India Must Become the 1st Country in the World to Industrialize Without Carbonizing: Amitabh Kant at Connect Karo 2023

India’s G20 Sherpa Mr. Amitabh Kant set a high target for India, stating that India must become the first country in the world to industrialize without carbonizing, while delivering the opening address at Connect Karo 2023 organized by WRI India in New Delhi on Monday. Connect Karo 2023 is WRI India's flagship event that offers a platform for multiple stakeholders from India and abroad to share their perspectives and experiences as well as to ease collaborations toward finding meaningful responses to critical environmental and sustainability challenges. Launching the two-day conference, Mr. Kant said, “India as a country occupies just 1.3 percent of the total carbon space available (in the world) today. But the way we will urbanize and indurstrialize in the future, we will become the third-largest carbon emitter in the world in due course. It is important that India as a country, both from the perspective of climate action and technology, leapfrogs and makes a substantial difference as for as action on climate front is concerned.”

In its 10th year, Connect Karo 2023 brought together a distinguished gathering of over 450 participants including experts, policymakers, industry leaders and researchers to deliberate on sustainability solutions for India. Under its theme ‘For People, Nature, and Climate’, day one of the conference saw the release of new research and 18 thought-provoking sessions on issues related to urban planning, water and resilience, integrated and electric mobility, climate and clean air, energy, and food.

Speaking at the event, Madhav Pai, CEO of WRI India, said, “We launched Connect Karo in 2013 with the aim to build a network of thinktanks, private sector players, researchers, civil society and the government to work together and find viable solutions that enable sustainable development in India. A decade on, it is heartening to find more than 450 participants join our discussions, seeking an evidence-based response to complex, sectoral issues and exploring nuanced, contextualized solutions to urgent challenges of our times.”

Pai highlighted that Connect Karo’s endeavor is to offer a platform for a high-level dialogue that would foster the building of sustainable, livable cities of the future that place people at their center. “To shape connected, low-carbon and resilient cities, we must focus simultaneously on data-led urban planning and climate action, incorporating nature-based solutions and reimagining our food systems (from production, storage and distribution to consumption practices),” he explained.

Amitabh Kant's address set the tone for the day. As a leading advocate for sustainable urban development, Mr. Kant emphasized, India must take leadership position technologically and in climate action. We must become the champion of climate action, energy transition, green hydrogen and sustainable public transportation. That is how we can provide a better life for our citizens for the future. For our survival, we need all to take radical measures and assume leadership position in this area.

Three working papers were released on Monday:

• Public Bicycle Sharing in India: Lessons Learned from Implementation in Three Cities presents findings from Mysuru, Bhopal and Pune, the first three Indian cities to have adopted Public Bicycle Sharing (PBS) and highlights the financial, business and operating models created by them to implement the system. It studies the common factors that led to their initial success, and the challenges to sustaining and expanding them.
• Improving Metro Access in India: Evidence from Three Cities surveys 7200+ metro commuters in Bengaluru, Delhi and Nagpur and lays out potential solutions to improve metro rail’s accessibility. The paper studies various commuter segments that use the metro in these cities, and their last-mile commute choices. Based on the findings it identifies the aspects to consider, and data to collect, to design metro last-mile services that suit commuters while also remaining viable to operate.
• Our Journey with the City: Deciphering WRI India Ross Center’s Influence in Bengaluru reflects on the Sustainable Cities program’s ‘deep-dive’ engagement in Bengaluru since 2010, and its impact as a key change agent for sustainable development – from mobility to other urban services such as energy, water, and climate resilience.

A total of six publications are slated to release over the course of Connect Karo 2023.

Monday’s sessions focused on sustainable urbanization, decarbonizing transport and the need for a just and responsible energy transition. A roundtable on Unlocking Financing to Revolutionize Electric Bus Adaption brought together transit agencies, automobile manufacturers, administrators amongst other stakeholders to explore funding pathways for transit agencies that seek to take on electric buses. The panel on the upcoming National Urbanization Policy (NUP) report, to be presented by WRI India to the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, saw inputs from an array of high-level speakers including Hyun Hee Ban, Social Policy Chief, UNICEF India; Justine Jebakumar, Director- Government Relations, Habitat for Humanity; and Kanak Tiwari, Project Lead-Delhi Master Plan 2041, NIUA.

Another session discussed a recent WRI India report: Urban Blue-Green Conundrum: A 10-City Study on the Impacts of Urbanization on Natural Infrastructure in India which looked at India’s most populated cities, between 2000 to 2015, and found that their built-up area has increased on average by 47% and 134% in core and periphery regions respectively, even as blue cover decreased by 15%.

A panel on Financing Clean Energy Transition for India offered insights towards ensuring that the investments needed to achieve India’s climate targets are catalyzed. The discussion looked at multiple financing possibilities, including de-risking and insuring businesses that are attempting a low-carbon transition; and explored avenues for the participation of private and public sector financial institutions. The session Expanding the Limits: Making the Clean Energy Growth Circular, focused on the need for a circular economy within the clean energy transition since the materials required to extract renewable energy are limited. Panelists looked at the various dimensions of India’s public and private sectors rapidly adopting circularity as a production practice, and the evolving governance structures that can help ensure that the resource use for the clean energy transition is socially and environmentally just and responsible.

The focus on a just transition also emerged during the panel, Vulnerability to Resilience: Fostering a Just Transition for MSMEs in India, which explored how the undergoing shifts induced by climate change, climate policies and decarbonization imperatives may impact MSMEs. Panelists including government representatives and stakeholders such as Grace Pachuau, Executive Director, FaMe TN, Vinnie Mehta, Director General, ACMA, Jarnail Singh, Deputy Director, India Office, MacArthur Foundation and Ila Patnaik, Chief Economist, Aditya Birla Group discussed the measures needed to ensure a just, equitable and inclusive low-carbon transition that allows India’s MSME sector and the 111 million people employed in it, to thrive. The panelists also discussed sector-wise just transition, with a bird’s eye view on the auto industry. It tried to analyze the impact of low-carbon transition on women workers.

About WRI India: WRI India, an independent charity legally registered as the India Resources Trust, provides objective information and practical proposals to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable development. Our work focuses on building sustainable and liveable cities and working towards a low carbon economy. Through research, analysis, and recommendations, WRI India puts ideas into action to build transformative solutions to protect the earth, promote livelihoods, and enhance human well-being. We are inspired by and associated with World Resources Institute (WRI), a global research organisation. Know more: www.wri-india.org

TiE Mumbai Organizes a Think Tank Event With Amitabh Kant Where Unicorns Will Deliberate on Corporate Governance in the Startup Space

As Indian unicorns and startups are beginning to mark their presence in the world, corporate governance remains a critical imperative. Keeping this in mind, TiE Mumbai along with Nishith Desai Associates and the Indian presidency of the G-20 2023 is organizing an exclusive think tank event in Imaginarium Aligunjan, Alibaug on Saturday, April 29, 2023 (9.15 a.m. to 5 p.m. IST). This event is also supported by Startup20. Over 30 unicorns and top venture capital funds are expected to gather for this private enclave.

This event will be conducted under the guidance of Amitabh Kant, Government of India- G-20 Sherpa and International lawyer Nishith Desai, Founder, Nishith Desai Associates & Board Member TiE Mumbai. This conference will be aimed at improving India’s corporate governance brand and create new benchmarks not only for India but also for G20 nations.

Nishith Desai

Nishith Desai, Founder, Nishith Desai Associates and Board Member- TiE Mumbai said, “Good Governance is a critical issue for Startups. This think tank will have Unicorns, soonicorns, investors and experts deliberating upon benchmarks and standards that India Startups should set and adhere to in order to succeed. Good Governance leads to trust, which is the hallmark of any good business. Indian startups and new age Tech businesses are globally renowned for their products and services; hence it is imperative that we position ourselves as a stickler for High Standards of Corporate Governance as we strive to build a global brand.”

Amitabh Kant will be addressing the gathering on shaping the standards of corporate governance for India Inc. to go global and set benchmarks for other members of G-20 group. Chintan Vaishnav, Chairman- Startup20 Engagement Group under G20 and Vice Admiral Dinesh Tripathi, AVSM, NM would also be sharing their views and experiences on Inculcating culture of creativity and discipline in Corporate Governance. Vivek Pandit, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Co will be joining them and will speak on the New Bar for Governance in Private Markets. This will be followed by a square table discussion where leaders would express their views, ideas and experience on how to position Indian unicorns as a well governed corporate community.

To register for the event please click here https://nishithdesai.in/29April2023/Registration.aspx

About TiE

The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), was founded in 1992 in Silicon Valley by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals with roots in the Indus region. Since 1992. TiE has been supporting entrepreneurs by offering education, mentorship, networking and funding opportunities. The mission of TiE is to foster entrepreneurship globally through the 5 pillars of TiE : mentoring, networking and education, funding and incubation. Dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the community. TiE’s focus area is to generate enable the next generation of entrepreneurs. There are currently 11,000 members, including over 2,500 charter members in 60 chapters across 17 countries. TiE’s mission is to foster entrepreneurship globally through mentoring, networking, and education. Dedicated to the virtuous cycle of wealth creation and giving back to the community, TiE’s focus is on generating and nurturing our next generation of entrepreneurs.

India’s Global Competitiveness Intricately Tied to Proficiency at Adopting AI: Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog

“The long-term success of the Indian ecosystem and India’s global competitiveness will intricately be tied to our proficiency at adopting and leveraging AI at scale, especially in the larger enterprise context,” said Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, Niti Aayog speaking at the 5th edition of the Digital Transformation Summit, organised by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) today in Mumbai. 

Mr Kant also released a report, titled, ‘From Buzz to Reality: The Accelerating Pace of AI in India’, prepared by Bain & Company in collaboration with Microsoft and IAMAI. Shri Kant said, “Artificial Intelligence is now more important than ever, not only is its use becoming ubiquitous, its adoption is central for private sector companies to remain globally relevant.” Underlining the importance of using AI responsibly, he added, “The promise of AI presents a wealth of opportunities -- there are key privacy, data security and ethical considerations that have to be accounted for. Responsible management of AI in India is key to leveraging benefits of AI while minimising the risks.”

The Summit brought together various stakeholders covering new age technology developers, enterprise solution providers, adopters, policy makers, knowledge partners and think tanks on one platform to analyse and discuss the roadmap of Digital Transformation in the near future.

Over various sessions industry leaders discussed various issues related to AI, Web3, Metaverse. Among those who attended the conference were Mr. MVS Murthy, Head – Marketing, Digital, Corp Comm, Tata Mutual Fund; Mr. Milan Seth, EVP IMEA Region- Automation Anywhere, and Mr. Poorav Sheth, Chief Digital Officer, Godrej & Boyce.

Mr. Milan Sheth, Chair, Automation Committee, IAMAI & EVP IMEA Region, Automation Anywhere, said, "Digital transformation has gone from push to pull, with more organisations demanding integration of newer technologies."

Speaking at a session on data security solutions for digitalized enterprises, Mr. Brijesh Singh, Additional Director General of Police, Govt. of Maharashtra, said, “The regulatory environment is getting tightened in India when it comes to cyber security.”

“Web 2.0 based applications made start-ups much easier to grow and operate, similarly web 3 will make global applications easy to build and use,” said Sandeep Laxman, Head Fintech Business Development, Amazon Web, discussing the future business models with web 3 and metaverse.

Different sessions were held on digital transformation strategy, work management 5.0, future of connected vehicle experience, data security and data-driven decision making. Over 300 delegates, more than 250 companies and over 50 speakers took part in the Digital Transformation Summit.

About IAMAI

Established in 2004, the Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) is a not-for-profit industry body and the country's only organization representing the digital services industry with over 400 Indian and multinational corporations as its members, which include established companies in diverse sectors of the digital ecosystem as well as start-ups. Its mandate is to expand and enhance the online and mobile value-added services sectors. It is dedicated to presenting a unified voice of the businesses it represents to the government, investors, consumers and other stakeholders. IAMAI represents varied sectors such as digital advertising, digital entertainment, TravelTech, online gaming, digital payments, Fintech, digital commerce, Edutech, Healthtech, Agritech, blockchain, Big data, ML, AI & IoT, AR/ VR, LogisticsTech and so on.

Technology in Sunrise Sectors Key to 9-10% Growth: Kant

NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Saturday that technology in sunrise sectors will have to be the key for the country to achieve 9-10 per cent growth.

Sunrise industry is a colloquial term for a burgeoning sector or business in its infancy stage showing promise of a rapid boom. Sunrise industries are typically characterized by high growth rates, numerous start-ups, and an abundance of venture capital funding.

-- Investopedia.com

Kant was delivering the 41st Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Lecture in Ahmedabad.

"My belief is, unless and until we don't use technology to leapfrog into the next generation, it will be we grow as usual, at 4-5 per cent.

"But if you want a quantum jump of 9-10 per cent, technology in sunrise areas of growth has to be the key," he said.

"And therefore, we must use machine learning, we must use artificial intelligence to make this massive growth process," Kant said.

Electric mobility will be the newer area of growth, especially with the cost of battery falling radically, he said. Data storage has also created huge possibilities for innovators, he said.

"What India has done is create a vast amount of data in public domain, on the back of which it has allowed private sector to innovate. What we need to do is use this public highways for a lot of private sector innovation," he said.

"No other country in the world has the size and scale of India as far as data is concerned. Nowhere in the world we have public data of this size and scale to find solutions to the challenges of India," he said.

Underscoring the importance of design, Kant said it accounts for 70 per cent of a product's value.

"In today's world, more than manufacturing, it is design which is important. Therefore, design in India must become our key principle... And that is where the real value lies," he said.

Indian companies, innovators, researchers and academicians should come forward and register their patents, Kant said.

"India's patent registration has been absolutely dismal. And therefore, the key really is about building intellectual knowledge, doing research, about registering.Therefore, it is big onus on all of us," he said.

India has seen a large number of start-ups emerging in recent times, he said.

"And start-ups are not merely disrupting systems, but many are finding solutions to problems in India, he said.

He also called for gender parity in the country's work force and reforms in the agricultural sector.

Tremendous Startup Movement with ~ 35,000 Young Startups, 10,000 Tech Startups - Amitabh Kant at SKOCH Public Policy Lit Fest

• The world is innovating from Indian and India is innovating for the world


• India has eased the patent to drive a massive amount of innovation


• Without manufacturing India cannot achieve $5 Trillion Economy

Topmost policy think-tank of the country SKOCH Group In association with RIS (Research and Information System for Developing Countries), ICRIER and IDF today organized World’s first Public Policy Literature Fest (at 63rd SKOCH Summit). This is one of the largest gathering and meet of public policy authors, startup ecosystem, economists, think tanks, civil servants and experts on water issues, foreign trade, telecom, MSMEs, defence, digital and other sectors. SKOCH Public Policy LITFest is an endeavour to bring public policy literature to the forefront of public discourse and decision making.

Scheduled just ahead of the union budget the sessions were insightful of the roadmap of the Indian economy with engaging discussions among country’s renowned economists, think tanks and policy makers witnessed by an audience comprising of civil servants and aspirants.

Speaking on the massive startup innovations happening in the country, Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and Author of ‘Incredible India 2.0’ said, “India is seeing a tremendous startup movement. We have close to 35,000 young startups, almost 10,000 tech startups and they are doing some unique work. Startups such as Hello English, Embibe, Tricog etc. are some great innovation stories. Indian startups such as Biju, Oyo, Ola are now penetrating global markets. This has demonstrated that you create the right ecosystem and Indian startups will actually penetrate the world. This has happened because we in India have been able to build a unique system. We are the only country in the world with 1200 million biometric, 1200 million mobiles and 1200 million bank accounts. And this what we call the JAM trinity will enable a lot of unique transition to advanced economy in due course.”

“India's data consumption today is more than the data consumption of US and China combined. We will provide size and scale of the data that the world has never seen before. This size and scale will enable us to use a lot of machine learning, AI to provide solutions to health and education which has never done before. In the next 15 years AI will contribute about 15.7 trillion $ to the global economy which is more than the output of USA and China put together. The world is innovating from Indian and India is innovating for the world. We have eased the patent to drive a massive amount of innovation. Today you can get a patent in the country just in 18 months, the way you get in the USA.”

The highest honour of SKOCH Awards – SKOCH Challenger Award was conferred to Dr. N C Saxena, Mentor to a generation of accomplished IAS Officers in the country, Author of ‘What Ails the IAS and Why It Fails to Deliver? for his valuable contribution towards the betterment of the country.

Addressing the audience, Mr. Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, SKOCH Group (India’s topmost development think-tank) at the event said, “This is an opportune time to analyse the process of public policy designing when there are a lot of people who are questioning recent policy decisions. Public policy making must be a participative exercise, more participative the process the lesser the chances of pushback. All policy making must take into account felt-needs of the people. There has to be a mechanism to capture the felt needs of MSMEs, the topmost being access to easy credit. Initiatives such as GST based bill discounting window and independent window on TReDS are required. In our country we do not have enough data, but the data we have is also not correctly used in crafting public policy. Sanctity of data and statistics is of paramount importance. There is need to have a balanced data governance. Onus of explaining the nuances of a particular policy and its implications to all stakeholders lies on the policy crafters. Disruptive technologies and business models have to be taken into account while making policy, this creates a role for technologists and future designers in policy making. Health system for new India report by NITI Aayog is a very good example of how disruptions can be leveraged for India's advantage.”

Eminent personalities such as, Dr. Rakesh Kumar, Chief Advisor, UNDP India; Mr. Alok Kumar, Adviser Health & Nutrition, NITI Aayog; Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Author, Director and Head of the South and South-West Asia (SSWA) Office of the United Nations; Mr. Shyamal Ghosh, Chairman, Telecom Export Promotion Council (TEPC); Dr. N C Saxena, Author of ‘What Ails the IAS and Why It Fails to Deliver?’; Mr. R Chandrashekhar, Author and Former Secretary, Government of India; Mr. Shyamal Ghosh, Chairman, Telecom Export Promotion Council (TEPC); Mr. Abhijit Das, Author, Head & Professor, Centre For WTO Studies among others participated and shared their insights at the summit.

About SKOCH Group

SKOCH Group is India’s topmost think-tank for socio-economic issues with a focus on inclusive growth since 1997. Its research is accepted across political spectrum and is used for parliamentary replies as well as policy formulation. SKOCH Group specializes in action research that brings felt-need of the grassroots to the policy table.

It has published seven books thus far that are valued as recommended reading. The repertoire of services includes field interventions, consultancy, research reports, impact assessments, policy briefs, books, journals, workshops and conferences. SKOCH Group has instituted India’s highest independent civilian honours in the field of governance, finance, technology, economics and social sector.

Govt to Open 10,000 Tinkering Labs at School Level across India to Promote Innovation - NITI Aayog CEO

• Themed “Indian Startups, Global Footprint”, the 4th edition of the Summit aimed to empower Indian innovators to create value at global scale


• Unicorn founders such as Jaspreet Singh (Druva) and Harsh Jain (Dream11), spoke about their entrepreneurial journeys


• 14 startups supported by TiE Global Angels; USD 4 million raised, announced Nitin Rai


• 15 SaaS companies to become unicorns in the coming years, predicted Rajan Anandan


• 28 billion IoT devices will be connected to the network by 2022, CISCO Systems India predicted


• Dr Santhosh Babu, Principal Secretary to Government – IT Department, Government of Tamil Nadu shed light on major tech-centric policies announced by the state government to boost e-governance

Hosted by TiE Delhi-NCR, the 4th edition of TiE Global Summit witnessed power-packed fireside conversations by eminent ecosystem stakeholders. Over the next two days, the Summit will host 200+ speakers across more than 60 sessions. The inaugural day registered a footfall of 2,000 delegates.

Geetika Dayal, Executive Director – TiE Delhi-NCR, welcomed the guests and opened the fore for TiE leadership. Kick-starting the event, Nitin Rai, Chair – TiE Global Board of Trustees, talked about the theme “Indian Startups, Global Footprint”. He shared insights about the impact of various TiE Global programs focused on youth, angel investing, and women entrepreneurs. Talking about the TiE Global Angels (TGA), he said, “In the past three years, TGA, with the help of 273 Charter Members across 33 chapters, has invested USD 4 million in 14 companies.” 

Welcoming the attendees, Rajan Anandan President – TiE Delhi-NCR, said, “This year, the Indian startup ecosystem welcomed 7 new unicorns from different sectors. This is suggestive of how and how much entrepreneurship in the country has grown in the past few years. In line with the theme of this year’s edition of TiE Global Summit, we aimed to celebrate startups that have successfully penetrated international markets while providing budding innovators with the opportunity to network, learn, and grow.”

The first fireside keynote address was by Jaspreet Singh, founder of Druva, a data security and management solutions company. He talked about his journey towards becoming a unicorn startup. Asha Jadeja Motwani, a Silicon Valley-based angel investor and enabler was the Grand Keynote for the inaugural day.

Speaking about ‘Re-defining e-governance’, Dr Santhosh Babu, Principal Secretary to Government, IT Department, Government of Tamil Nadu, made three landmark announcements by the Tamil Nadu government to boost startups. These include setting up centres of excellence for startups, adoption of API route for accelerating regulatory processes, and an investment of USD 5.5 million for enabling blockchain as a service. Later, highlighting the ever-growing relevance of technology, Krishna Sundaresan, VP Engineering – CISCO Systems India, quoted IDC estimates saying that 93% of organizations will use multiple clouds by 2022.

The event also witnessed the presence of distinguished personalities such as noted Author Shiv Khera; and Dia Mirza, Actor, Producer, UN Environment Goodwill Ambassador. She was the Guest of Honour for the session focused on environment: ‘Making Habitats Livable’. She spoke about the urgent need for recognizing and acting upon the problems posed by air pollution in India. “What we need today is to be responsive, not reactive. The adverse effect of the poor quality of air is evidenced in our lives – in the health of our children and those around us. Sustainable development goals are about acknowledging that we have a problem and then acting upon it. In our personal capacity, we can begin, by bolstering the waste management infrastructure by properly segregating waste. We can, and indeed must, commit ourselves to do more,” she concluded.

Later in the day, Amitabh Kant, CEO – NITI Aayog, Government of India, delivered a keynote. He said, “It is good to see the tremendous amount of energy, vibrancy, and dynamism shown by startups in India. There are many startups that are driving disruptions across sectors. From the government’s side, we are doing and will continue to do all we can to support the growth of Indian entrepreneurship. I would like to congratulate TiE for four glorious editions of the TiE Global Summit and wish them all the best as they continue to foster the global startup ecosystem.”

The event also facilitated several knowledge-sharing sessions including ‘Fostering Entrepreneurship & Innovation’ powered by STPI and featuring industry leaders such as Subroto Bagchi, Chairman of Odisha Skill Development & Co-founder – Mindtree and Dr Omkar Rai, Director General, Software Technology Parks of India, among others. The panel discussed the future of entrepreneurship in the country across Indian states.

Another session during the day was ‘Innovations in the interplay of Digital & Physical Worlds’, powered by Microsoft and led by Dr Rohini Srivathsa, National Technology Officer & Strategy Lead – Microsoft India. She shared invaluable insights regarding the need for digital integration in streamlining various business as well as regulatory processes. Further, the session titled ‘Enabling Startup Ecosystem’ powered by Google, featured an expert panel comprising Shalini Girish, Director – Google Customer Solutions India, Abhinav Kishore, India Head SMB – Google Cloud, and Shalini Poddar, Head of Business Development – Google Play India. The point of discussion was the role of Google India in driving innovations to bolster the start-up ecosystem.

TiE’s 4th Global Summit was backed by several domain-leading institutions including Google, Motwani Jadeja Foundation, Startup India, Indian Angel Network Fund, Flipkart, Deloitte, BIRAC, CISCO Systems India, Microsoft, and MG Motor, among others.

Think of the World as Market besides the Domestic one, Advices NITI Aayog Chief

India should penetrate global markets, NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said, even as he stressed on promoting manufacturing in the country in a big way.

"We need to make India easy to do business and we in the government have taken several steps by simplifying rules and regulations that resulted in the country improving substantially in the World Bank's 'Ease of Doing Business'," a release from IIT, Hyderabad quoted him as saying, at the institute's convocation.

The country should penetrate global markets, Kant, who delivered the convocation address via video conference, said.

"It is important for all of you to understand that we live in a globalised world and there is no place for protectionism. We need to penetrate global markets. Japan and China are export-driven economies that have thrived on trade," he said.

Kant advised the students to think of the world as their market and not only the domestic market.

"We now import a lot of our mobile phones, television sets and telecommunication equipment. Manufacturing is important and we should increase it from its current share of 18 per cent of our GDP," he said.

[caption id="attachment_120318" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Amitabh Kant, NITI Aayog CEO[/caption]

The participation of women in the economy must increase and the country cannot grow without bringing the large women population into the workforce, he said.

"If India is to grow at 9 per cent, we must have gender parity. We must increase the participation of women in Indian economy and that will depend on you, many of whom will be in positions of power. You must give a place of prominence for women wherever you work. We cannot grow without bringing half of our population into the workforce," he said. PTI SJR HMB

Sandbox Startups Unveils India's Largest Startup Incubation Centre in Hubballi City

NITI Aayog Chairman Amitabh Kant on Thursday unveiled a startup incubation centre in this north Karnataka town to promote entrepreneurship in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

Built by Sandbox Startups, a technology business incubator and promoted by the US-based technocrat Gururaj Deshpande, the startup facility can house about 100 companies at a time.

IndianWeb2 first reported about the incubator back in January 2017 and then earlier this month it was confirmed the launch would happen in Hubbali on 18 July, which was yesterday.

"India needs disruptive innovation to tackle challenges in health, education and agriculture sectors. We have to take a leap in social innovation to make 60 per cent of the population in rural areas a part of the growth story," said NITI Aayog CEO after dedicating the hi-tech facility to the nation.

Noting that real solutions for the country's problems should come from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, Kant said Indian could become a role model for the world if it could find solutions for the challenges faced by its 1.3 billion population. "We can lead the world with our innovations," Kant said further.

In Hubli with Desh Deshpande at the launch of SandBox Starups Incubation centre. With 1 Lakh sq ft its India’s largest incubation centre. It’s targeted at semi urban & rural Indians. Tremendous creative energy & innovative culture in Hubli. Phenomenal work by Desh & his Gr8 team! pic.twitter.com/mB6UBfhsH0

— Amitabh Kant (@amitabhk87) July 18, 2018

Stressing on inclusive growth, Kant said 8-10 per cent GDP growth rate per annum cannot be achieved if majority of the people living in non-metros were not part of the growth cycle.

"The Central government is supporting 25 incubation centres and hand-holding them to find solutions to many challenges facing the country," he said.

As part of its inclusive growth strategy, the NDA government has identified 115 most backward districts, which are being monitored with real-time data for actionable intelligence needed to improve social indicators.

"The governments have to work with non-profit organizations to deliver impact at the ground level," Kant added.

Spread in 6.09 acres of land situated on Gokul Road near the Hubballi Airport, the new facility is the first of its kind in India with full-fledged facilities including a MAKERS LAB and the ESDM Cluster. It also has all amenities that are needed for a robust startup ecosystem to flourish.

"Sandbox has supported 80 ventures with sustainable, scalable and resilient business models and generated Rs 70 crore for the local economy over the last 8 years," said the startup in a statement here.

About 50 patents were filed in the technology space by the startups incubated at Sandbox.

The companies are involved in image processing, agri-tech, Internet of Things (IoT), logistics, E-commerce, healthcare and service sectors.

A dedicated team of Sandbox Samvidha is supporting not-for profit ventures and high social impact startups.

Interested startup aspirants, entrepreneurs, professionals and academecians willing to join the new incubator can register online here.

To recall, in last month, India's Union science & technology minister Harsh Vardhan announced that India will soon have its first international incubator coming up in capital city of Delhi, to promote innovation in the field of clean energy and stimulate research, innovation, and entrepreneurship for the global initiative on clean energy.

It may also be recalled that, in April, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh inaugurated '36Inc' in Raipur, which is the first government-supported startup incubation centre in the state, and claims it to be second biggest centre in the entire country, after Hyderabad's T-Hub.

Source - The News Minute

Sandbox Startups Unveils India's Largest Startup Incubation Centre in Hubballi City

NITI Aayog Chairman Amitabh Kant on Thursday unveiled a startup incubation centre in this north Karnataka town to promote entrepreneurship in tier-2 and tier-3 cities.

Built by Sandbox Startups, a technology business incubator and promoted by the US-based technocrat Gururaj Deshpande, the startup facility can house about 100 companies at a time.

IndianWeb2 first reported about the incubator back in January 2017 and then earlier this month it was confirmed the launch would happen in Hubbali on 18 July, which was yesterday.

"India needs disruptive innovation to tackle challenges in health, education and agriculture sectors. We have to take a leap in social innovation to make 60 per cent of the population in rural areas a part of the growth story," said NITI Aayog CEO after dedicating the hi-tech facility to the nation.

Noting that real solutions for the country's problems should come from tier-2 and tier-3 cities, Kant said Indian could become a role model for the world if it could find solutions for the challenges faced by its 1.3 billion population. "We can lead the world with our innovations," Kant said further.

In Hubli with Desh Deshpande at the launch of SandBox Starups Incubation centre. With 1 Lakh sq ft its India’s largest incubation centre. It’s targeted at semi urban & rural Indians. Tremendous creative energy & innovative culture in Hubli. Phenomenal work by Desh & his Gr8 team! pic.twitter.com/mB6UBfhsH0

— Amitabh Kant (@amitabhk87) July 18, 2018

Stressing on inclusive growth, Kant said 8-10 per cent GDP growth rate per annum cannot be achieved if majority of the people living in non-metros were not part of the growth cycle.

"The Central government is supporting 25 incubation centres and hand-holding them to find solutions to many challenges facing the country," he said.

As part of its inclusive growth strategy, the NDA government has identified 115 most backward districts, which are being monitored with real-time data for actionable intelligence needed to improve social indicators.

