Thiruvananthapuram: Japanese auto major Nissan Motors's first Global Digital Hub,the first of its kind in a number of software and IT development centres in Asia, Europe North America and Latin America, was inaugurated at the Technopark here Monday by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
"Nissan coming to Thiruvananthapuram marks the beginning of a new era for the Information Technology sector in the state. We will do our best to ensure Kerala proves to be Nissan's second home after Japan", the chief minister said.
These centres will drive digital transformation for Nissan's business by placing digital technology at the heart of key operations and services.
The hub here will allow Nissan to provide application portfolio management, best-in-class user experiences, product development capabilities, data science, cyber security and connectivity as the automotive industry evolves, with growing use of autonomous, connected and electric vehicle technology.
Minister of State for Tourism, K J Alphons stressed the need to support the state's common developmental goals.
"The Government of India is keen and proactive in supporting investments in technology sector and that has contributed to Nissan's decision to set up their first Global Digital Hub in India", he said.
Japanese Ambassador Kenji Hiramatsu said that relations between Japan and India "have never been as strong as they are today, based on the trust between our two prime ministers".
During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Japan in October, both governments had agreed on Digital Partnership and the cooperation in the field of IT, he said.
Welcoming Nissan's decision to set up the Digital Hub in Kerala, he said it would help to take advantage of India's high-level IT talents and hoped that the partnership helps to "drive forward, the future of innovation, technology collaboration and talent sharing between our two countries".
Shashi Tharoor, MP, congratulated Nissan for setting up the Digital Hub in Thiruvananthapuram.
Tony Thomas, corporate vice president and chief information officer at Nissan, said the Hub would serve as an important engine to drive Nissan's global digital transformation.
They already had some of the finest technology talent driving outcomes to serve customers around the world better, he said.
Tony said the current employee strength in the facility had touched 350 and would be scaled up to 500 by March 2019.
Their focus areas were Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity and data science, he added.
