Kochi, March 24 2018: Kerala  aspires to be a  knowledge-based society for which the government will put in place all infrastructure and policy framework, says  Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He was  inaugurating  a first-ever Global Digital Summit, #FUTURE, here  earlier this week.
 “Through #FUTURE , we hope to connect and collaborate so as to enable a digital lifestyle for all in the state...That is why we have this confluence of thought leaders, knowledge champions and leading industrialists, IT professionals and  experts here,” he observed.
 #FUTURE is the first ever completely digitised event in the state that has used mobile-based services for registration, entry and communication.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister also launched M-Kerala  a unified app for all government services. Kerala is the state with the largest public Wi-Fi deployment in the country. The state Government has already set up 1000 public hotspots for Wi-Fi in Kerala and plans to ramp this up by 1000 every year. 
S D Shibulal, Chairman of Kerala’s High Power Committee on IT (HPIC), while welcoming the gathering during the inaugural of the event at Hotel Le Meridien, noted that over 30 business leaders who have made a name in the global arena are attending the summit.“It is significant that such an event is being held at a time when the world is on the threshold of a massive change impacting entire spectrum of activities. The aim of #FUTRE is to think about the future of Kerala and India and the summit is the first step in that direction,” he added.
V K Mathews, HPIC member and Convener of the event,  noted that amid all the disruptions taking place globally, the scenario also offered a lot of opportunities and challenges.
 State Electronics and IT Secretary  M Sivasankar and Chief Secretary Paul Antony also addressed the opening session of the summit. The Chief Secretary unveiled the knowledge report  prepared by Ernst &Young in the backdrop of the event.
"The state has identified some vital areas such as  cognitive science, enabling financial services with block chain technology, data analysis, cyber security, electronic vehicle regime and leveraging space technology,” Mr. Sivasankar said.
Attendees at the event includes  Nandan Nilekani, Non-Executive Chairman, Infosys;  Christoph Mueller, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Emirates Group; Roland Schuetz, GroupT CIO, Lufthansa Group;  Alok Ohrie, President and MD, India Commercial, Dell EMC;  Byju Raveendran, founder and CEO, Byju’s;  Natesh Manikoth, Chief Data Officer, Federal Aviation Administration, US; and  Dinu John Parel, Global CIO, Dover Corporation.

Cisco helps to create 1000 public WiFi hotspots 
Chief Minister  Pinarayi Vijayan also  announced that the State government will provide connectivity through 1000 free public Wifi hotspots across the State. Enabled by Cisco technology, Kerala has become the first state in India with the largest public Wi-Fi network providing statewide access. The statewide network will provide citizens access to the internet with WiFi spots deployed in parks, libraries and other public spaces.
As a part of its Country Digitization Acceleration programme, Cisco has worked with the State over the last six months to provide end to end Wi-Fi hardware for these wireless access points. As part of its commitment to accelerating the digital transformation of Kerala, Cisco will install the Wi-Fi network in Phases .