India owes its future to new generation: Bengal Guv

West Bengal Governor Dr C V Ananda Bose on Thursday said India and the state owes its future to the new generation, which is ready to take on the world.

Bose also said youths will drive the country and Bengal's growth in the years to come.

"The youth of India have an inner strength, which needs to be channelised," the governor said here in his address at INFOCOM 2022, an IT event organised by the ABP Group.

A host of luminaries from the IT sector and corporate leaders were a part of the three-day event on Thursday, including Padma Shree awardee and former NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik, Ericsson Global Services India MD Amitabh Ray, Yotta Infrastructure CEO Sunil Gupta, Oracle India MD Shailender Kumar and STPI Director General Arvind Kumar.

Karnik said Bengal has potential in the field of artificial intelligence that requires multi-dimensional knowledge.

He also batted for autonomy of educational institutions, stating that more diversity and freedom is needed in academics.

In his address, Ray said, ''There are too many interconnected uncertainties like the Ukraine war, global inflation, climate change, interest rate hikes and a threat of recession." He said that following the recent Russia-Ukraine conflict, geopolitics would have an impact on how IT companies operate.

''Many multinational firms have existed Russia and are struggling to recover the lost business. Politics is now definitely a factor for IT; finding a client will depend on politics,'' Ray said, adding, the changes are rapid and it is ''a future without a past".

Gupta said digital transformation is a sub-set of innovation.

''About 75 per cent of the S&P 500 companies will be out of business if they don't innovate. Now, the time cycle of getting wiped out without innovation has been squeezed to 18 years from 78 years earlier. Digital transformation is actually a matter of survival,'' he said.

Palo Alto Networks Chairman & CEO Nikesh Arora said leaders have to now embrace disruption and uncertainties.