Gujarat Govt. Kicks-off National Summit on Innovation & Technology in Gandhinagar

Government of Gujarat through its Department of Science & Technology has organized a two day National Summit on Innovation and Technology in Gandhinagar, with the objective of bringing together start-ups, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, government officials, policy makers and the youth to experience a unique convergence of start-ups and technology.

AHMEDABAD: Addressing the Summit during the inauguration session, Hon. Chief Minister of Gujarat said, “Biotechnology, Information Technology and Nano Technology are changing the face of the century and we are constantly being driven by a knowledge economy. Today, technology has touched almost every aspect of human life and I believe that there is a tremendous opportunity for Gujarat to become a hub of these technologies. The state realized the demand of biotechnology in India and started a nodal agency in 2004, the first state to do so in the country. Also, in order to promote new ideas and innovation Gujarat has come up with a policy to promote start-ups in the state and I believe this policy will help potential entrepreneurs by creating the right eco system for the new age world. Through this Summit, we have an opportunity to take forward PM’s vision of Make in India by Making IT in Gujarat. If we invest in our youth by providing them the right training then I am sure we can bring them to the global arena to cater to the world’s skilled workforce requirement.” He also highlighted Hon. Prime Minister’s mantra Bharat Today (BT) + Bio Technology (BT) = Bharat Tomorrow (BT).

On the first day of the event, various sessions were organized on start-ups and biotechnology such as ‘Keeping your Startup DNA’, ‘Artificial intelligence’, ‘The World of Drones’, ‘Technology Vision 2035’ and ‘Startup  Policy – Government of Gujarat’ to name a few. Various industry leaders from companies and institutes like Microsoft, Amazon Cloud, IBM, IIT, Oxford Nanopore among others were also present at the summit and engaged with the wide range of audience.

Speaking at the summit, Prof. Krishnaswamy Vijay Raghavan, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India said, “It is fantastic to see what Gujarat is doing by bringing top scientists, industry leaders, extraordinary start-ups, potential entrepreneurs and students all under one roof. Such summits help in bringing the youth at par with the demand and trends of the industry as well as compel them to think about the opportunities that it offers. Humans have evolved from survivors to agents of change on the planet and our rapid pace of development has been a cause of climate change. Thus, we have a responsibility now to not only survive but to even take care of our world. But to achieve this, we need to innovate and constantly thrive on the best technology.”

Guest of Honor, Sri BVR Mohan Reddy, Founder and Executive Chairman, Cyient said, “Such summits helps in bridging the gap between the industry, potential entrepreneurs and the students by providing an opportunity for cross-platform sharing of knowledge and provide an opportunity for all to explore collaboration opportunities.”

In order to promote the start-up culture and extend the support of the Government of Gujarat, a session called ‘Pitch to Glory’ has been organized as part of the summit, where 30 selected start-ups will get 5 minutes to pitch their idea, showcase their prototypes or the final product in front of a jury of 8 members. The audience also participated in the judging the pitches with a lot of enthusiasm through NSIT mobile application.

Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat, Sri Dhananjay Dwivedi said, “In the last decade most of the companies that have become a billion dollar brand are technology driven companies. The new era of this technology driven world offers potential entrepreneurs an opportunity to create big brands from small innovative ideas. Through this 2 day summit, we plan to engage exhibitors of technology and innovation with industry leaders, government officials and investors. These industry experts have also brought with them some of the real world issue challenges and the start-ups will have an opportunity to solve them with innovative ideas.”