AIMS 2007 of IIM-K Visualizes Calicut as Next IT Destination

AIMS 2007 of IIM-K Visualizes Calicut as Next IT Destination

It was a momentous occasion in the history of Calicut as IIM Kozhikode in association with Calicut IT Initiative (CITI), a professional citizens' initiative, played an instrumental role in bringing together decision-makers from major IT companies, the Kerala Government, local policy-makers and infrastructure developers to formulate

strategies that would help put Calicut on India's IT map. The ConnectCalicut program was launched as a part of AIMS 2007, IIMK's Annual IT Management Summit, that was held on 17th and 18th November 2007.

The round-table discussion that was held at Taj Calicut, saw participation from head-honchos of major IT companies, such as Mr. Lil Mohan, MD of WiMax at Intel, Mr. Sandeep Shrivastav, Director of Search at Yahoo! India, Mr. Sanjai K., Director, SAP Labs India, Mr. Sudhindra Chatterjee of Cognizant, Mr. Pashupathy Gopalan, Director of Marketing at Cypress Semiconductors, Mr. Ajit Menon of Satyam, Mr. Murugavel Janakiraman, CEO of Bharat Matrimony, and Chairman of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), and Mr. Hitesh Oberoi, Co-Promoter and COO of Naukri.com.

The discussion began with a welcome address by Mr. Nityanand Kamath, President of CITI, and was followed by a brief on Calicut's value proposition by Dr. Saji Gopinath of IIMK. Mr. Vijayraghavan, Founder and CEO of Technopark, Trivandrum then gave a presentation on IT innovations emerging out of Kerala and Calicut specifically, while Mr. Duleep Sahadevan, President of the Calicut IT Forum, gave a presentation on the IT Policy of the Govt. of Kerala. Mr. Ramesh Kumar, Director, STPI spoke about the incentives offered by STPI, while Dr. Sreeram Kumar, Professor, NIT Calicut, elaborated on the initiatives taken to improve the employability of engineering graduates from Kerala through the MHRD-NASSCOM finishing school. Mr. Pradeep Kumar, MLA, emphasized that the ConnectCalicut initiative had the strong backing of the Kerala government, which would leave no stone unturned in helping develop Calicut as an IT destination. With Dr. A. Jayathilak, the District Collector, delivering the closing remarks with a presentation on development plans of Calicut, the floor was thrown open for an interactive session between the Government officials and the IT heads.

The interactive session brought out a number of invaluable suggestions and ideas from the IT heads based on their own experiences. The government officials and members of CITI actively sought feedback from IT leaders on requirements of IT organizations in order to help Calicut bridge the gap. The members of CITI emphasized that Calicut offered potential IT employees excellent work-life balance by virtue of its location in God's Own Country, and its rapidly developing infrastructure. It was unanimously agreed upon that Calicut offered a unique selling proposition, that of a potential IT destination with a low cost of living but high quality living standards.

The interactive session ended with a vote of thanks by Mr. Zakeer, President, Calicut Management Association, and was followed by the Corporate Dinner. Mementoes were presented to all the IT heads, and IIM Kozhikode students were also felicitated for being instrumental in conceptualizing and organizing this event.

Concluded.

Contributed by -
Media Cell,
IIM Kozhikode.

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