The State Minister for Information and Communication Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak said, “No one can keep us under control – Bangabandhu’s words are the key to the success of this development of Bangladesh today. The mobile app and game industry is making a huge contribution to the global economy in this era of 4th industrial revolution. Our current export in IT sector is around 1.4 billion USD. The government is working to take it to 5 billion dollars by 2025. Mobile app and game industry should be developed to suit the global market. At present, 8 universities of the country are providing training aimed at making app developers. CUET wants to spread entrepreneurial spirit among the young generation by organizing this kind of festival. We believe that the mobile app and game industry will contribute to the country’s economy as well.”
The ICT State Minister expressed his optimism while speaking as the Chief Guest today, on 4th of March, 2023 at the day-long program on ‘Mobile App, Game & Job Festival-2023’organized by ICT Division’s Skill Development for Mobile Game and Apps Project with the aim of creating skilled human resources in mobile application and game industry at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) and to enter the international market in this sector.
The festival was held at the Central Auditorium of CUET where the Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Mohammad Rafiqul Alam was present as a Special Guest. Social worker and young leader Mr. Faraz Karim Chowdhury, Deputy Secretary of ICT Division Mr. Mohammad Monir Hossain, Head of Department of Computer Science and Engineering Department of CUET Dr. Md. Mokammel Haq were also present as special guests. Mr. Muhammad Anwar Hossain, the Project Director of the mobile games and apps project of the ICT Division presided over the event. The program was moderated by Mr. Moumita Sen Sharma and Mr. Sadman Saqib, lecturers of CSE department of CUET.
While speaking as a special guest on the occasion, the CUET VC said, “Mobile apps and games are now considered as one of the foreign exchange earning industries worldwide. Mobile apps and games can be an important sector in the country’s economy. The government is taking and implementing several steps giving importance to this sector. If our students apply their talent and creativity to develop mobile apps and games, it is possible to become self-reliant as well as earn foreign currency.”
Social activist and young leader Mr. Faraz Karim Chowdhury said in his speech, “Our economy has reached this stage based on the garment industry. But we have to think how much we are able to compete with the countries which are changing the whole system by making robots, who have acquired the ability to create substitutes for the human brain. The mobile app and gaming industry of the past decade has completely changed. Technology roots have now advanced far. We also need to move at that pace. That’s why if we can keep talented people in the country, then the country will really improve. It is not desirable that foreigners will use the talent of our country to advance.
The day-long program consisted of five separate sessions titled ‘Smart Careers with App and Game’, ‘The Rise of Animation: Exploring the Career’, ‘People, Training and Technology’, ‘Animation Movie Screening’ and ‘Presentation on Short Listed Game and App’. In these sessions, skills development training was provided to young technicians and students with the aim of creating various types of mobile apps and games that meet the needs of the current global market. In the event, a competition was held with more than two hundred ideas of mobile apps and games from students of various colleges and universities. From there, three selected ideas are awarded. Besides, 20 reputed IT and software manufacturers of the country participated in the job festival. Where, the institutions collect resumes of students who came up with various mobile apps, games and ideas. Besides, there was an interesting raffle draw for the participants. About 1,000 people, including university students, teachers, officials, employees and representatives of various institutions, gathered in the festival.