Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the 23rd Edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS) 2020 held from November 19-21, 2020. The Summit is being held completely in Virtual Platform due to Pandemic.
i.Theme of BTS 2020 – ‘Next is Now’
ii.Organized by – Government of Karnataka, Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS), Karnataka Government’s vision Group on Information Technology, Biotechnology & StartUp, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications.
Focus Areas of Discussion:
i.The BTS 2020 Summit focused on technologies and innovations in the field of ‘Information Technology & Electronics’ and ‘Biotechnology’.
ii.Key focus areas of summit were aerospace and defence technologies, healthcare, future of work, startup for public good, electronics and semiconductors, reimagining digital health and COVID-19 pandemic preparedness.
Participants:
i.Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia, Guy Parmelin, Vice President of the Swiss Confederation and many other prominent international figures participated in the summit.
ii.Delegates from countries like Australia, Germany, France, Israel, Netherlands, Switzerland and more than 25 countries under the name ‘Global Innovation Alliance (GIA)’ participated in the Virtual BTS 2020.
India, Australia on Technological Development:
India and Australia highlighted the possibilities of working together in fields such as space research, critical minerals, 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Computing.
i.During the summit, both countries discussed plans to Launch Australia-India Cyber and Critical technologies partnership grant programme to ensure open, free, safe and secure Internet.
ii.Both countries also discussed the signing of the pact Australia-India Technology Framework on cyber and cyber-enable technology.
Karnataka announces 8 MoU with GIA Countries:
Karnataka Government has signed 8 Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) – an MoU each with Finland, UK, Sweden, USA, Indiana and Virginia, 2 MoUs with Netherlands.
i.The MoUs have been signed  in the areas of Skilling, Research and Development (R&D), ecosystem connects, life science and biotechnology, healthcare, aerospace and defence, education, sports economy and automotive.
ii.Four more MoUs are set to be signed by the Karnataka Government in the Aerospace sector with the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) partner countries.
MoU between Karnataka & Sweden:
The MoU between Karnataka & Sweden is intended to help innovative applications across sectors such as Smart City, Smart Health, Smart Manufacturing, Smart Agriculture.
i.Swedish Incubators and Science Parks (SISP), Sweden based association for business incubators and science parks will work together with the Centre of Excellence (CoE) for the Internet of Things (IoT) at Bengaluru for the initiative.
ii.The collaboration with SISP is expected to transform Karnataka as a provider of end-to-end solutions in engineering space, it will also enable creation of an environment in the state for product creation, testing and validation.
Karnataka and Finland to collaborate in Artificial intelligence:
i.Centre of Excellence for Data Science & AI (based in Bengaluru), an initiative of the Karnataka Government and the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) signed an MoU with Business Finland, a finland based public sector for the implementation of AI in agriculture, transport, health, safety, governance, and service delivery.
ii.The MoU will promote awareness regarding development in fields of AI for sustainable growth.
MoU between Karnataka & United States (US):
i.The State of Karnataka and US signed a MoU to lift Small & Medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the state to the next level.
ii.To encourage domestic innovation and generate employment in the Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector.
iii.The MoU will also give infrastructural & incubation support to early-stage startups.
Karnataka aims at $50 billion bio-economy by 2025:
The first Karnataka bio-economy report (KBER) 2020 was launched at the ongoing Bengaluru Tech Summit 2020, an event, presided over by Deputy Chief Minister of the state C N Ashwath Narayan and chairperson of Vision Group on Biotechnology and Biocon Limited chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw among others.
i.Karnataka is the first state in the country to measure the impact of the biotechnology industry, its products, and services on its economy, the report said. The report estimates that the states bio-economy size is at USD 22.6 billion (Rs 1,67,240 crores).
ii.Our target is to raise Karnataka’s bio-economy share to 50 per cent of the national bio-economy revenue target of USD100 billion by the year 2025.
iii.Bio-economy has grown by 14-17 per cent in the previous two years, and contributes 10.3 per cent to the gross state domestic product (GSDP) of USD 221.82 billion. Nationally, the bio-economy valued at USD 62.5 billion contributed 2.3 per cent of the country’s USD 2.8 trillion GDP in 2019.
Global Innovation Alliance Zone (GIA):
GIA is an initiative of the Government of Karnataka’s Department of Electronics, Information Technology (IT) with an objective of curating relationships in innovation, science and technology in various countries.
Recent Related News:
i.On 10th July 2020, Flipkart and the Department of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) and Mines of Government of Karnataka signed a MoU under Flipkart Samarth Programme to promote the arts, crafts and handloom sector of Karnataka
ii.On 26th May 2020, The Karnataka State Mango Department and Marketing Corporation Ltd.(KSMD&MCL) and Flipkart signed a MoU to support the mango farmers in this mango season to sell their produce through the online platform of Flipkart.
About Karnataka:
Chief Minister – B. S. Yediyurappa
Governor – Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala
