Hyderabad, Feb 19 (IANS) The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) on Monday launched a platform to upskill two million IT employees and skill two million youth in eight technologies starting with Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the FutureSkills platform while formally inaugurating the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) 2018 through video conference from New Delhi.

Half of the Indian IT industry’s four million employees will be upskilled and another two million potential employees and students will be skilled over the next three to four years under the initiative launched by Nasscom and the industry with the help of the Central government.

The technology professionals and the youth will be skilled and re-skilled in AI, Virtual Reality, Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, 3D Printing, Cloud Computing, Social and Mobile.

Nasscom also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) to collaborate in fostering, cultivating and strengthening reskilling initiatives.

The MoU was signed in the presence of Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Nasscom President R. Chandrashekhar on the sidelines of WCIT, the three-day global event which began here on Monday.

As a part of the MoU, Nasscom and MeitY will work together to enable skill development and continuous learning not only for individuals in the IT-ITeS industry and its aspirants but also employees belonging to other sectors.

Prasad said the government would extend all possible help to Nasscom and the industry in the initiative.

Chandrasekhar said the initiative would be significant for the IT industry to achieve its aspiration of $350 billion IT exports, from the current $150 billion, by 2025.

He said the platform would not only help the existing workforce to acquire new skills in the emerging technologies but will also create an industry-ready workforce.

The platform for reskilling and upskilling of the workforce in new and emerging ICT technologies complements the government’s Digital India initiative.

While Digital India is working on steps to increase domestic electronic production, BPO promotion schemes for employment, this platform will make talent available for India and the Indian industry to embrace opportunities from emerging technologies, Nasscom said.

Nasscom has conducted a comprehensive study with the Boston Consulting Group to identify eight technologies, poised to grow tremendously, both nationally and globally, in the coming decade, along with associated 55 job roles and corresponding skills required for those technologies.

The FutureSkills platform will enable discovery, continuous learning and a marketplace of best-in-class training providers/virtual labs and certifications for each of these job roles and skills, with customised pathways for learning, it added.

–IANS
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