Bengaluru Tech Summit starts Wednesday, 20,000 attendees expected

Karnataka’s flagship technology event, the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS), is all set to kick off its 26th edition from November 29 at the city’s iconic Palace Grounds, which will be host to delegates from over 30 countries, along with hundreds of startups, entrepreneurs and industry leaders from across the country.

The three-day tech fest, which is organised by the IT-BT Ministry, Government of Karnataka, will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and will see attendance from ministers and dignitaries from countries part of the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA).

Interestingly, the state government is also using this as an opportunity to position tier 2 and 3 cities – part of its ‘Beyond Bengaluru’ initiative - as clusters for development and talent pools that companies can consider for expanding their footprint as the city has visibly breached its limits of saturation.

This year, the BTS is themed ‘Breaking Boundaries’ to showcase the event as a playground for fostering collaborations between innovators from across the globe that are interested in the state’s growing importance as an innovation hub.

“BTS is not an investment summit, but a space for collaboration, for exploring technologies, for mergers and acquisitions through bringing the entirety of Karnataka’s tech landscape together, and creating a pipeline for tomorrow’s investments,” BTS spokesperson Patankar Jagadish told DH.

“We are not just incentivising proposals in Bengaluru, but also encouraging companies to look at opportunities outside the city,” state IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge said.

One session that attendees are looking forward to is a fireside chat between Infosys co-founder NR Narayana Murthy and Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath that will dive into the leadership principles that have forged the city’s tech landscape through the lens of veteran leaders and young entrepreneurs. Other stalwarts of India’s business landscape that will mark their attendance include Rishad Premji, Dr Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Kris Gopalakrishnan, to name a few.

BTS this year will feature a diverse spectrum consisting of a multi-track conference on IT and electronics, deep tech, startups and biotech, and an international exhibition. Overall, the summit will have over 75 sessions, 400 speakers, 350 startups, 600 exhibitors, and 20,000 business attendees.

It will also host the third edition of the India-USA Tech Conclave that will aim at creating a meaningful dialogue between the two nations to foster future innovation and strong collaboration on emerging sectors such as e-commerce, supply chain and logistics, healthcare, among others.

“Karnataka, and especially Bengaluru, is the most dynamic startup ecosystem and 4th largest technology ecosystem in the world. The world is now looking at India for the next wave of innovation, and Karnataka fares highest in that regard,” Jagadish said while explaining the expectations emerging from participation from other countries.

“Other countries come here to collaborate for centres of excellence and tap the research capabilities of the country by partnering with institutions. Startups here can also become a major source of technology for the world, and countries in the developing world want to leverage India’s tech stack,” he added.

One attraction that has created significant buzz for the event is the Chandrayaan-3 ISRO-Industry Pavilion, which will feature a life size model of the Chandrayan-3 Lander along with showcasing the contributions that small and medium enterprises, starts and private industries have made to put India’s space mission on the global map.