Govt Support in Fundamental Research key to make India a truly knowledge based Economy

Know Bengaluru Tech Summit

Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS) is a platform for knowledge sharing, discussions, best industry practices, transformative insights and thought leadership to the stakeholders and participants, covering various gamut of technologies, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The three-day event was inaugurated by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on November 29, 2023, at the Bangalore Palace. Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology & Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajeev Chandrasekhar; D.K. Shivakumar, Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and Priyank Kharge, Minister for IT & Bt and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, Govt. of Karnataka represented the Central and State governments at the Summit.

Themed “Breaking Boundaries: Innovations from India, Impact for the World”, the Summit witnessed global gathering of visionaries, industry leaders, and tech enthusiasts.

Summit Categorisation

IT & Deeptech
Biotech
Startups
Global Innovation Alliance

Biotech space

Precision Medicine revolution
AI in Drug Discovery
Genome editing advances
Next-gen Biomanufacturing
Stem Cell Innovations
Biosecurity Considerations
Innovations in agribiotech
Personalised treatment strategies
Bioinformatics innovations
Policy Innovations for Biotech Advancement

The Vision Group

Constituted by the Government of Karnataka, the Vision Group represents the Information Technology, Biotechnology and Startup industries with the industry captains, research heads, and academia as their key faces.

Role of Biocon Group

As part of the Vision Group and lead sponsor as Biotech partner, Biocon and Biocon Biologics, Executive Chairperson, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, was one of the dignitaries and key speaker at the Summit. She is also the Chairperson of the Vision Group on Biotechnology, Government of Karnataka.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw’s fireside chat with Nobel Laureate Dr. H. Robert Horvitz

Exploring India’s investment potential in scientific research, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw hosted an online fireside chat on Day 2 (Nov 30, 2023) with Nobel Laureate Dr. H. Robert Horvitz, on “Basic Research to High-Impact Innovation”.

She emphasized Government’s support was instrumental in fundamental research to make India a truly knowledge-based economy. Dr. Horvitz said it was important to have a balanced research portfolio and highlighted the transformative impact of research on patient recovery, stressing the need for an open-minded, opportunistic career approach.

They also discussed about the necessity of diverse research investments, governmental backing for fundamental research, and need of adaptability in shaping a fulfilling professional trajectory in the area of scientific research in India.

Earning a repute of global tech gathering, the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS) 2023 edition witnessed participants from 45 countries, with 83 sessions, and insights from over 400 speakers. The event featured 553 exhibitors and 258 startups across various fields, providing them networking opportunities through 427 physical B2B meetings and 1,981 virtual connect sessions.

Biocon Group’s Pavilion at BTS 2023

Biocon, Biocon Biologics, Biocon Academy and Syngene International (Group entities) Pavilion at the Summit drew a lot of attention and interest from various quarters including, researchers, academia, aspiring professionals & students, marketing professionals, media, PR agencies as well few enthusiastic children with curious mind towards science and technology.

Looking from a marketing perspective for the Biocon group, technology is the game changer in every other field and biopharmaceutical is no exception. Users in biotechnology space and my Target Group (TG) get overlapped in couple of places.

BTS 2023 threw some deep insights on the mode and means of future communication strategy, technological intervention and interference, possible threats and opportunities among others.

India’s Bioeconomic Potential

India aims to become a USD 300 billion bioeconomy by 2030 from about USD 150 billion currently. Karnataka’s share in the bioeconomy stood at over USD 27 billion in 2022. During the year, the state had invested more than USD 200 million in biotech R&D.

Industry Veterans & Leaders at BTS 2023

N.R. Narayana Murthy, Infosys Founder
Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys Co-founder& Chairman, Vision Group of on IT, Govt. of Karnataka
Rishad Premji, Executive Chairman, Wipro
Prashanth Prakash, Founding partner, Accel Partners India
Eminent scientist Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Former Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
Nikhil Kamath, Co-founder, Zerodha

Key Takeaways

As one of the key takeaways, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced to rollout a revised policy for Biotechnology during the Summit. The policy revision is aimed at State Government’s commitment of staying ahead of others and fostering growth in this critical sector on Innovation, Science and Healthcare.

The draft revised Biotechnology policy looks forward to quadrupling the State’s bioeconomy by building biotech clusters and putting ahead the State as the next Global Clinical Trails Hub.

According to IT and Biotechnology Minister Priyank Kharge, the revised biotech policy will synergize with other states in areas of industrial, R&D & innovation, engineering research & development (ER&D) and startup policies to enhance growth of biotech sector. He said the focus of the policy will be to lead the transformation through impactful implementation to take the growth from a linear to exponential level.

Tech Summit Organizers

Department of Electronics, Information Technology, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Karnataka Government
Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS)
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI)-An autonomous body under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India
The three independent Vision Groups set up by Govt. of Karnataka on: Information Technology, Biotechnology & StartUps
MM Activ Sci-Tech Communications – An event curator in the field of leading technologies

Foreign Nation Partners – Key Speakers