Bengaluru
A high-level delegation of IBM officials on Tuesday met Dr C N Aswath Narayan, Minister for IT-BT, Science & Technology at Vikasa Soudha and evinced interest in sharing knowledge with the government of Karnataka in the areas of cyber security and artificial intelligence.
The three-member IBM delegation, which was led by Sandip Patil, managing director, IBM South Asia assured the minister that the company would help the government in formulating a cyber- security policy.
During the meeting, Dr Narayan said the government would take the help of the company in matters concerning cyber security.
Sandip Patil said IBM had recently opened a Security Command Centre in Bengaluru to improve cyber resilience and capacity development of the industry.
He said the company would discuss the capabilities of this new facility including some strategic collaboration avenues to develop effective cyber incident response with the government, adding that, the company was willing to train the government staff in this direction if necessary.
Patil said providing for adequate cyber security is likely to pose a stiff challenge in the coming days and added that it is necessary to tackle the issue in right earnest. He said the company would provide all the assistance to the government in implementing a cyber-security policy.
Meanwhile, Dr Aswath Narayan said members of the Karnataka Milk Federation and other co-operative societies have also evinced interest to partner with IBM.
Patil said he welcomed the government’s initiative to empower 14 government-run engineering colleges of the state and added that the government had sought IBM’s assistance in formulating a curriculum and research programmes for the engineering students.
Patil expressed IBM’s readiness to lend a helping hand in upgrading the quality of education to global standards and also augment the employability quotient of youths in the state.
Patil said IBM intends to upgrade all the Atal Tinkering Labs in the state and hoped that the government would extend its co-operation in this regard.
Meanwhile, Dr Narayan announced that IBM had positively responded to upgrade the Sri Krishnarajendra Silver Jubilee Technological Institute in Bengaluru on a partnership basis. He said the government will discuss the modalities of this partnership with the company soon.
The delegation also discussed the company’s CSR initiatives, commitment and efforts in the development of technology, skilling and education ecosystem.
Gaurav Sharma, Vice-President, IBM Cloud and Cognitive Software Labs and Kishore Balaji, IBM executive director, government and regulatory affairs – South Asia were also part of the company’s delegation.
IT-BT Director Meena Nagaraj and Director of Technical Education P. Pradeep were also present.
