Bengaluru, Dec 1 : As part of its efforts to boost employment opportunities, Karnataka has set up an AI-powered portal that will act as a comprehensive marketplace for students, industries, academic institutions, and trainers to get together and collaborate in several ways. The Karnataka Skill Development Corporation (KSDC), in association with the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) on Thursday launched the Karnataka Skill Connect Portal (KSCP), an integrated web platform connecting the entire talent ecosystem in the state with various employment prospects and skilling opportunities. The portal was created in consultation with industry stakeholders to directly address their concerns. Insights from established companies and up-and-coming start-ups provided the framework for the platform. These entities will contribute to KSCP's supply and demand and ultimately benefit from the portal. LinkedIn, Cisco, and IBM were among the companies present at the launch. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said: "Karnataka has grown to become one of the world's biggest start-up and technological powerhouses. Efforts such as the Karnataka Skill Connect Portal are critical to sustaining our global stature and our hopes of attracting large companies and specialised clusters." The Karnataka Digital Economy Mission provided KSDC advisory and programme management services to develop the portal. The organisation will also support the platform's engagement by facilitating industry collaborations. B.V. Naidu, Chairman of Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, said: "There are multiple features for various requirements... besides finding relevant upskilling modules and jobs, candidates can use the intuitive platform to upload their profiles and automatically match with prospective employers, get screened by industry-standard psychometric assessments, and join online discussion forums with other candidates, among other options. The portal is an attempt to improve access of job aspirants all over Karnataka to available jobs and upskilling opportunities." Apart from supporting nearly 65,000 engineering students in obtaining internship opportunities, the portal is expected to help one lakh candidates undergoing skill assessments while reaching out to 20 million job seekers in the state, officials said. /IANS