K Taraka Rama Rao, Minister for Information Technology, Government of Telangana, also launched “Accelerate India – Technology for Growth”
In a first of its kind move Microsoft in partnership with the Government of Telangana organized a Smart City Startups Conclave, under its CityNext program, to map smart solutions for cities in the state. The discussion focused on solutions and apps in the areas of transport, healthcare, public safety, water and energy by startups from the Microsoft Ventures’ Portfolio which included Mybustickets.in, Celstream, iBot and FlamencoTech.
On the occasion, K Taraka Rama Rao, Minister for Information Technology, Government of Telangana, also launched “Accelerate India – Technology for Growth”, a concept note with solutions available for smart cities from a total of 21 startups. Addressing the conclave, he said, “We are committed to the welfare of our citizens by expanding the opportunities for e-governance, citizen services and economic growth in Telangana. Developing smart cities is important to drive the state’s growth. With this focus, we are pleased to partner with Microsoft India to leverage its technology offerings and expertise to help transform Telangana into a sustainable and competitive state that cares for its citizens.”
“We believe it is becoming increasingly important to leverage technology as an enabler of constant modernization. We are excited to partner with Microsoft to look at ways of transforming Telangana into a smart and competitive state that cares for its citizens. Over the course of the next few months, we look forward to working with Microsoft and various start-up partners, on solutions across areas that will help us keep the citizen at the center of our development and fulfil our smart city vision,” added According to Jayesh Ranjan, IAS, Secretary for Information Technology, Government of Telangana.
Neeraj Gill, General Manager , Public Sector, Microsoft India, said, “This platform offers a fresh perspective from entrepreneurs to enable sustainable development and scaling of smart cities with simple, easy to implement and low-cost solutions within the framework of our CityNext program. Through Microsoft Ventures, CityNext now offers an opportunity to harness the enormous potential of entrepreneurs and develop citizen centric solutions using Microsoft technology.
Microsoft has recently come up with local datacenters in Pune, Mumbai and Chennai through which it is making its commercial cloud services available locally. “Furthermore, with our local data centres which are now live, the Government and solution providers can use the massive computing power now available locally to accelerate e-governance, drive inclusive growth, innovation and digital transformation. We eagerly look forward to supporting the Government in its digitization efforts as well as a budding start-up culture in the state,” he added.
