The ICT Academy of Kerala (ICTAK) had a smooth December, with events and activities undertaken to engage its internal and external communities. The academy has made the most of every minute, from the Christmas celebration and job fair to the startup meet and signing of the benefits program. Let us take a look at ICTAK’s December journey.

Into a healthy partnership

As part of the benefits program for the associates of the ICT Academy of Kerala, the HR department and the Corporate Operation Unit signed the first corporate-hospital partnership agreement with the Chaithanya Eye Hospital & Research Institute, T’puram. The collaboration with Chaithanya marks the beginning of a new corporate-hospital agreement chapter for the ICT Academy.

Mr. Nidhin Das, CS, ICTAK, received the agreement on behalf of ICTAK from Mr. Tiju Samuel, Marketing Manager of Chaithanya Eye Hospital, T’puram. The collaboration will benefit the associates, their families, and the academic fraternity linked with ICTAK. The HR department carried it out with Mr. Thomas Joseph, manager of Corporate Relations, ICTAK, providing solid support.

Partner in Youth Hackathon 

On December 16th and 17th, APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU), in association with NeST Digital and the ICT Academy of Kerala, hosted the first phase of a Digital Youth Hackathon, a platform to showcase the innovative IT skill sets. The hackathon provided a unique opportunity for Kerala’s young minds to work with tech experts on the best cutting-edge technologies and interact with and collaborate with thought leaders. In this collaborative computer workshop, students from colleges and universities showcased their skills in ideation, coding, and building solutions to solve real-life problems.

Empowering the neurodivergent

Inclusys.org is a non-profit organization that hires only neurodiverse individuals for data-related work. The ICT Academy of Kerala got the privilege to collaborate with them on the training of trainers program. The event happened on 17th December at Sahrudaya Welfare Services, Vyttila, Kochi.

Associating with the differently abled community and contributing to their empowerment in small ways was a humbling experience for the ICTAK. The collaboration will undoubtedly aid differently-abled individuals in developing their future careers.

A successful job fair

The job fair held on December 17 by the Kerala Knowledge Economy Mission (KKEM) and the ICT Academy of Kerala proved to be a successful venture. More than sixty job seekers were hired on the spot out of the 1500 people who attended the job fair at the Rajagiri College of Management and Applied Sciences in Kakkanad, Ernakulam. At this point of preparing the writeup, 456 others are in the different phases of the hiring process initiated by more than 40 companies that participated in the job fair. A detailed report on the job fair can be found here – A successful job fair (ictkerala.org). 

KKEM has set a goal of creating 20 lakh new jobs by 2025. To ease the burden of KKEM, the ICT Academy of Kerala will aggregate five lakh job opportunities, with four lakhs in the IT sector and one lakh in the non-IT sector. With the help of industry relations, ICTAK firmly believes that the academy will meet its target.

YIP 5.0

In December 2022, the Young Innovators Program 5.0 (YIP), the flagship program of K-DISC, was implemented in the state with the full ownership of various Govt. departments, universities, and other agencies. So far, around 13,000 students and 1,300 ideators have registered for the YIP 5.0. and fifty-eight ideas were on board. Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan, CM of Kerala, officially launched the Mobile App of YIP as well.

Startup meet at T’puram

The ICT Academy of Kerala conducted the second Startup Meet connecting with startups to identify potential areas of cooperation. The meet was held on December 21 at Malabar Hall in Park Center, Technopark, T’puram. Though the event had only participation from nearly ten startups, the round table session was fruitful, with many ideas exchanged.

Along with the other team leads of ICTAK, Mr. Santhosh Kurup, CEO of ICTAK, interacted with the representatives of the startups and discussed their prospects. Mr. Anoop P. Ambika, CEO of Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), conveyed a special address at the gathering. The meetup also featured a round table discussion on collaboration opportunities.

Joyeux Noel at ICTAK

When the ICTions gathered together to celebrate Christmas, the ICT Academy of Kerala experienced the merriness of joy. The ICTAK Christmas event ‘Joyeux Noel’ was a joyous celebration held on December 22nd at the ICTAK HQ in Technopark, T’puram. Christmas hymns sung by the ICTAK associates marked the beginning of celebrations and made the event more melodious. From singing carols to exchanging gifts, ICTions had a blast. The celebration was composed of various fun games, a shadow play, a dancing party, and a special appearance from Santa himself. A tasty lunch and wine made the event even merrier! The Joyeux Noel was, in essence, a happy and joyous time.

The classes conducted

ICTAK organized three days of Advanced Excel training on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd of December 2022 at  Nirmala College in Muvattupuzha. Thirty-two participants attended the training.

During the same period, ICTAK organized a five-day ‘Learn Python by Developing a Website’ at Nirmala Arts and Science College in Chalakudy. Thirty-five participants attended the session. The academy also organized a five-day ‘Business Intelligence with Tableau’ program with 21 participants at the same college. Long-term programs on ‘Financial services and Distributed Ledger Technology,’ ‘Cyber Security,’ and ‘Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (ML-AI)’ were attended by fifty, 36, and 40 attendees. On December 16th and 17th, ICTAK held an FDP on Concepts Coaching at Nilgiri College of Arts & Science. A total of 40 participants attended the program.

Eighty students from Musaliar College attended the 3-day class on  Python programming, and Ninety-two students from Rajadhani college participated in the 5-day section on Digital marketing organized by the ICTAK.

An end note

December has come and gone, and with it, a host of magical memories and experiences. There’s something special about the start of winter, when the days are shorter and the nights longer, and when the world seems to slow down a bit and relax.

December is a reminder that a new year is on the horizon. It’s a time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. It’s a time to appreciate all we have and to give others our love and support. We hope you have enjoyed this special time of the year and have been able to make the most of it.