Building a Strong Ecosystem of Talent, Entrepreneurship and Investment – Key to Transforming Bengal from a Consumer to a Creator of Technology: West Bengal IT&E Minister

“Artificial Intelligence and digital technologies are already shaping India’s present, redefining business operations, government administration and the relationship between citizens and technology,” said Dr Kalyan Chakraborti, Minister-in-Charge, Department of Information Technology & Electronics, Government of West Bengal, at the inaugural session of the 25th edition of ICT East, He emphasised that the region’s technology journey must be built around innovation, impact and inclusion, ensuring that the benefits of digital transformation reach all sections of society.

Dr Chakraborti pointed out that the state has already prepared the West Bengal AI Mission and is currently working on its implementation, alongside a new roadmap for strengthening state data centres and expanding the AI and quantum ecosystem to create the groundwork for future technology investments.

The 25th edition of ICT East, themed “Eastern India in the Age of AI: Innovation, Impact and Inclusion”, commenced today with a focus on exploring AI-led opportunities and strengthening Eastern India’s technology ecosystem through innovation, impact and inclusion.

The report ‘ Building West Bengal’s New Age IT, ESDM, Semiconductor & AI/ML Ecosystem’ was released at the session, outlining key recommendations on incentives, infrastructure, skilling, research and innovation, and streamlined governance to strengthen the State’s technology ecosystem.

Highlighting the disruptive nature of AI, Mr Sashi Sreedharan, Managing Director, Google Cloud (India), said that “AI does not respect legacy, tenure or hierarchy,” and emphasised that the rapid pace of technological change requires organisations and individuals to learn and unlearn at a high frequency to harness its potential.

“Shouldn’t Bengal have an AI foundry? Should we build a Bengal AI stack for India and the world?”, said Mr Sauvik Banerjee, Group CTO, Rezolve AI and Chairman, Rezolve India, calling for industry and government to come together to build AI solutions tailored to Bengal’s diverse sectors, languages and use cases.

Highlighting the growing role of AI in industry, Mr Deepak NG, Managing Director, Dassault, emphasised the importance of keeping enterprise data intact and using it to build industry-specific AI capabilities. He also highlighted the potential of virtual twins to simulate organisations, processes and products, while helping bridge the gap between industry and academia.
Calling AI an opportunity for Bengal, Mr Debdas Sen, CEO, TCG Digital, said, “AI is inevitable. The question is whether we have the intent and resolve to do it from Bengal and lead it from Bengal.”

The rapid evolution of AI has shifted the conversation from copilots to AI agents capable of undertaking complete workflows, said Mr Prosenjit Sengupta, Chairman, CII ER ICT Sub-Committee and Group CDIO, ITC Ltd, emphasising Eastern India’s opportunity to move from being users of technology to becoming creators.

With India moving towards an AI economy, Eastern India has a significant opportunity to contribute to the country’s emerging AI ecosystem, said Mr Manojit Sengupta, Co-Chairman, CII ER ICTE Sub-Committee & Delivery Centre Head, TCS.