Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship today inaugurated one of its kind Future of Work exhibition under 3^rd Education Working Group (EdWG) meeting.  The inaugural ceremony was also graced by the august presence of Shri Atul Kumar Tiwari, Secretary, MSDE; Ambassador Atul Keshap, President, USIBC and Senior Vice President, South Asia, US Chamber of Commerce; Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII; Mr Vipin Sondhi, Chairman, CII Mission on Tech, Innovation & Research and Future Mobility and Former MD & CEO, Ashok Leyland and JCB India and Mr. Raghav Narsalay, Managing Director, Accenture Research.

The Minister visited nearly 70 exhibitors with keen interest and appreciated their efforts. The exhibitors included premier institutes and organizations from diverse sectors such as NIT Rourkela, IIT Bhubaneshwar, IIM Sambalpur, Microsoft, Meta, UNICEF, NCERT and many more, displaying technologies that will drive the future of work with constant innovations in modern workplace, future skills, and innovative delivery models. The exhibition received a positive response with 10,000 visitors attending it on Day 1.

The guests and visitors witnessed many highlights, Future of Work exhibit in 3 sectors- Agriculture, Mobility & Healthcare, Metaverse, Reverse engineering and automated design solutions, drone technology, Ed-tech solutions leveraging AR/VR, industry 4.0 skills, vernacular learning-based tech solutions, virtual internship solutions, and assistive technology & tactile display for inclusion and live demo of assistive technology innovation. This exclusive exhibition is being put together on the sidelines of the 3^rd Education Working Group (EdWG) meeting under G20 presidency from April 23^rd to 28^th at CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT), Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

After the inaugural, Shri Pradhan addressed the first precursor event of 3^rd EdWG Meeting, a seminar on Deep Tech with a focus on advanced technology in Future of Work at IMMT Auditorium in Bhubaneswar. Speaking on the occasion Shri Pradhan said that Odisha is a land of skills. Its art & architectural excellence and ancient trade linkages is a glowing testimony to this. He said 21st century will be knowledge-based and technology-driven. Guided by its civilisational ethos and as a natural hub of talent, captive market & resources, India is going to play a leading role in fulfilling global aspirations of the 21st century. Skills and competencies rather than degrees will drive the future, he added.

Shri Pradhan said Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has envisioned to transform India’s Yuva Shakti into job-creators rather than job-seekers. He said that as technologies continue to disrupt, we must think new approaches to skilling to prepare youth for future of jobs. Internet, mobility, and global connectivity provides us with an opportunity to think about global requirements. We must come together to convert this opportunity for India’s youth as well as for those belonging to the Global South, he added. The Minister expressed his happiness that today on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, industry, academia, startup ecosystem and all stakeholders have come together in Bhubaneswar under the G20 Future of Work framework to reimagine the skilling ecosystem, create future-ready global citizens and make India a global hub of skilled manpower. He also complimented and appreciated the spirit of Jan Bhagidari of the people of Odisha.

The Minister informed that more than 1 lakh youth have participated in month long G20-related events to generate and pique curiosity about India’s G20 Presidency as well as the 3rd Education Working Group Meeting in Bhubaneswar.

The Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) are hosting precursor events on April 23^rd and 24^th, and for Day 1, the theme is ‘Deep Tech with a focus on advanced technology in Future of Work’. To delve deeper into theme around the advent of Deep Tech and its impact on Future of Work, multiple panel discussions were held today, including India’s prospects in global semiconductor ecosystem, the world of digitalization and new age startups. The speakers at the panel were Dr. Charan Gurumurthy, CEO, Fabrication (Semiconductor), Tata Electronics; Mr Kishore Balalji, Executive Director, Govt & Regulatory Affairs, IBM South Asia; Prof. Shreepad Karmalkar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar;

Col. Amit Verma, Chief Administrative Officer, IIM Ahmedabad; Mr Nishit Gupta, Scientist E, MeitY, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of India; Dr. Ashutosh Chadha, Director and Country Head, Public Policy & Govt Affairs, Microsoft India; Mr Abhishek Gupta, Chief Operating Officer, YuWaah, (Generation Unlimited) UNICEF; Dr G Narahari Sastry, Director, CSIR - Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (IMMT) and Mr. Rohit Gupta, Program Director, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog.

A unique Future of Work Experience Zone that has been setup aims to display to the youth how the Future of work will evolve by getting a preview of the required advanced technical skills and softer transferrable skills at this experience zone, to remain market relevant.

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AK/SSP/GCD