nasscom announces the list of most promising Digital Skilling Technology Organisations of 2023

Digital skill-building continues toa be a key imperative for businesses as digital technologies permeate all aspects of products and services. Businesses are accelerating their focus on not only reskilling their existing employee base but also taking steps to equip the next gen of talent pool with the required skills. To acknowledge and recognize organizations that are undertaking multiple initiatives to promote a culture of digital learning and growth, nasscom today announced the winners of its first-ever Digital Skills Awards, held on the sidelines of NASTech Chennai.

The tech industry employee base in India currently stands at over 5.4 million with ~2 million digitally skilled employees. With the demand supply gap for digital talent in the country hovering at more than 20% (though it remains lowest compared to major global tech centers), Indian organizations are aggressively pursuing digital skilling to make India the global talent hub.

A survey conducted by nasscom highlighted that 52% of tech organizations are spending on an average up to 100 hours per employee annually in digital learning with Cloud Computing, AI/ ML, Mobile and Web Development being the top 3 digital technologies in focus. Foundational digital skilling across all major technologies is now perceived as an integral element for both core tech, as well as non-tech roles.

The first edition of the awards saw over 300 case submissions across over 100 unique organisations. These awards focused on digital skilling in the technology industry and acknowledged the leading initiatives which have the scalability potential across five broad categories: 

• Social Changemakers – Digital skilling initiatives for the society benefitting large proportion of the population and creating maximum social impact.
• Innovation Ignitor – Digital skilling using innovative modes for learning as well as robust learning infrastructure.
• Academic Partnership Pioneer – Partnerships with academic institutions for skilling students and/or employees for the strategic creation of a wider talent pool.
• Digital Fluency Catalyst – Focuses on firm-wide large-scale digital skilling, niche skills and a learning culture.
• Deep Skills Disrupter – Focuses on niche digital skilling initiatives across emerging technologies.

Speaking at the launch of the awards, Sangeeta Gupta, Sr. Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at nasscom said, “The competitive advantage for nations and enterprises today is determined by the availability and proficiency levels of its skilled talent pool. For the tech industry in India to remain globally competitive and reach its “Global Digital Talent Hub” destination, its crucial for all stakeholders to work together towards the collective goal of skilling the next gen. Our best wishes to each of the winners.”

The submissions received covered a varied list of initiatives undertaken by companies to not only digitally skill their current employee base, but also focused on initiatives to build the next-gen talent pool and train/upskill the faculty and professors in emerging tech areas. While some programs focus on nurturing and equipping engineering students with industry-aligned knowledge of the latest digital Technologies & strengthening their fundamentals, some are focused on targeted initiatives like transformation of the Polytechnic and Industrial Training Institutes  (ITIs) into futuristic Centers of Excellence (COEs). Building a ‘Learning by Doing’ culture, bridging the initial entry barriers and inequality of access to AI across all strata of the society, youth development, empowering women and girls in technology through digital skill training, vocation training, entrepreneur development programs are initiatives creating a larger societal impact.

For India to become the global hub for digital talent, Government, Educational Institutions, Organizations, and Skills Councils must work together on various initiatives such as industry-academia partnerships for trainings, digital infrastructure for training support, reskilling and upskilling courses for emerging technologies, government funding and incentives, Internships, curriculum development and inclusivity in training opportunities.

The Nasscom Digital Skills Awards 2023 winners list across various categories: