800 applications. Why is that more new designs and delivery mechanisms don’t emerge from this gifted state? How can educational institutions establish close relationship with Industry and serve as the incubator of ideas to be commercialized by industry? Best practices adopted by iconic institutions such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro and others needs to be institutionalized at the University level to take our capability to the next level in ICT and prepare ourselves to lead the change in the sector

Money and the availability of it have been a critical success factors for many innovations to see meaningful completion and conversion to products and services in the market. ICT in the past decade has lost the top-slot it occupied in the minds of Equity and Debt funding institutions. There is an urgent need to re-create the entrepreneurial spirit in developing sustainable and scalable business propositions using technology in order to attract these investors back. So what could be a realistic expectation – short and long term from these investors? Investors also play a key role in cross-pollination of ideas and concepts critical for innovation and growth. In this session, we will hear the story of start ups and what we have to do to create the right eco system for innovation and entrepreneurship.

The process of inculcating a culture of innovation, entrepreneurship and growth in the field ICT will require us to build a matching environment. The city should be capable of attracting people from all over the world. Smart Cities are the answer.

Regulation has played a pivotal role in the evolution of the ICT sector evolution. As the sector becomes bigger the policy makers of Tamil Nadu come together in this session to discuss certain regulations that will help grow this sector. Discussions will range from the possibility of a single window clearance for those who want to invest in this sector to various PPP opportunities for govt. to participate and grow this sector. Software Technology Parks kick started and nurtured the Software/BPO export revolution. Policy framework of a similar nature is required to foster the next revolution of creating innovative companies. We need to devise a way for easy start up process and for growth of companies in Tamil Nadu.

All appliances are becoming intelligent. Transformation of mobile phones to hand held computing device is a case in point. Tamilnadu has been particularly effective in attracting Electronic, Computing Hardware, Telecommunication, Software and BPO companies. How can the Government and Industry work together to facilitate the creation of ancillary units for the ICT sector and provide logistics support? Also, we need to create conditions for accelerated growth in other major cities of Tamil Nadu. There needs to be a forum for constant dialog between Government and Industry to create and nurture a conducive environment.

Tamil Nadu has been an early adopter of eGovernance and there are many areas that are successfully governed digitally in the state. There are many state departments ranging from electricity, housing, law & order, urban development, etc. who have their e-presence and have commenced activities. The session discusses how this can be cast wider – particularly to include those who cannot be reached otherwise. Along with inclusion, cost effective means of delivery services, time to reach people, adopting devices apart from Internet and training of staff to administer these initiatives will be discussed. The panel will also take inputs from the corporate citizens on what could ease their transactions with government. ICT companies will share their experiences in other states and countries enriching the thought process on encouraging innovation in eGovernance initiatives. Potential areas where entrepreneurs can participate in the eGovernance process will be debated and highlighted.

Many success stories such as the Silicon Valley, Taiwan’s Hsinchu science park and Tamil Nadu’s own IT corridor highlight the need for a robust Physical Infrastructure to promote ICT sector in the state.Tamil Nadu can legitimately take pride in having attracted Indian and Global companies in the ICT field. But the State should not rest on its laurels, especially since there is heightened competiotion coming from other States. Newer policies to promote the attractiveness of Tamil Nadu need to be formulated. ICT industry has to be viewed as critical for the growth of Industry and Service sectors of Tamil Nadu. Attractive policies concerning Land Allotment, creation of Industrial Parksand a suitable Tax structure are very important.

How can the Government continue to attract companies as well as provide the right environment for growth of companies now? There is a clear need to go beyond the infrastructure of the past decade. The infrastructure requirement for ICT can be categorized in two parts: the first deals with the infrastructure required for the industry and the second deals with the living requirements for employees and stakeholders. The former is of lesser concern – some key requirements such as power, road connectivity and labor laws need to re-looked and fine-tuned to create the right environment for ICT sector to attract more entrepreneurs to take up ICT as preferred sector. However, the latter is a critical and a much needed requirement. It is increasingly becoming a key factor to attract and retain quality resources – which is an essential requirement in this sector. This requirement constitutes urban housing, education for children, entertainment, connectivity through road, rail and air transport, law & order as key elements. Innovative ideas and initiatives could create a symbiotic relationship as the ICT sector – particularly in Chennai has been a big contributor to infrastructure development as well.

Digital infrastructure will play a more prominent role in the next decade. Connectivity and devices will be crucial for execution. A good development is the increasing trend of 24X7 work environment and the need to ‘plug-in’ from anywhere, anytime – unlike the past, when there was a fixed and predictable work environment. Discussion in this session could include encouraging factors like working from home, tapping the latent potential etc. to attract and enhance entrepreneurs and innovation in service delivery. Digital laws such as copyright / IP protection, transfer pricing will also be discussed.

These sessions will provide rich and varied perspectives on creating the right eco system for technology led innovation and encouraging entrepreneurship. This will lead us to the highlight of the seminar where honchos of the industry will come together to discuss and sum up the deliberations