Telangana and Illinois State sign MoU for sharing of expertise

The Dollar Business Bureau

Telangana and Illinois State of the US have inked a pact which paves the way for interaction and collaboration between the two states in several fields through expertise sharing.

KT Rama Rao, Industries, Commerce and IT Minister of Telangana and Consulate General of India in Chicago, Ausaf Sayeed, were present during the inking of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Monday, according to an official release.

Rao is on a business visit to the US for promoting his state and to attract investments.

The pact facilitates the two sides to extend cooperation in various fields including smart state solutions, innovation, e-governance, entrepreneurship, job creation, best practices and business incubators, it said.

“Under the Smart State solutions, Illinois State will introduce 'array of things' sensors for air pollution monitoring in Telangana. The two states will share best practices, tools and processes for disaster and emergency management, data management, data analytics, open data and Intelligent Transportation Systems,” the release said.

In the area of e-governance, Telangana and Illinois State will strive to transform the state agencies by integrating information and communication technologies into their operations.

The two sides will also share insights and information on the e-services incorporated in their respective states, assess them for effectiveness and impact on their citizens.

The MoU is aimed for promoting entrepreneurship in the two states by enabling interaction between the entrepreneurs and conducting 'hackathons' for high citizen impact applications.

The pact also details establishing combined business incubators for assisting in the development of hi-tech solutions and nurture the culture for start-ups.

Both the states will also work to identify the initiatives for job creation and share best practices and lessons learned with regard to regulations and policies, financial models and standards, the statement added.