India is one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for digital consumers, with 460 million internet subscribers in 2019, second only to China. Newly digitising sectors, including agriculture, education, energy, financial services, healthcare could each create $10 billion to $150 billion of incremental economic value in 2025 & possibly create 60 million to 65 million jobs, as per McKinsey.
The Government of India's 'Digital India' vision seeks to empower every citizen with the benefits of technology. Google India is committed to contributing to this vision through fostering innovation in areas that are core to India's challenges.
To ensure that India achieves its digital potential, Google and the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) have come together to launch Build for Digital India - Student Developers Solve for India program. The aim of this initiative is to give Indian science, technology and engineering students a platform to become solution creators for the problems they see around them and their communities. Students will be invited to build solutions on any of the following themes:
- Healthcare
- Agriculture
- Education
- Smart Cities & Infrastructure
- Mobility & Transportation
- Women Safety
- Digital India
- Environment & Sustainable Development Goals
- Accessibility & Disability
- Digital Literacy
- Others
We will support and nurture tech ideas and/or market ready tech products by providing:
- Learning opportunities: numerous online learning opportunities on cutting edge tech like machine learning, Android, Google Cloud, progressive web apps and more through courses, live sessions, talks, etc.
- Mentorship: mentorship sessions in product design, strategy, tech and more from Google and industry experts across India to the most promising products and prototypes.
- Showcase: the program will provide visibility and exposure to the best solutions
In order to maximise the reach of the initiative, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will:
- Encourage universities and colleges across India to participate
- Provide infrastructure support
- Offer guidance and support for each theme
Through this program, Google hopes to further contribute to the tech ecosystem by
- Upskilling students on key technologies and concepts like cloud computing, machine learning, Android, progressive web apps, Flutter and open source development.
- Nurturing entrepreneurship among students and motivating them to pick meaningful areas to apply their innovative tech solutions
- Building key employability-focussed skills via various focused learning opportunities
Posted by Paul Ravindranath, Program Manager, Google India Developer Relations