KOCHI: The Indian American Kerala Cultural and Civic Centre, an organisation of Malayalis settled in the U.S., has come out with a plan to bring technologists from the U.S., cutting across the different technologies and other verticals, to spruce up the State’s economic growth and development.
As a first step, the Association will organise a technology summit to assess what new technology-related business could be brought to the State in the ‘cutting-edge technology’ space. The event will hard sell the opportunities and the potential the State could offer in the ‘next-generation’ technology landscape.
The event will be part of the 22nd Annual Award Banquet function being organised by the Association in New York, U.S., on November 14 and 15.
According to the organisers, the two-day summit is expected to attract 50 leading personalities from the U.S., at which new initiatives and opportunities will be discussed. A second meeting will be held in Thiruvananthapuram in mid-January, 2015, which will be attended by participants from all over the world and Kerala.
The meeting will also look at the research angle for new-generation technologies, and will hold a separate meeting with Kerala’s Higher Education Council.
The summit hosted by the Kerala Centre (Elmont, New York) will be held at LaGuardia Plaza Hotel, New York. A session on ‘Technology Hub and Kick-start’ is also planned for young entrepreneurs who have ideas for the potential commercialisation of new technologis and products. The organisers are reaching out to the Malayali diaspora in the U.S., including scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists, who could pitch in for Kerala’s development by helping initiate new technology-related ventures. The organisers believe that Kerala could do it because it has knowledge power.
Position papers to create new ideas in each of the core technology areas (all important technology areas to be identified) will be prepared and circulated in advance. Out-of-the-box technologies will also be considered as technology and business opportunities for Kerala.
According to Thomas Abraham, convener of the meet, “while trying to catch up with the other states in information technology and biotechnology, Kerala must explore the possibility of leapfrogging to next-generation technologies, including, nanotechnology; nanobio convergence technologies; nanomedicine; biomedicine; alternative energy generation and storage; medical devices and products; high-end IT; and other next generation-products from chemical science, physical sciences and the pharmaceutical industry.
“I strongly believe that for Kerala, adoption of new generation technologies with high value-added products are the only option to create more jobs, because it is much more expensive to do business in Kerala compared to the other states, especially mass production of low-end products,” Abraham said.
“American Malayalis constitute a community of about 3 lakh in the U.S. alone. Canada has another 1 lakh Malayalis. Most of them are in healthcare, but a significant number of them serve in core technology areas as academicians, technologists, entrepreneurs and businessmen,” he added.