#Future to be a Platform to Brainstorm Over Impact of Disruptive Changes in the Making: Industry

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Setting the pitch for Kerala’s first Global IT Summit #Future planned in Kochi on March 22 and 23, leaders of industry and technocrats have said that the event will be a forum to brainstorm over the massive technological and economic changes taking place the world over and lay down the roadmap for the state in the emerging context.
Sharing their thoughts about the unfolding ecosystem across sectors, the participants led by V K Mathews, Chairman, IBS Group, and Member of the State High Power IT Committee (HPIC), at a ramp up event held here on Thursday, said it was vitally important to address the challenges and tap the opportunities of the post-globalisation era.
The first such conclave ever hosted by the state, #Future, to be held at Le Meridien Hotel in Kochi, where over 30 speakers will share their expertise. The key speakers include former RBI Governor and monetary economist  Raghuram Rajan, Nandan Nilekani, Non-Executive Chairman, Infosys, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder Paytm and Ms Gita Gopinath, Professor, Harvard University.
#Future will also be attended by 2,000 professionals, entrepreneurs, academicians, key influencers and other stakeholders from across the globe. Selected companies from different verticals will showcase futuristic digital innovation at the event.
Dwelling at length on the key areas of concern when the world is witnessing fast-paced changes, Mathews noted that the future of jobs is changing and the period of continuity and persistence of trend is coming to an end.
Automation will address a lot of problems but its adoption will depend on factors like dynamics in the inventories and the legislative as well as political and social acceptance of the change.
“A detailed study by McKenzie across 800 occupations and 2,000 work activities says that with the rapid pace of technological development, 50 pc of all the jobs in the world will get automated in future,” Mathews pointed out.
“The first category of jobs that will get automated is the ones which are human intensive, very predictable and repetitive in nature like small manufacturing, and jobs that involve data collection and data processing,” he noted.
Referring to the impact of the disruptive changes,  Mathews said a majority of the top 100 companies in the world today will not be there in 2025.
“Boundaries of business are blurring like nobody’s business. For instance, today Amazon is actually utilising maximum computing part. The forecast is that by 2025 one third of the entire computing part of the world will be with Amazon. In fact, they are very smartly electronically connecting the producer to the consumer,” he said.
As an industrial initiative supported by the Government, #Future is sure to inspire and energise Kerala in its journey towards a knowledge-driven future, he said.
“ We want to have the mindset changed. We also want the professionals of Kerala to join hands and realise the digital vision of the State,” he said. The summit will give insights to IT companies in the emerging digital trends and how to compete in a digital world.”
Hrishikesh Nair, CEO, IT Parks, Kerala; Dinesh Thampi, HPIC Member and Sr. Vice President, TCS; and M. Vijayakumar, Seceretary, GTech and CEO, IN APP Solutions spoke on the occasion.