ABAI Fest and KAVGC Summit 2016 consisted of four tracks this year; screenings of some of the top movies / content from across the world, presentations and masterclass by eminent experts, artistic and technical competition live at the venue for both professionals as well as students and lastly job, career fair and exhibitor area for students to get better understanding of the space. And the response it received was phenomenal as about 3000 attendees turned up at the two day fest that ended with a valedictory and prize distribution ceremony.
Present at the ceremony were Karnataka’s honourable principal secretary of department of IT, BT and S&T, V Manjula; member of legislative assembly, Chittapur, Karnataka, honourable Priyank Kharge; Centre for e-Governance, CEO, IAS, honourable Rathan U Kelkar; Minister for food, civil supplies and consumer affairs, honourable Dinesh Gundu Rao.
ABAI president and Technicolor India, country head, Biren Ghose addressed the crowd by firstly congratulating the ABAI team and the people that made this year’s festival grow at an exponential pace. He further spoke about the Indian AVGC industry and gave insight on an interesting study The Information Generation: Transforming The Future, Today, that’s based on input from 3,600 Director-to-C-Suite business leaders across 18 countries. The study revealed new expectations of these individuals and identified the fundamental business attributes critical for organisations to successfully compete and thrive in this new landscape. To be a disruptor – and not disrupted – business leaders have identified five “make-or-break” business attributes, all of which have information at their core; predictively spot new opportunities in markets, demonstrate transparency and trust, innovate in agile ways and deliver unique and personalised experiences.
With these analysis, Ghose went on to mention the key trends that will be seen in India in the coming years. Infrastructure, IOT and consumer analytics will play a crucial role. “Digital world is changing in an uncanny way and with the VR and AR technology coming into the picture; gaming is going to influence every other aspect of entertainment as it’s going to be immersive,” stated Ghose.
And to facilitate the growing AVGC industry in Karnataka, government of Karnataka is leaving no stone unturned. V Manjula mentioned that the government has added additional funds for the AVGC industry and have maintained separate accounts for the AVGC sector in this year’s budget. “We never thought that this niche industry will play such an important role and seeing the statistics of the growth of the industry we are pleasantly surprised. We understand that this industry has special requirements and are unlike any other industry and so the IT-BT ministry are in talks with the ABAI team on opening ‘Centre of Excellence’ at Karnataka for the AVGC industry in the near future,” said an hopeful Manjula.
Along with this great news, she also mentioned that the ministry will be looking into the startup policy and change accordingly to the needs of the AVGC sector. With digital art centres already operating in various parts of Karnataka with the support of government and ABAI, Manjula did end her speech with a promised note.
The event witnessed a phenomenal prize distribution ceremony where both students and professionals were awarded for their outstanding work in the various competitions held. Finally, the fest came to an end with industry professionals performing their hearts out and showcasing their hidden talent that they possess with dance performances and a musical band.
ABAI Fest and KAVGC summit 2016 assured that they will be back next year with much more exciting things in store and plans to hold more such events in between. We congratulate the ABAI team, speakers, volunteers for successfully completing yet another ABAI fest and wish them support for their future endeavours.
