The FutureSkills programme aims to re-skill 1 million professionals along with 1 million potential employees and students in the industry over a period of 5 years
Information technology services body National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) on Thursday outlined the roadmap for its reskilling initiative -- FutureSkills -- which was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February.
Ten member companies of NASSCOM will be a part of the first phase of the initiative, including Wipro and Tech Mahindra in IT Services, Cyient for engineering services, Genpact and WNS among BPM providers, CGI for global capability center, Purpletalk among products, and Dev-IT and Kellton among small and medium enterprises.
These companies will work along with the industry body to curate the courseware and to re-skill their employees. Industry experts will also contribute relevant information to keep updating the course content.
NASSCOM currently has a user base of over 2 lakh employees from member companies that have committed to re-skill their employees using the 30,000-plus content pieces available on the platform.
Across the industry, skill profiles are undergoing rapid changes and are witnessing a rising demand for enhanced digital capabilities.
The FutureSkills programme, which was launched in February, ultimately aims to re-skill 1 million professionals along with 1 million potential employees and students in the industry over a period of five years.
The demand for emerging technologies like big data analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, cybersecurity, Internet of Things and robotics is increasing as more companies look at upping the skills of their workforce.
The FutureSkills platform is an industry utility for skill development in nine emerging technologies, over 66 job roles and over 155 skills. The platform complements the government's Digital India initiative.
The nine emerging technologies are big data analytics, artificial intelligence, cyber security, robotic process automation, Internet of things, social & media, virtual reality, 3D printing and cloud computing.
"Capacity building and skill development have emerged as core components to bridge the digital disruption. As technology permeates through various industries, we are confident that the symbiosis of skills and innovation will be well absorbed across industries. With reskilling, productivity enhancement, and automation emerging as the future drivers of the industry, NASSCOM’s FutureSkills platform is surfing a new wave of growth through the automation tide," said Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM.
PM Modi launched the FutureSkills platform in February via video conference during the inaugural session of the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT)-2018 in Hyderabad.