the goan I network
PANAJI
The response to the Goa IT Day held on Saturday at the Inox courtyard was a generally positive one with people welcoming the opportunity for Goans who wished to make it in the IT field.
While the event was praised, some participants also felt that the success of the Goa IT Policy launch depended on Goans themselves and on the government to make things work in the right direction.
Kiran Raikar, a software engineer who had come to network with investors said that this was a welcome step taken by the government to get more IT companies to set up base in Goa and to get Goans who had gone out in search of opportunities in the IT industry back to the state.
“Besides this, IT is a clean industry,” explained Kiran referring to the fact that the industry wasn’t involved in direct pollution to the environment. He went on to say that the success of the policy would depend on implementation.
“The IT policy looks good on paper. The important thing is implementing it well. If that happens, it will be good for Goa, Kiran said opining that this was a good start. “We have to start somewhere. The government has to try to develop the IT field in Goa. It needs to target start-ups and get them to set up base in Goa. Big companies want good infrastructure already in place,” he explained.
Prachi K, a senior software engineer said that the policy would give a chance to the smaller companies. “Once bigger companies see the gradual change in Goa’s outlook to IT, they’ll be motivated to join,” she said.
“We never had an IT showcase at this level, we’ve been waiting for 10 years,” said Sudhir Shetty from ‘Espressotive’ who thanked the government for giving Goans a networking opportunity like this. “Start-ups will be given grants,” he said, adding, “Earlier, Goa had many start-ups, but there was no clear picture in which direction to go, no support... we were lost and had to look to neighbouring states for guidance on how to go about our business.”
Sudhir himself started 3 years back and faced challenges as he said there was “no definition of IT for Goa,” and the IT policy would help many people once implemented.
Shawn Pereira, an IT student from Goa Engineering College said he really enjoyed some of the panel sessions that were held as part of IT Day. He also said that with the new IT policy, the industry in Goa would change and power wouldn’t be solely with traditional IT centres like Bangalore and Pune. “However, whether Goans make use of the opportunities they get with the new IT policy is up to them. If they take up these opportunities, then big software companies will definitely come to Goa.”
