India-UK Tech Summit

India and the United Kingdom have agreed to set up two joint projects covering solar energy and Anti-Microbial Resistance initiative.

These were announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when addressing the India-UK Tech Summit 2016 held during Prime Minister Theresa May on Nov 7, 2016.

Modi announced the agreement to establish India-UK Clean Energy R&D Centre on solar energy with joint investment of 10 million pounds, and an Anti-Microbial Resistance initiative with joint investment of 15 million pounds.

“I feel that India and UK can partner in harnessing the vast traditional knowledge base in India coupled with modern scientific investigation to provide a holistic approach to preventive healthcare. This can help address some of the modern life style diseases that we face,” said Modi.

He highlighted India’s partnership with UK in industrial research as one of the most exciting programs.

It covers the Global Innovation & Technology Alliance or GITA platform of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Department of Science and Technology along with Innovate-UK supports industry led R&D projects in affordable healthcare, clean technology, manufacturing and ICT.

“These sectors open new potential for Indian and UK businesses to convert the scientific knowledge into technology based enterprises. I call upon all the participants here to contribute and value-add to these exciting bilateral programs, aimed to foster innovation and techno-entrepreneurship,” said Modi.

He also pointed out an opportunity for India and UK to collaborate in the ‘Digital India’ Program and expand information convergence and people centric e-governance.

Modi said a natural collaboration emerges in India’s rapidly developing financial services sector. ‘Fintech’ is emerging as the next big transformation for India as we bring 220 million new households into the umbrella of the ‘Jan Dhan Yojana’.

This financial inclusion scheme is being melded with mobile technology and the unique identification card to form the largest social security program in the world.

“With UK’s leadership in financial technology and international finance, promising opportunities can be harnessed by our enterprises in this mission,” said Modi.

“We also expect ‘Make in India’ to be a key sector of bilateral engagement. Advanced manufacturing is a special endeavor under this program,” he said.

UK as a leading player can benefit from India’s liberal FDI policies in defense manufacturing, aerospace and electronics engineering.

Touching on the ‘Smart City’ mission, he noted “I am glad that there is already a high level of interest from the UK in projects in Pune, Amaravati and Indore. I understand that UK companies have already signed deals worth 9 billion pounds and I encourage more participation.

He underlined the importance of ‘Start-up India’ program which aims at converging innovation and technology with entrepreneurship for our tech-savvy youth.

“Today, India and UK have emerged amongst the top three largest startup hubs in the world with an exciting ecosystem of investors and innovators.

“Together, we can create a vibrant and thriving environment for new commercial applications with breakthrough technologies,” said the Indian Prime Minister. fii-news.com