Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will inaugurate the 20th edition of Connect — an international conference and exhibition on information & communication technology (ICT) — to be held in the city on November 26 and 27.
Connect is the flagship event of CII hosted by the Government of Tamil Nadu and co-hosted by Software Technology Parks of India and the Union Ministry of Electronics and Telecommunications.
Sustainable ecosystem
The theme of the two-day conference is “Building a Sustainable Deep ‘T’ech’N’ology Ecosystem”. The event will focus on five industry pillars — start-ups, IT & ITeS, electronics system design & manufacturing, emerging technologies, and skills — said Josh Foulger, Chairman of CII Connect 2021.
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The event’s partner countries are Australia and the UK. Nearly 110 speakers, including State government ministers, government officials, and leading entrepreneurs from both established and start-ups will address the event. Nearly 5,000 people are likely to join in the event to take place in a hybrid mode, he told newspersons in a pre-event press meet of CII Connect 2021.
$1 trillion-economic output goal
In a statement on the event, Stalin said that the State government is working towards making Tamil Nadu the No.1 investment destination in India. Since 2000, The Government of Tamil Nadu and the CII have been jointly organising the Connect Conference and exhibition. This helps in making Tamil Nadu a leading state in the field of IT. The event has brought many new developments in the field of ICT to Tamil Nadu like technology corridors, ICT Academy, and Aerospace Industrial Park.
“I have set a target that Tamil Nadu should reach $1 trillion in economic output by 2030. The outcome of this conference should help in achieving the target. I request participants to give their suggestions for creating a complete technological ecosystem in Tamil Nadu. The Government of Tamil Nadu is ready to implement the suggestions from the conference,” he said.
Stalin will also present the Connect 2021 Awards at the event.
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The event will bring together technologists, industry leaders, researchers, infrastructure providers, policy makers and start-ups. It will feature exclusive sessions, panel discussions hosted by eminent industry leaders to showcase the fast-paced growth of ICT sector in India, specifically in Tamil Nadu and highlight the state’s potential in IT and ICT Industry.
Hackathon 2021
On Hackathon @ Connect 2021, Chandu Nair, Chairman, CII Connect – Start-up Pillar, said that it is a 72 hours’ online hackathon for students from different colleges in the State to build innovative solutions with market potential for the problems stated by different State government departments.
The event is to create innovations for Tamil Nadu addressing the sectors with unsolved problem statements and unrecognised opportunities. The problem statements were from departments like Revenue, rural development, food, public, labour welfare and skills development, he said.
