New Delhi [India], September 21 (ANI/PNN): In a progression aimed at setting up and developing an extensive forum for working relationships, the eGovernments Foundation has partnered with IIT Madras Alumni Association. This is a unique model of alumni volunteering and engagement for societal impact, to achieve enhanced e-governance services across India. eGov and IIT Madras Alumni Association signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Friday, September 16, at the office of eGov in Bangalore.

Over the past two decades, eGov has been working with the Government, citizens as well as ecosystem partners to catalyse transformational programs within urban systems. Industry-Academia partnerships are vital to the elevation of quality service and technological advancement and eGov is a pioneer in collaboration and innovation in areas such as governance, SDGs, etc. This collaboration seeks to construct an intersection of eGov and IITM alumni in order to tap relevant skills and expertise. The objective is to empower, support and advance eGov's open-source platform DIGIT (Digital Infrastructure for Governance, Impact & Transformation), which has been set up as a Digital Public Good. Furthermore, by building a platform of collaboration by the community, it serves to democratise the end-product.

A specific outcome of this partnership with volunteers from the community is the development of the unified services and schemes delivery platform, which will provide citizens with a consistent and seamless experience while accessing digital government services.

Krishnan Narayanan, President of the IIT Madras Alumni Association, said, "We are pleased to collaborate with eGov on this important undertaking. It aligns well with our Mission Million Smiles to create societal impact through our alumni, students and faculty. We will be exploring a unique alumni engagement model for creating value in the digital ecosystem."

Speaking on the occasion, Manish Srivastava, CTO, eGov Foundation said, "eGov Foundation is co-creating open-source Digital Public Goods (DPGs) that accelerate achievement of sustainable development goals at speed and scale. The partnership with IIT Madras Alumni Association will enable us to speed up the development and deployment of DPGs".

For Media Kit and images, visit - https://bit.ly/egov-iitmaa

Established in 2003 by Nandan Nilekani and Srikanth Nadhamuni, the eGovernments Foundation works to partner with state governments and city administrators to leverage the transformative power of technology to consistently and sustainably improve the quality of life in Indian cities.

The foundation is supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nandan Nilekani Philanthropies, Omidyar Network India and Tata Trusts.

Over the last 19 years, eGov has worked with 14 states, in more than 2500+ towns and cities, to build a thriving, digitally-enabled ecosystem impacting the lives of 16Cr+ citizens across India and to ensure that every citizen in every city of India is able to access all the services they need with ease and transparency.

eGov plays the role of a trusted advisor and enabler of state leadership by collaborating with all actors in the ecosystem including policy advisors, technology and civic tech partners to enable the government entities to successfully implement their urban transformation programs.

Driven by a long-term vision, the DIGIT platform - a digital public good created by eGov, provides opportunities for co-creation and potential for scaling up diverse solutions to resolving urban challenges with speed and at scale.

Most recently, eGov has provided the DIVOC platform on CoWIN upon which the end-to-end vaccination drive and certification process is being successfully carried out by the Government of India. eGov has enabled 5 countries to generate over 2 billion COVID-19 certificates through their health platform.

Vision: Catalyse urban transformation and enhance ease of living and ease of doing business at national scale.

Mission: Embedding an open digital infrastructure to transform governance in 4400+ ULBs by 2024.

IIT Madras Alumni Association (IITMAA), founded in 1964, represents over 53,000 alumni of IIT Madras across the world. IITMAA is registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Act 1975, Chennai, India.

IITMAA's missions are: 1) Mission 5000 Ignited Minds (of bringing 10 per cent of alumni as committed volunteers) and 2) Mission Million Smiles (of creating positive impact/inspiration in the lives of at least a million people in India/world)

The three pillars of focus for IITMAA are:

1. Kindle Community Spirit - Nurture the relationship with alumni, students, faculty, and alma-mater. And be helpful in their professional/personal lives.

2. Provide Thought Leadership - Create a platform for informed dialogue and thought-leadership in the areas of science, technology and innovation (STI).

3. Deliver Societal Impact - Facilitate a platform for the alumni to deliver societal impact through participation in social transformation initiatives.

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