Cuttack: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday exhorted students of the Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) to hone themselves as skilled professionals to serve Odisha's technological needs.

Inaugurating a skill museum at the state-run ITI here, Naveen said: "The era of mere domain skill acquisition through it (ITIs) is gone. Now, this is time to inculcate 'design thinking' in the minds of the youth to foresee future technological needs as skilled professionals."

He said the Skill Museum at Government ITI, Cuttack, "is one of its kind" and said he expected it to "connect ancient skills to modern skills and also link forward to future skills".

Set up on 2,600sqft, the museum showcases several skill-based equipment and machineries and their evolution over the years in a state-of-the-art exhibition area along with an audiovisual museum. It has been constructed at a cost of Rs 73 lakh.

Naveen said: "This Skill Museum concept will be rolled out other districts for motivation of youth towards skill."

"The ITIs are the hearts of our skills ecosystem where the trainees are not only exposed to domain skills but also life skills," he said, adding: "I am happy to note that the ITIs of my state have finalised their mission, vision and values and they have started their transformative journey".

"The Skill Museum is an inspiration as it connects us with designs in the past when we were not even born," said Ananya Das, a first-year student of stenography.

Skill development and technical education minister Usha Devi said the government wanted best employers of the country to look for talent in Odisha and the museum "is a step towards it".

Odisha Skill Development Authority chairman Subroto Bagchi said: "We have targeted to come up with four more Skill Museums in the state by the end of this year."