28th DST-CII India-Singapore Technology Summit 2022 Held Virtually

On February 23-24, 2022, the 28th edition of DST-CII India-Singapore Technology Summit 2022 held virtually on the theme ‘Building Economies for the Future’ which was attended by Minister of State(MoS-Independent Charge) Dr Jitendra Singh, Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), Government of India and S Iswaran, Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, Singapore.

Organizers of DST-CII Technology Summit:

It was organized by New Delhi, Delhi based Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. 

• Singapore is the partner country for the 28th edition of the summit. The Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) of Singapore represents Singapore in the summit.
• The chairman of the summit was Vipin Sondhi who is a Chairman, CII National Mission on Technology, Innovation & Research also known as CII National Committee on Technology, R&D and Innovation.

Objectives of Summit:

i.To Provide a platform for industries, institutions, and government agencies from India and Singapore to exchange ideas, showcase their expertise, forge partnerships, and boost innovation, investment and trade in focus sectors.

ii.Convene leaders from priority sectors to discuss development in Science & Technology.

Focus sectors of India-Singapore Collaboration:

Climate and Sustainability Green technologies, Space-Tech leadership, Green Mobility, Logistics, Health-care technology & Precision Medicine, Digital Transformation, Smart Cities & Urbanization challenge, Industry 4.0 and Advanced Engineering, and Technology & Innovation etc.

• The Singapore side highlighted three key areas of future cooperation viz. D-Tech using A-I (Artificial Intelligence) for smart cities; Clean-Tech for carbon mitigating technologies in Aviation and Transport sectors; and joint projects on Genome and Bioinformatics research.

Key Points:

i.The bilateral trade in goods between both countries has increased by 35% from $19.8 billion in 2020 to $26.8 billion in 2021.

• Singapore is India’s largest trade partner in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and it is the leading source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
• About 9000 Indian companies are registered in Singapore and more than 440 companies from Singapore are registered in India. 

ii.Singapore ranks 8th  among the 132 economies featured in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2021. India also featured within the top 50 innovative economies globally (at 46th rank) in GII.

iii.India is placed 3rd among countries in scientific publication as per NSF (National Science Foundation) database of the United States (US). 

iv.India also achieved 3rd position in term of number of PhDs, in size of Higher Education System as well as in terms of number of Start-ups.

 v.India is now an attractive hub for foreign investments, with a market of more than a billion consumers. 

vi.Singapore will set up more Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) Nodes in Indian Cities after Bengaluru, Karnataka.

DST-MTI signs MoU for cooperation in science, technology and innovation 

i.The summit also saw the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between DST, India; and MTI, Singapore to encourage, develop and facilitate collaborative projects in fields of mutual interest. 

• These projects could advance progress in research, innovation and technological development in various sectors, including advanced engineering and manufacturing; energy, climate, and natural resources; health; and other emerging technologies.

ii.Apart from above, DST, India and Enterprise Singapore also signed an Implementation Agreement to start an Industrial R & D (Research & Development) Programme which will provide opportunity for Industry from both countries towards joint technology development.

Other Participants:

Dr Srivari Chandrasekhar, Secretary, DST, India; Thachat Viswanath Narendran, President, CII, Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII.

Recent Related News:

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) approved acquisition of 100% shareholding in Air India Limited (AI), Air India Express Limited and 50% shares in Air India SATS (AISATS) by Talace Private Limited. AISATS stands for Air India & Singapore Airport Terminal Services.

About Singapore:

Capital– Singapore
Currency– Singapore dollar (SGD)
Prime Minister– Lee Hsien Loong