“Innovation and entrepreneurship is the driving force of the state’s economy, and we are working towards making Karnataka the innovation hub of Asia,” said BS Yediyurappa, chief minister of Karnataka. He promised to leave no stone unturned to support tech innovation.
Yediyurappa, in his inaugural address at the Bengaluru Tech Summit, noted that the state’s GDP of 9.6% is much higher than the national average, which is less than 6%. The theme for this year’s tech summit is Innovation and Impact 2.0, and this is the 22nd Tech Summit being held in Bengaluru.
The reason for the high rate of growth, he said, is due to the ease of doing business in Bengaluru which allows people to conduct their businesses smoothly, and also the weather which many people enjoy.
There were dignitaries present from countries across the world like Lithuania, the Netherlands, UK, US, Canada and Vietnam. They represented their respective countries in leading the change to be more innovative and impactful.
Yediyurappa emphasised to the representatives of the Asian countries that were present in the audience, “Do not worry that India didn’t sign the RCEP trade agreement. We will take care of the interests of investors, the PM still wants to conduct trade relations,” he said.
The government, he said, is doing all it can to support innovation and impact in the technology sectors. The government already offers 300 out of 500 government ‘sakala’ services online, he said, adding that they aim to make all 500 services available online by March of next year. Sakala services are online services which the government offers for regulatory clearing, and land related matters.
Panelists also discussed how it would be possible to make Bengaluru the next one trillion-dollar economy.
Kiran Majumdar Shaw, a noted citizen of Bengaluru, and the director of Biocon, said that there was need for a proactive government. “The main problem is of bad roads, but the government has promised to work hard in this direction, and we can see some of the results of that already.
Karnataka is already the leading state in innovation according to the NITI Aayog, and we owe it all to the startup companies in the city. We need to encourage more of that.
The government also needs to be prepared for challenges, and anticipate them before they happen, by putting in place policies. These policies must embrace technology as it happens.”
Companies also have the responsibility to take more risks, she said, adding that leaders of companies should have vision and dare to dream big.