Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms, C-CAMP in collaboration with The GAIN accelerator organized the Bengaluru Meet of G20 Digital Innovation Alliance for digital startups and innovators.
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India has launched a flagship G20 Digital Innovation Alliance (G20-DIA) to recognize and support innovators with digital solutions for various world economies under India’s G20 presidency. MeitY has chosen the six themes which are of critical significance for global communities. These themes are: Health-tech, Ed-tech, Agri-tech, Fin-tech, Secured Digital Infrastructure, and Circular Economy.
The Bengaluru Meet aptly themed as ‘driving digital innovation for world economies’ saw active participation by top government officials, global stakeholders and diplomats, corporate leaders and 300+ attendees from the thriving digital startup community in Karnataka.
The event was inaugurated by Dr EV Ramana Reddy, ACS, Department of IT, BT & S&T, Govt of Karnataka (GoK). In his inaugural speech, he spoke of Karnataka’s strong digital innovation culture, track record and the GoK push for Digital India through proactive policymaking which have catapulted Bengaluru to the global top 8 startup ecosystem stage.
Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, Director & CEO, co-host C-CAMP said, “Many in India still do not have access to the best healthcare available in the country, a problem where digital health can change the narrative. C-CAMP has a portfolio of over 70 deep tech digital health startups and we foresee digitalization to make healthcare accessible even in remote areas affected by challenges like lack of expertise, timely intervention and infrastructure.”
Mr. Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, CEO, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) spoke on how Govt of Karnataka has set up initiatives like the Art Park in IISc, the largest AI hub in India and is addressing issues such as cyber security and data security through cutting-edge research and innovation.
Underlining the importance of a digital economy and global connectedness, Mr. Abhay Singhal, Co-Founder of India’s first unicorn, InMobi said, “India has been lacking self belief in what we can dream of and what we can create sitting in India. A change in this belief is one of the biggest changes in the last decade, all made possible through the Digital India revolution. We have shown the world how to scale across the globe. InMobi itself has given work to employees from 40 countries while being headquartered in Bengaluru.”
Mr Varad Rajan Krishna, CEO of co-host, The GAIN, said “G20-DIA will be the mother of all digital innovation programmes coming up under India’s G20 Presidency. We are delighted to partner C-CAMP and MeitY to host this event in Bengaluru, Karnataka, undoubtedly India’s startup powerhouse state.
As an event under India’s G20 presidency with the theme of One Earth. One Family and One Future, the Meet included two panel discussions. The first one on ‘Framework to support innovative startups through strategic collaboration across G20 nations’ was moderated by Dr Saiyed, with eminent panellists, Mr Jonas Brunschwig, Consul General of Switzerland & CEO, Swissnex, Dr Subi Chaturvedi, Chief Corporate Affairs and Public Policy Officer, InMobi, Mr Ashok Chandavarkar, Director, Strategic Initiatives, Intel India, Mr Suhas Gopinath, Founder & CEO, Global Inc, and Dr Amith Singhee, Director & CTO, IBM Research India.
The second panel discussion on ‘Catalysing digital transformation in Tier 2 & 3 cities’ moderated by co-host Mr. Varad Rajan Krishna, The GAIN included industry veterans Dr Ravi Bhardwaj, Sr. Director, Product Development, GE Healthcare and Dr. CM Patil, CEO, Krishi Kalpa, Mr. Siddhartha Anand, Vice President, KDEM as well as promising young entrepreneurs from startups, Dozee Health, Spotsense and Giftolexia.
The key takeaways from the panel discussions were, (1) how a Digital India has boosted global innovation ecosystem with countries in the Global North like Switzerland viewing India as a knowledge capital and not just a large market, (2) how Govt support for Digitalization is driving impact at the national scale for otherwise Tier 1 innovators for business expansions in Tier 2 and 3 geographies.
Overall, the event was only a teaser of what is coming at the international G20-DIA Grand Summit slated for Aug 2023 in Bengaluru. It is expected that the Summit will be attended by more than 174 top innovators from all G20 countries including the 9 guest countries and will see inking of several important global collaborations in the digital space.
Presently MeitY Start-Up Hub is inviting applications from start-ups, students, and innovators from all over India to select India’s representatives in the G20-DIA Grand Summit. They will get an opportunity to showcase their digital tech solutions at the global platform and will get assistance in pilot deployments along with recognition in G20-DIA e-book. The deadline for applications is 31st March, 2023 and the link for application is: https://forms.gle/k1vBdvZXrQGoP1uV7.
Press links:
- https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/g20-digital-innovation-alliance-regional-meet-today/article66614866.ece
- https://www.biospectrumindia.com/news/20/22813/g20-digital-innovation-alliance-regional-meet-takes-place-in-bengaluru.html
- https://www.pninews.com/g20-digital-innovation-alliance-dia-regional-meet/
