Three Day Bengaluru Tech Summit, a celebration of Innovation and Technology Inaugurated
The 22nd edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit 2019, the flagship event of the Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka, was inaugurated by
Mr. B S Yediyurappa, Hon. Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka in the presence of
Dr. C N Ashwath Narayan, Hon. Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Higher Education and Medical Education, Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science and Technology; guests of honour H.E. Sir Dominic Anthony Gerard Asquith, British High Commissioner to India, H. E. Harinder Sidhu, Australian High Commissioner to India, H.E. Martin van den Berg, The Netherlands Ambassador for India, Ms. Daina Klepone, Managing Director of Governmental Agency Enterprise, Lithuania, H. E. Pham Sanh Chau, Ambassador of Vietnam to India and distinguished guests, Shri. T M Vijay Bhaskar, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka, Mr. S Gopalakrishnan (Kris), Co-Founder, Infosys, Chairman Axilor Ventures, Chairman Vision Group – IT, Dr. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson and MD, Biocon and Chairperson Vision Group – BT, Mr. Prashanth Prakash, Partner, Accel Partners, Chairman, Karnataka Vision on Startups, Dr. Omkar Rai, Director General, Director General, Software Technology Parks of India, and Mr. Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Aarin Capital, Chairman, Manipal Global Education Services in the presence of Dr. E V Ramana Reddy, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka, Mr. Prashanth Kumar Mishra, MD – KITS, Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka and Mr. Shailendra Kumar Tyagi, Director, Software Technology Parks of India.
Delivering the inaugural address, Shri. B S Yediyurappa Hon. Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka said, “Karnataka is moving towards becoming an innovation hub, a gradual shift from the services sector to product development. Our State has been at the forefront of technology globally and the fact that we have participation from 22 countries at this year’s Summit substantiates that fact. The State is recognized as the innovation capital of the region, which again is endorsed by the fact that Bengaluru has produced 9 of the 27 unicorns in the country. Dynamic policies, framed in consultation with key stakeholders of the ecosystem, have played a key role in making Karnataka ‘The Silicon Valley of India’ and the ‘Innovation Capital of India’. Recently, the State has topped the first-ever innovation ranking of states by Niti Aayog by becoming the most innovative State in the Country. I strongly believe that innovation and entrepreneurship will be the driving forces in the years to come. The State Government is keen to ensure that Karnataka remains the national leader in Innovation and enhances its place in the global economy by focusing on skilling, incubating startups, developing global alliances, and providing a framework for supporting innovation. Bengaluru was ranked 11th best global Startup eco-system as per the ‘Startup Blink Startup eco-system Rankings Report 2019’. Within the last one year, Bengaluru has moved up 10 spots in this ranking.”
In his address Dr. C N Ashwath Narayan, Hon. Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Higher Education and Medical Education and IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka said, “Karnataka and particularly Bengaluru has been widely referred to as one of the fastest growing technology hubs in the world and supporting and hand-holding start-ups has been a cornerstone of the State policy. Innovation today is taking a multidisciplinary approach involving dynamic collaboration among different stakeholders. The role of innovation, science and technology is critical to finding solutions to a range of societal challenges and creating jobs. It is the need of the hour to equip the students of today with the right knowledge so that they can contribute meaningfully to India’s growth story tomorrow. The Government has laid strong emphasis on university engagement through our New Age Innovation Network focusing on tier 2 and tier 3 Cities in the State: 30 Engineering Institutions, 293 Projects funded and over 100 working prototypes have been realized via this platform. ”
In his address, Mr. Vijay Bhaskar, Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka said, “Bengaluru Tech Summit is an excellent opportunity to network and deliberate on latest technologies. The Government of Karnataka is keen to ensure compliance for ease of business. To this end, we have collaborated with New Zealand for Government to Government knowhow on the ease of doing business. As part of the vision of the Government of Karnataka, we want the state to become the EV capital of India.”
In his speech Dr. E V Ramana Reddy, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of IT, BT and S&T said, “The Government of Karnataka has launched a ‘Global Innovation Alliances Market Access Program’ (GIA MAP) for exchange of startups between Bengaluru and international startup hubs. As a part of the pilot, we have designed a program for German start-ups to explore the Indian market. We plan to send Karnataka startups for a similar program in Germany, Australia and The Netherlands in the coming days. Today, we are also renewing our MoU with The City of the Hague, The Netherlands, with focus on cybersecurity, agri-tech, health-tech. Another unique program under the GIA umbrella is the Victoria India Government Exchange Program (VIGEP). We would have six senior Government officials from Victoria visiting Bengaluru this week to interact with their Government of Karnataka counterparts to drive policy initiatives and collaborations for digital transformation. This year we have international participation from UK, Australia, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Vietnam, USA, Germany, Israel, Canada, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Singapore, Uzbekistan, Belgium, Austria, Japan, Sweden, Armenia and Bahrain.”
