Special Chief Secretary and IT Adviser to the Chief Minister J.A. Chowdary on Thursday said the State government was keen on developing Visakhapatnam as a hub for blockchain technology, in its bid to overcome challenges posed by reverse globalisation and disruptive technologies.

He was addressing a conference on ‘Skill India – the way forward: Challenges and imperatives’ organised by GITAM University.

Mr. Chowdary said AP Electronics and IT Agency (APEITA), an autonomous institute formed by the government, had tied up with GITAM University and Broadridge of the United States to introduce job-ready courses in blockchain technology.

He said J.C. Bose Institute of Cryptology would set up a centre in Visakhapatnam.

Stating that Visakhapatnam was being promoted as a Fintech Valley, he said they would organise a $1 billion blockchain challenge contest in the city sometime in October, to bring companies specialising in blockchain here and the best selected would be provided with the space to start their operations.

He said the spectre of jobless growth was haunting the country and therefore the Andhra Pradesh Government was promoting IT technologies, such as blockchain tech, cyber security and analytics to tap huge job potential.

Capgemini India CEO Srinivas Kandula complimented the State government for its bold initiative in promoting new age technologies.

Skill gap

Calling for recasting the curriculum by the educational institutes to roll out industry-ready professionals Mr. Srinivas pointed out that most of the engineering graduates in the country did not have the requisite skills and the companieswere being forced to impart training on them.

GITAM University Pro Vice-Chancellor K. Siva Rama Krishna and principal of GITAM Institute of Management P. Sheela spoke.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by Special Correspondent / Visakhapatnam – July 28th, 2017