PM Modi to kick off 3-day Bengaluru technology summit on Thursday, Australian PM, Swiss VP to join via video

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will kick off India's flagship annual technology event, the Bengaluru Tech Summit, 2020 (BTS2020), on Thursday morning through a video streaming.

Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Swiss Confederation Vice President Guy Parmelin will also participate in the inaugural ceremony via a video streaming. About 25 nations, leading in technology, have confirmed their participation.

The BTS2020, organised by the Karnataka government in association with Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society (KITS), state's Vision Group on IT/BT & StartUp, and Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), will end on November 21.

Deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan, who holds the IT/BT portfolio, visited Shangri-La hotel, the event venue, in Bengaluru and inspected the arrangements. "We have made elaborate arrangements to make BTS a grant success as the event sessions are going 100% virtual," he said.

"After Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the tech summit 22 years ago, it is for the second time our Prime Minister is inaugurating the event. We are looking forward to hearing his inaugural speech which will have a huge impact on our state, the whole country and the entire BTS2020," he said.

The event, he added, is very relevant, particularly in the Covid 19 backdrop as the entire physical world has become virtual and it is more of a solution for the challenges humanity is facing in various sectors.

"Technology and innovation have come as a boon and a solution to mitigate and overcome all kinds of challenges. If you compare with all other past events, this event will become one of the best events that has happened so far. The event will showcase the entire country, especially Karnataka and Bengaluru," Narayan said.

Besides signing 12 memorandum of understanding (MoU) with foreign countries, Narayan said BTS 2020 will also pave the way for more investment to Karnataka. The event will have the participation of more than 200 Indian companies setting up their virtual exhibition, more than 4000 delegates, 270 speakers, around 75 panel discussions and more than 50,000 participants every day.

The event will also enable some 50 Indian tech start-ups to take their technology to Europe. Holland is the gateway to Europe for goods and services, and for technology as well. In addition to this, two MoU's will be signed in the areas of cybersecurity and agri-tech, where both sides will be working together on mentorship, honing skills, start-ups, and R&D. Karnataka and the Netherlands have a lot to offer to each other, and every new BTS brings our cooperation to a higher level, said Consul General of the Netherlands to South India Gert Heijkoop.

The Karnataka state startup community along with academia are eagerly waiting for attending the session. According to government officials, they have more than two lakh overseas registrations.

Prince Jacob, a prop-tech startup founder, said he is looking at BTS 2020 to understand more on the emerging technology in the real estate space. "We know that AR and VR are making a deep impact on multiple industries. The realty sector is also no exception to it along with other disruptive technologies like AI and ML. Since there is global participation at the event, it is easy to get a perspective on the technology shift happening around the industry along with other verticals," he said.