Speaking at the inauguration, Mr. Omkar Rai, Director General, STPI said, “While India is the largest startup destination in the world, Karnataka is the largest IT and ITES destination in the world. It is also the most preferred destination for IT R&D.”
Mr. Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Aarin Capital and Manipal Global Education Services, in his address said, “By 2020, Bengaluru will have 2 million people working in IT, ITES and startups, thanks to the vibrant innovation system prevalent in the state. The city also has the richest human capital in India. It is important for us to create a global network as a community of cities which drive innovation.”
Addressing the inaugural session, Mr. S Gopalakrishnan Chairman- Vision Group on IT and Co-founder Infosys said, “Innovation is increasingly happening at the intersection of technologies and industries and Bengaluru Tech Summit is a platform that encourages discussion and debate on both IT and Biotechnology. Emerging technologies will provide innumerable opportunities as it will transform industries. Our humble request to all multinational companies is to look at setting up operations in Tier 2 and Tier3 cities of the state as well. There is an urgent need to invest more in R&D for technologies that can benefit the poorest of the poor. We must together develop India as a knowledge economy.”
In her address, Ms. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Chairperson Vision Group on Biotechnology, Chairperson and Managing Director, Biocon said, “In 2015, we in the biotech sector set ourselves a mission to achieve a $100 billion bioeconomy. It is heartening to note that in 2019, we have so far crossed $51billion and have developed a very advances scientific talent pool. Karnataka is home to the largest cluster of first generation entrepreneurs. This has led to a technology explosion and Bengaluru becoming the tech capital of India with 2million software engineers and 250,000 bio scientists. The biotech industry has 957 startups created over last 12 months. Bengaluru is being looked seriously as an IT led diagnosis center focused on emerging technologies such as Machine Learning and AI. There is huge potential in the biotech space as Karnataka and Bengaluru is increasingly being looked at as a research partner for drug research and diagnosis. Bengaluru Tech Summit is a perfect platform to interact, collaborate, brainstorm and leverage each other’s countries and companies.”
Mr. Prashant Prakash, Partner, Accel Partners, Chairman, Karnataka Vision on Startups said, “The startup sector requires risk capital that caters to deep science and deep tech. For deep tech startups to emerge, we need solid corridors of innovation. In order to strengthen the sector, we are taking the help of 18 visionary founders to strengthen existing programs of the IT, BT and S&T sectors and to strengthen our Centers of Excellence. We are also mulling an Elevate Program for Deep Tech Startups. We are excited that the Government of Karnataka will be announcing a tech accelerator for startups within the next few days. “
His Excellency Mr. Dominic Anthony Gerard Asquith, British High Commissioner to India said, “It is a delight to be here to celebrate Innovation with startups and unicorns. Bengaluru is home to many UK companies who do their cutting edge research here. UK and India especially are suited to be technology partners as UK too has a booming startup ecosystem. Earlier this year, we launched the UK India Tech Partnership and we are looking forward to strengthen it with Technology focusing on Artificial Intelligence.”
Her Excellency Ms. Harinder Sidhu, Australian High Commissioner to India said, “As part of the Australian Government’s Australia-India Economic Strategy, Karnataka has been identified as a priority state for Australian engagement in Science and Technology. Australia’s largest science fund with any country is in India. Australia sees India as being at the forefront of the technology landscape with Bengaluru at its heart. The Australian Prime Minister will visit India next year to explore opportunities in Science and Technology.”
His Excellency Mr. Marten van den Berg, The Netherlands High Commissioner to India said, “The Netherlands has a very strong relationship with India. Hague looks forward to renew the ongoing partnership in cyber security, healthcare and startups. This year we have added agri-tech as one of the themes. We look forward to scale up our ongoing cooperation with the help of platforms like Bengaluru Tech Summit. Government of Karnataka had signed a MoU with The City of The Hague, during ITBIZ in November 2016. Since then there have been multiple delegation visits from both sides. Today’s MoU renewal is a result of efforts from both the sides to set up an ecosystem for both the parties to promote innovation.”
His Excellency Pham Sanh Chau, Ambassador of Vietnam to India said, “India has sent a positive message, especially to developing countries by not signing the RPEC agreement. It signals India’s willingness to remain on the global stage, especially in services. The basis for us being a Global Innovation Alliance partner with the Government of Karnataka is Vietnam’s intent to grow its economy through IT and Biotechnology. We urge the Government to open its doors to welcome Vietnamese companies in India and encourage Indian companies to invest in Vietnam.”
Ms. Daina Klepone, Managing Director of Governmental Agency Enterprise, Lithuania said, “Lithuania is already working on Industry 5.0 with a special focus on IT and Biotechnology. With its vibrant startup ecosystem, Lithuania can become a gateway for Bengaluru companies to access benefits of the European Union. With emerging technologies playing a game-changing role, Bio and IT will bring new futures in businesses.”
