Prime Ministers May and Modi oversee and support launch of UK-India Tech Alliance, strengthening relationships to improve workforce IT skills and promote innovation.
techUK and NASSCOM sign Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on tech skills and development during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the UK.
London, 18th April 2018 : techUK and The National Association of Software & Services Companies (NASSCOM) (the leading technology trade bodies in the UK and India respectively) today launched the UK-India Tech Alliance and agreed on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which will see the technology sectors from the UK and India further strengthen their relationship. The partnership between techUK and NASSCOM will support the flourishing IT sectors in both India and the UK by developing stronger links, networks and joint platforms, helping enhance the skills of the technology workforce in both countries.
The trade associations signed the MoU at the inaugural meeting of the UK-India Tech Alliance, in the presence of Baroness Fairhead CBE, Minister of State for Trade and Export Promotion. With the support of both Governments, the Alliance is aimed at increasing collaboration on skills and new technologies, assisting policy development and encouraging innovation. This meeting will lay the groundwork for a road map which will be jointly presented in June.
The new partnership between the UK and Indian tech industries will promote the growth of skills needed for a world where artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data analytics and cyber security will be major technology growth areas.
This announcement reflects the UK-India Tech Partnership, also announced today by the Prime Ministers of both countries. The partnership will include a UK-India Tech Hub: something techUK
and NASSCOM first called for in November 2016 to identify and pair businesses, venture capital,
universities and others to access routes to markets for British and Indian tech companies.
Welcoming the signing of the MoU, Baroness Fairhead said :
“UK-India relations are going from strength to strength and the signing of this MoU demonstrates the deepening of ties. Tech is at the heart of this new relationship between our two countries and we welcome techUK and NASSCOM’s commitment to working together to strengthen the skills base in both countries that will be key to driving economic growth, development and prosperity. The UK-India Tech Alliance will be a key partner for Government – providing a sounding board and expert advice for policy development to ensure that our Government’s nurture the growth we are seeing in this sector and beyond.”
Julian David, techUK CEO, said :
“This is an important milestone for both the UK and Indian tech sectors. We have long worked together, but we are now deepening those relationships and will be able to collaborate better to provide people with the skills and tools they need to flourish in the new world of work. We’re delighted to see the Governments of our two countries share our vision and taking key steps towards ensuring all our citizens benefit from the innovation that new technologies, like AI and machine learning, can provide.”
Speaking on the occasion Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM, said :
“This landmark MoU between NASSCOM and techUK will equip people with cutting-edge skills in emerging technology fields such as AI and robotics. We are delighted that NASSCOM’s FutureSkills initiative will be the basis for improved collaboration between our IT industries. It is imperative that we train the workforce for jobs of the future to remain relevant in the new global economy; providing the UK and India with a valuable competitive edge.”
About techUK :
techUK represents the companies and technologies that are defining today the world that we will live in tomorrow. Over 950 companies are members of techUK, collectively they employ more than 700,000 people. These companies range from leading FTSE 100 companies to new innovative start-ups. The majority of our members are small and medium sized businesses. techUK is committed to helping its members grow, by :
• Developing markets
• Developing relationships and networks
• Reducing business costs
• Reducing business risks.
About NASSCOM Future Skills :
a. FutureSkills, a NASSCOM initiative, is an industry utility to get India started and accelerated on the journey to building skills and collaborating with global partners to becoming the global hub and partner of choice for talent in the field of emerging technologies.
b. Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things, 3D Printing, Big Data Analytics, and Cyber Security are changing the way we work globally. Together, these technologies are expected to impact the lives of individuals, business organizations and Governments all across the world.
c. Evolving job roles around new technologies areas will be in high demand in the near future.
Consequently, it would be imperative to prepare the global work-force to acquire the
necessary skills for these job roles.
d. An estimated ~6-8 million highly skilled persons will be required by these new technology
areas globally. About 20-25% of these will be created in India, i.e. 1.5-2 million persons.
There is a need to undertake re-skilling of 50-60% new jobs with new skills 2. NASSCOM will
work with global partners to upskill talent
e. Collaboration and co-creation is the key to success in such disruptive times. There is a
global shortage of skilled workers. No country has more skilled, digitally trained workers than
they have jobs for.
f. Future Skills will enable employees of participating firms to:
i. Understand & become familiar with 9 emerging technologies and their associated job roles. In Phase1, this would be done with Curated Informal/ Continuous Learning infrastructure – learning channels and introductory pathways for each technology and job role.
ii. Discover high-demand job roles and skills needed in the emerging technologies. In Phase 1, subscribers will be able to see which job roles are in high demand globally and the key skills needed for each of 55 identified job roles.
iii. Up-Skill in the emerging technologies by enrolling in deep skilling pathways.
g. NASSCOM and member companies are walking the path of leveraging this opportunity.
NASSCOM has constituted a FutureSkills workgroup (in partnership with BCG) to understand
the implications of these disruptive technologies and shape the future skilling/reskilling
initiative for the Indian IT Industry.
