Bengaluru: As part of its efforts to enhance Indo-German partnership and also promote  the Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka’s flagship programme Bengaluru Tech Summit, a high profile delegation is currently visiting Berlin, Düsseldorf and Munich in Germany. The delegation led by Principal Secretary, Mr. Gaurav Gupta will engage in meetings with several high ranking officials in Germany for startup engagement, collaboration and innovation. Bengaluru Tech Summit is scheduled to be held from 18^th to 20^th November 2019.

Delivering the opening remarks at Asia Pacific Week 2019 in Berlin, Mr. Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka said, “Bengaluru is competing at a global level, through exchange of people and ideas. In order to maintain our lead position in innovation and science and technology, the Government of Karnataka has embarked on developing “Global Innovation Alliances” with innovation hubs across the world. This system of strategic international innovation partnerships has been conceptualized for curating existing relationships and for fostering new ones with international institutions and partner countries.”

“Our vision is to transform Karnataka’s economy through innovation by identifying mutual shared areas of interest and developing allied expertise with our Global Innovation Alliance partner countries. We aim to have specific developmental focus for each country so that we have clear profiles to act upon.  Today, we have strategic alliances with 15 countries, across various sectors including Governments, academic institutions, startup incubators, universities, and large tech companies.” he added.

The Department of IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka is mulling a proposal to set up Indo-German accelerators in both Bengaluru and Berlin for enhancing enterprise connects, mentorship, driving investments and collaborations between startups and SMEs in both areas. In an effort to strengthen the German-Indian startup exchange program, Mr. Gaurav Gupta also had discussions with Ambassador, Dr. Hinrich Tholken, Special Envoy for International Digital Policy and Digital Transformation, Federal Foreign Office, Germany to share the digital trends and policies in Bengaluru. He also held discussions with Ms. Mukta D Tomar, Indian Ambassador to Germany in Berlin.

Separate discussions were held with Mr. Clas Neumann, Asia-Pacific Forum Berlin Chairman and Head of SAP Labs Network, Mr. Eric Schweitzer, President of The Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry (DIHK) and CEO of ALBA Group, Ms. Ramona Pop, Mayor and Senator for Economics, Energy and Public Enterprises, Government of Berlin, Ms. Rafaelita M. Aldaba, Undersecretary for Competitiveness and Innovation, Philippine Department for Trade and Industry, Dr. Ulrich Nussbaum, State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and Mr. Joe Kaiser, CEO Siemens.