Why Tamil Nadu Isn’t Waiting for Students to Visit Tech Conferences

As Indian states compete to build innovation and startup ecosystems, Tamil Nadu is charting a distinct path, one that takes technology exposure directly to students through a decentralised, campus-based model rather than relying solely on summits and training programmes.

Under Umagine DX, a campus-focused free event and an extension of the state’s flagship Umagine technology conference, the Tamil Nadu government is partnering with ICT (Information and Communication Technology) Academy and HCLTech Career Shaper, a proprietary learning and assessments platform of HCLTech, to deliver curated technology and innovation sessions across colleges. It aims to allow students to directly engage with industry leaders and alumni within their own institutions.

ICT Academy is an initiative of the Government of India, in collaboration with state governments and industries. It is a not-for-profit venture under the public-private partnership model that aims to train higher education teachers and students to make them industry-ready.

Meanwhile, the TN government initiative is designed to overcome a key limitation of large tech conferences: access.

“There was always a feeling that the number of students who wanted to come was much more than the [number of] students who could physically come,” Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR), minister for information technology and digital services, said on the sidelines of UmagineTN 2026.

“While we are streaming this content, at some level, there’s nothing like a physical interaction.”

Distributed Network

In 2022, Umagine began as a state-backed technology conference aimed at placing Tamil Nadu on the global tech map. Over the years, it has drawn interest from students across the state, far beyond what a single venue could accommodate.

To address this gap, the government introduced Umagine DX this year, inviting higher educational institutions to partner with the state and host sessions on their campuses in parallel with the main conference.

“With the help of ICT Academy and technology partners, we decided this year that we would ask institutions to volunteer,” the minister said. “We’ll still continue the actual conference, but we wanted to run physical sessions with people in the audience and with speakers they otherwise wouldn’t see.”

The response has been swift. Around 60 institutions signed up in the first year itself, with over 60 sessions conducted across campuses.

The event was held over three days from January 5 to 7 January 2026.

The government estimates that nearly 20,000 students have been reached through these decentralised engagements.

Alumni as Catalysts for Inspiration

A defining feature of the model is its emphasis on alumni participation, an element the government sees as critical to student motivation. “These are alumni of those institutions who have gone on to have great careers,” PTR said. “It is not only exposure; it is inspiration.”

“When you sit in a hall and see one of your former students on the stage, the natural positive vibe is: ‘I also can be like that’,” he added.

The minister believes exposure, more than instruction alone, shapes career aspirations.

“Exposure is the beginning of everything,” PTR said. “First, I have to know that something exists—that something is out there, that there is a concept, an idea.”

Preparing Students for AI-driven Economy

The decentralised outreach comes at a time when the nature of technology work itself is changing rapidly, particularly with the rise of artificial intelligence.

PTR noted that students can no longer assume that software development will be the default career path for science and engineering graduates. “My generation studied engineering, physics and math and ended up becoming software developers,” he said. “I think that is going to reverse dramatically.”

Instead, he expects a return to deep subject specialisation, with AI taking over routine programming tasks. 

“Whatever your subject is—psychology, biology, the humanities, medicine, or engineering—you will probably end up doing a lot more work in that subject,” he noted.

At the same time, the minister emphasised that human skills will gain importance, not diminish. “Machines may be better at output, but they don’t have empathy. They don’t have context,” he said, pointing to the growing relevance of human interaction, ethics, and social understanding in an AI-driven world.

Access to Tech

While several Indian states run innovation hubs, skilling programmes, or startup policies, Tamil Nadu’s approach stands out for linking a flagship technology conference with a coordinated, state-wide campus rollout.

Unlike skill-focused initiatives or isolated hackathons, Umagine DX is structured as an exposure-first programme, designed to spark curiosity, ambition, and long-term thinking among students, especially those who may never attend a large technology summit.

For the Tamil Nadu government, the objective is not just to showcase technology, but to democratise access to it.

“Umagine DX is about making sure that exposure reaches young minds where they are,” PTR said.

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