"The governments have to work with non-profit organizations to deliver impact at the ground level," Kant added.

Spread in 6.09 acres of land situated on Gokul Road near the Hubballi Airport, the new facility is the first of its kind in India with full-fledged facilities including a MAKERS LAB and the ESDM Cluster. It also has all amenities that are needed for a robust startup ecosystem to flourish.

"Sandbox has supported 80 ventures with sustainable, scalable and resilient business models and generated Rs 70 crore for the local economy over the last 8 years," said the startup in a statement here.

About 50 patents were filed in the technology space by the startups incubated at Sandbox.

The companies are involved in image processing, agri-tech, Internet of Things (IoT), logistics, E-commerce, healthcare and service sectors.

A dedicated team of Sandbox Samvidha is supporting not-for profit ventures and high social impact startups.

Interested startup aspirants, entrepreneurs, professionals and academecians willing to join the new incubator can register online here.

To recall, in last month, India's Union science & technology minister Harsh Vardhan announced that India will soon have its first international incubator coming up in capital city of Delhi, to promote innovation in the field of clean energy and stimulate research, innovation, and entrepreneurship for the global initiative on clean energy.

It may also be recalled that, in April, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh inaugurated '36Inc' in Raipur, which is the first government-supported startup incubation centre in the state, and claims it to be second biggest centre in the entire country, after Hyderabad's T-Hub.

Source - The News Minute

NITI Aayog To Launch Portal To Offer Govt Data For Startups Despite Existing One

Indian government's policy think tank NITI Aayog is planning to launch a new portal in next six months that will allow private organisations, especially startups, to use public data available with various ministries for innovation and come up with sector-specific solutions, announced Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, reports Economic Times.

Speaking on the sidelines of a conclave on artificial intelligence organized by Bennet University, NITI Aayog’s CEO Amitabh Kant has said that the Aayog will soon launch a new portal that will open the floodgate of public data for private companies especially startups to come up with innovative sector-specific innovations.

Amitabh further said that the government departments are generally hesitant in sharing public data with private players which has restricted the scope of technological research, thus by opening a window of data for private players will not only expand the scope of research in India but also promote innovation.

It is to be noted however that, in 2012, India has already launched portal -- Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India or data.gov.in -- a platform for supporting Open data initiative of Government of India. This portal is a single-point access to datasets, documents, services, tools and applications published by ministries, departments and organisations of the Government of India. It combines and expands the best features of India government's India.gov.in and the U.S. government's data.gov project.

Now the question is, how different will the upcoming portal announced by NITi Aayog CEO be from existing one (data.gov.in) and what is the need for it? when there's already one in existence which can easily be revamped and enhanced to solve the purpose of offering public data window to private players.

Moreover, the Aayog would also come up with a strategy document on artificial intelligence (AI) soon, laying down some sort of guidelines for use of public data by private players. “I believe innovations always come before the regulations. Hence, policies might not be very relevant. And in certain areas, it’s better for the government to let private players innovate and disrupt,” said Amitabh Kant in the AI conclave organized as part of leadingIndia.ai -- a collaborative initiative by 100-odd institutions to promote research in the field of AI.

It may be recalled that, this month NITI Aayog partnered with tech giant Google to stimulate growth in India's nascent artificial intelligence and machine learning ecosystem by working together on several initiatives in these new-age technologies.

Speaking about AI strategies within the country, he said that the artificial intelligence could help increase India’s year-on-year growth rate by 1.3% and that the government was already working with organisations, such as Microsoft and IBM, in that direction. “We are using artificial intelligence for improving agricultural productivity, using ISRO data in over 100 aspirational districts across the country,” he added.

On leadingIndia.ai, Kant said, “Such initiatives have the potential to change the landscape of AI research in India as they bring together startups, industry and academia to work on providing application-inspired ideas.”

Dr Deepak Garg, director of leadingindia.ai initiative, said they look forward to working with NITI Aayog to solve some of the critical problems that would help improve the quality of life in the aspirational districts. They are also planning to setup a centre of excellence in AI at Bennett University with the help of Govt of India, he added.

The Bennett University, which is a part of Times of India group, has launched leadingindia.ai initiative with aims to impart training in artificial intelligence technologies to nearly one million students in two years.

Notably, Amazon had set up its first Intelligent Devices Lab in the country, on the Bennett University campus in Greater Noida, that would help create new skills and promote cutting-edge research in speech technology.