From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Jul 13: Karnataka aims to stimulate the growth of 20,000 startups, including 6,000 product startups in the next five years through the State Government’s path-breaking Startup Policy, Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, IT & BT and Science & Technology Departments, said in Bengaluru on Friday, July 13.
Addressing the concluding session of the 14th India Innovation Summit, he said the government’s shift in focus is accompanied with a comprehensive strategy to create new capacities in these technology areas and to attract top notch talent form companies across the world to setup their base in the state.
The State Government has also setup technology business incubators such as the one in Indian Institute of Science for nanotechnology, he said.
The two day conference, with the theme, ‘India.AI - Driving the Future for the World’, focused on the spirit of India, to build an ecosystem that fosters and propels Innovation through New Age Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Augmented Reality (AR) & Virtual Reality (VR) as the foremost pillar of global growth.
“We are also in the process of fully establishing a Centre of Excellence for Cyber Security, Machine Learning and Robotics. Karnataka is well positioned to become the state of choice and lead from the front,’’ Gupta said.
A special panel discussion on innovation focusing on AI and Machine Learning was held on the concluding day’s session.
The importance of AI and the need for progressive policies that would enhance the growth of emerging technologies were discussed.
Gupta said, “For Innovation in AI to progress, collaboration is a must. Bangalore provides the perfect ecosystem for collaboration as it is a science and technology city, an innovation and Startup hub and a social innovator.’’
The State Government has realigning its focus on emerging technologies such as AI, IoT, data analytics, robotics etc. to ensure that envisioned programs becomes successful and benefit from innovation.
Stating that AI combines human creativity with machines to build resistance, Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman India Innovation Summit, Chairman, Axilor Ventures & Co-Founder, Infosys Ltd, said, “Innovation starts with imagination and creativity and happens at the intersection of fields and its true potential can be witnessed in emerging technologies such as AI, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and the like.’’
The industrial ecosystem is a global ecosystem within which there is the national and state ecosystems. The stronger we draw from these ecosystems the stronger must we contribute back to it. We must therefore strengthen theses ecosystems. Bengaluru’s ecosystem for example is a very unique opportunity because of the convergence of academia, knowledge sharing, research, Education, Global R&D facilities, Indian multinationals, startups, VC funds and a supportive Government, he said.
Dana Kursh, Consul General of Israel to South India, said “Innovation and AI is the answer to common challenges such as cyber security, hacking, terrorism etc. which both India and Israel face.’’
“AI will pay a vital role in the Rs. 300 crore agri agreement that has been signed between the Government of Karnataka and the Government of Israel. We have been successful in leveraging our expertise in emerging AI simple because we effectively combine both the ecosystems in Israel and India,’’ she said.
Niklas Gustafsson, Chief Sustainability Officer, Volvo Group Sweden, said, “The aim of innovation is to foster the development of technologies that don’t yet exist and whose business models and markets are not yet known.
“Innovation policies cannot be a process of long term planning but one of continuous experimentation as policy is nothing but an important part of the value chain. Innovation is the main engine of sustainable economic growth. Therefore if we want to ensure a vibrant economy, we must excel in innovation,’’ he said.