The sixth edition of Connect 2006, jointly organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Government of Tamil Nadu was inaugurated on Friday by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. The theme of Connect 2006 is 'Creating knowledge-driven eco system'
In his inaugural speech the chief minister announced his government's decision to set up an IT academy in the state. Though he did not specify the location, he said the academy would "specifically focus on upgrading the curriculum of graduate and post graduate courses in keeping with the present needs."
The chief minister also announced that the human resource development ministry has decided to establish a National Centre of Excellence called Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing in the state.
"The establishment of this prestigious institution in Tamil Nadu will create a new chapter in the development of the IT industry in the state," Karunanidhi added.
Unlike many other states, Tamil Nadu has been successful in developing a few Tier 2 cities like Coimbatore, Trichy, Madurai, Salem and Tirunelveli. The state government in its budget had announced a second *TIDEL Park in Chennai and also IT parks in all the above-mentioned Tier 2 cities.
As part of developing Tier 2 cities, at Connect 2006, the chief minister handed over documents for land to S Ramadorai, CEO and managing director of Tata Consultancy Services and also to Wipro to develop their centres in Coimbatore.
The chief minister went on to say that his government would formulate a new information technology policy that comprehensively cover all sectors of the IT industry like software, IT enabled services, business process outsourcing, product development and knowledge process outsourcing. There would be a separate policy for IT hardware manufacturing and biotechnology also, he added.
*Tidel Park is an IT Park situated in the city of Chennai. It was set up by Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation in the late 1990s to foster the growth of information technology in Tamil Nadu.
