VISAKHAPATNAM: The five-day Vizag Fintech Festival being held at Novotel Hotel drew good response, with a large number of delegates from all parts of the country and abroad participating in it. Most of those present said that the city had huge potential to become Fintech hub and the festival was a perfect platform to hasten pace of the development in the sector.
As a part of the festival a ‘million dollar contest’ is being held and about 2,000 entries have been received and winners will be announced on Thursday. Delegates and entrepreneurs are eagerly waiting for the first humanoid Robot Sophia, which will be coming on Wednesday and will have interaction with a select gathering. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will have a video chat with Sophia on Thursday.
The Chief Minister held in camera session with participating delegates of the festival on Tuesday. Naidu, who arrived here at 9.15 am, left for Vijayawada at 4.45 pm. In the student hackathon, conducted by AP Innovation Society on the occasion, 50 teams participated. The beauty of Vizag has reportedly floored the delegates, who have come for the festival.
They said they would go around the city. Andrian Sng, General Manager of Sing Ex, who is the event manager of the festival, said the city was cleaner than Singapore. He said that the city nestled by the sea presented a picturesque view. The city has all potential for development in IT sector, he said.
Grea Joel, COO co-founder, from France, said the festival was a good attempt to spread awareness about Fintech. He said that he had not visited any place in the city, which looked fairly beautiful. Many budding entrepreneurs were seen moving around in the festival venue and also in the exhibition enclosure, where some start-ups had set up their stalls.