The conclave, organised jointly by SICCI, iTNT Hub and the German Indian Business Alliance (GIBA), was themed “AI Tamil Nadu 2030: Positioning Tamil Nadu as India’s AI Capital”. SICCI also released its report, The Way Forward: AI for Tamil Nadu, during the inaugural session.
AMPA Palaniappan, Vice President, SICCI, highlighted Tamil Nadu’s industrial, technology, academic and talent bases as a foundation for building a leading AI ecosystem. He called for faster AI adoption across key sectors, future-ready talent development and responsible AI adoption among MSMEs.
International partnerships, investments and knowledge exchange are important to building a globally competitive AI ecosystem in the state, he added.
Gopi Koteeswaran, member of the SICCI Executive Committee and founder of Dzruptiv AI, pointed to the challenge of developing AI applications that deliver measurable business outcomes. That domain-specific AI solutions require significant investments in expertise, time and resources, he noted.
Koteeswaran also identified scope for Tamil Nadu-Germany collaboration in developing and deploying advanced AI solutions for established industries. Drug discovery could benefit from AI’s ability to analyse multiple scenarios simultaneously, he pointed out.
MSMEs, automotive and healthcare were identified as areas where Tamil Nadu could develop world-class AI ecosystems. Koteeswaran stressed that bringing together industry, academia, technology companies, startups and government would be critical to translating the state’s AI potential into scalable solutions.
The event was inaugurated by Manfred Ockel, Mayor of Kelsterbach, Germany. Vanitha Venugopal, Chief Executive Officer, iTNT Hub, and Selvakumar Periasamy, Board Member and Co-Founder, GIBA, were among the other dignitaries present.
