Microsoft & Google CEOs to help rebrand Kerala?

KOCHI: Forget the anti-computer agitations of CPI-M in Kerala in the 1980s. Nearly three decades on, the Marxist-led government of Kerala will be banking on CEOs of Microsoft and Google - two global IT giants - to help rebrand the state as the hot new investment destination for digital technology.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, and Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google Inc -- the Indian-origin poster boys of Silicon Valley -- will be invited as keynote speakers to a two-day global event ' Towards a Digital Future', to be held on March 22-23, 2018, in Kochi. The state government will be spending Rs 10 crore-Rs 15 crore for the programme, some estimates said.

For this purpose, the state government has set up a high-power IT committee (HPIC), with Kris Gopalakrishnan and SD Shibulal, the Malayali co-founders of Infosys Ltd, as members among others. The committee's job is to position Kerala as the best place to work and live and sell it to the outside world. When contacted, Kris Gopalakrishnan, confirmed that he is part of the committee and that there is an event proposed for next year.

The plan of the committee is to prepare a list and invite nearly 2,000 professionals, entrepreneurs and academicians to attend the conference to be held at Le Meridien Convention Hall, Kochi. "It seems there were suggestions to invite former Motorola CTO Padmasree Warrior, Oracle President Thomas Kurian and perhaps even Tesla CEO Elon Musk as keynote speakers to the seminar," said a source in the know of things.

Rather than talk about growing IT industries, the new strategy is to talk about 'digital technology', which is has more impact on the lifestyle of an individual, than the software systems have. According to a source, the conference will discuss the latest and futuristic digital technologies at panel discussions, as well as present Kerala's potential in this domain.