On 1st September 2018, Mr. Debashis Sen – IAS, Chairman and MD, WBHIDCO (West Bengal Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation), New Town, Kolkata
He delivered a lecture on “Opportunities of Information Technology in West Bengal. He initiated the delivery by stating the facts and undercurrents about the rising trends of IT in West Bengal, emphasizing on the increasing number of permanent employees and the total exports in the year 2016-17. He pointed out many enterprises such as Genpact, Wipro, Infosys also came up for the Bengal Global Business summit, the main objective of which was to nurture the future of IT in West Bengal and to position West Bengal at the IT hub of the country. He also mentioned that West Bengal has its advantages which will help in developing IT infrastructure; rich culture and leading growth engine of the country. He further stated that Bengal’s Silicon Valley Hub is also a major step taken towards creating opportunities of IT in West Bengal. It is spread over 100 acres plot of land. The main objective is to increase job opportunities for creative and non-creative work which requires specific skill set. This helps to build an ecosystem to draw people in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Cloud storage servers, 3D printing techniques, Block Chain technology etc. He pointed out that today, data analytics and IT are developing at a very fast rate and has become the most important resource for business organizations. Data is now being used to store information and records of hospitals and schools, to get signals from ambulances and police for quick co-ordination and disaster management. He concluded by saying that data is for the general public’s benefit.