Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday launched M-Kerala, a unified app for all government services at #FUTURE 2018, a first-of-its-kind digital tech summit in the state. Kerala also becomes the state with the largest public Wi-Fi deployment in the country. The state government has identified more than 1,000 public hotspots for Wi-Fi in Kerala.
Access to internet is a basic human right in Kerala, a state with mobile tele-density of more than 115 per cent in 2017. The state has also adopted a number of programmes to make the state e-literate. The internet penetration in the state is at 52 per cent. The state has a robust e-governance model with more than 3,000 paperless government offices.
#FUTURE is Kerala's first-ever Global Digital Summit and was inaugurated by Vijayan on Thursday in Kochi.
The summit will see participation from leaders, including Nandan Nilekani, Non-Executive Chairman, Infosys, Christoph Mueller, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Emirates Group, Roland Schuetz, Group CIO, Lufthansa Group, Alok Ohrie, President and MD, India Commercial, Dell EMC; and Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO, Byju's.
They are among nearly 30 global experts who will share their knowledge and experiences during discussions scheduled over two days,covering sectors from travel and transportation; big data and health and sustainability to education and skills; technology and banking, finance and retail.
#FUTURE is the brainchild of Kerala's High Power IT Committee (HPIC), headed by Infosys Co-Founder S D Shibulal.
One of the outcomes of the summit will be formation of a 150-member 'Digital Achievers Network of Kerala Origin', who will become the brand ambassadors of Kerala and champion the state's efforts to become a knowledge industry hub.
(With inputs from PTI)