SAP Labs India partners NeGD to set up Centre for Digital Government

SAP Labs India said it will work closely with NeGD to set up SCDG in Bengaluru. It will focus on capacity building, programme management, and implementation of Digital India’s projects and initiatives undertaken by the ministries and/or their departments, both at central and state levels.

As part of the MoU, SCDG will cater to three broad pillars of activities –  innovations in technology application for government service delivery, capacity building, and knowledge sharing, and thought leadership. It will involve policy consultations to support the realisation of the following for the benefit of the Indian public service and sector across all levels of government.

“The potential and application of technology for an inclusive growth has been a game changer for India. To leapfrog further, cross-stakeholder industry-government collaboration is becoming more important than ever. The collective initiative of National e-Governance Division and SAP will support innovation and capacity building to enable the next wave of Digital India’s inclusive and transformational initiatives,” Abhishek Singh, President and CEO, National e-Governance Division (NeGD), MeitY, said inaugurating the centre.

Sindhu Gangadharan, SVP & MD, SAP Labs India said the SCDG, established in partnership with NeGD, aims to promote adoption of technology-based solutions in India’s public service sector through specially curated digital upskilling programs for government officials.

At SCDG, technology experts will directly engage with public service professionals to provide strategic mentorship and will conduct training programmes, workshops/roundtables, and innovation showcases. “SAP is committed to driving the innovation agenda in India, and the latest initiative reinforces our efforts towards enabling digital transformation and journey towards sustainable growth.”

SCDG will also conduct regular training programmes for government officials to build their technical and digital citizenship skills when implementing technology. For this, it will work with MeitY, commerce and industry ministry, and the education ministry to ensure longer-term achievement of desired impact and thereby address needs of all central and state government digitization requirements.

Government IT spending in India is forecast at $9.5 billion in 2022, up 12% from 2021, according to research firm Gartner. Apeksha Kaushik, principal analyst at Gartner, said modernisation has been a longs-tanding objective of government organisations for over a decade now, but the challenges posed by the pandemic has mobilised a wave of transformation activities.

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