24th edition of Technology Summit begins from Monday at New Delhi; Italy will be the partner country for the first time India will host the 24th edition of Technology Summit with Italy as the partner country. The two-day summit will be inaugurated on 29th October, 2018 by the Union Minister for Science& Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan and Prof. Michele Geraci, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Economic Development, Italy. Valedictory session of the summit will be addressed by the Prime Ministers of India & Italy. This is the first time that Italy has been selected as partner country for this prestigious event. Italian Prime Minister will be leading a 200-strong delegation for the Summit comprising business leaders, scientists, heads of research and scientific organisations and technocrats. The Summit is envisaged to serve as a wide-ranging knowledge-business partnership platform. Companies, institutions and government agencies from India and Partner Country (Italy)will endeavor to forgetechnology transfers / joint ventures / R&D partnershipswith an aim to increase bilateral trade & investments. The Summit will also facilitate a comprehensive convergence of key elements of knowledge economy (science, technology & innovation; research & development; and higher education) of India and Italy. Aerospace, Cleantech, Cultural Heritage, Education, Heathcare, ICT and Renewables are the seven focus sectors for this year’s summit. There will be 11 Conference sessions, 10 Tech Talks, 500+ B2B meetings, 10 Business Presentations, Digital exposition during the Summit. Key scientists, academics and Industry leaders from both countries will be addressing the Tech Summit. It is envisaged that the Technology Summit will help in strengthening, expanding and deepening India-Italy relationship in multiple ways. It will also strengthen the collaborations between industries and universities of both countries and would lead to scaling-up of the existing bilateral industrial R&D programs. Background: Genesis of this Tech Summit lies in the first CII Technology Summit organised 23 years back in 1995 with an aim to facilitate global technology collaborations. After a few successful yearly summits, CII became partner with the Department of Science & Technology in organising these Summits since 2004. Yearly Technology Summit benefitted Indian industry and academic & research institutions immensely in forging collaborations with global partners, including policy making which triggered private sector’s investment in R&D and technology significantly. In the past 18 years, several countries have become partner countries in Technology Summit. These include Israel, Germany, France, Taiwan, Thailand, Russia, Canada, ASEAN block, Belarus, Finland, Spain, South Korea and USA. In 2016, the Technology Summit had UK as the partner country and prime ministers of India and UK had addressed the summit. Some of the outcomes of previous technology summits are: Stronger S&T collaborations with partner countries Large number of technology tie-ups between Indian and Partner Country’s industry and research institutions Bilateral industrial R&D programs launched with Israel, Canada, Italy, Spain, Taiwan, S. Korea, UK, Finland Many industry-led collaborative R&D projects funded through Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (www.gita.org.in)
The Minister of State for Communications (Independent Charge) Government of India, Mr Manoj Sinha and the H.E. Mr Andrus Ansip, European Commissioner for Digital Single Market and Vice President of the European Commission have met in New Delhi to discuss cooperation on Digital communications, Digital economy and society. India and European Union (EU) stressed that Digital Communications and Technologies are of vital importance for all spheres of society, business and government. The development and widespread adoption of new ICT services and networks have powerful effects on economic and social development, supporting sustainable growth and competitiveness and contributing to addressing global societal challenges. Both sides noted the importance of supporting global standards and welcomed the close technical cooperation between the Indian and European Telecom Standardization Development Organizations – TSDSI (India) and ETSI (European Union).
Both sides confirmed their commitment to further strengthen and broaden the cooperation in the field of Digital Communications and Emerging Technologies. India and the EU will work together to develop joint plans of action in the agreed areas of cooperation such as-future networks and emerging technologies, including 5G,IoT/M2Metc.,promotingR&D and innovation, network security, spectrum management, enhanced capacity development as well as policy and regulatory requirements among others.
EU expressed interest in strengthening cooperation in the area of testing and certification by supporting the visit of Indian Government experts to the European testing and certification laboratories for telecom equipment, with a view to exploring the possibility of India recognizing EU certifications. EU side also discussed about basic custom duties on some ICT products.
The two sides reaffirmed that regular bilateral dialogue with focused and dedicated approach is essential for steering constructive engagements and promoting future cooperation in the field of Digital Communications.
The India-EUco-operation dialogue on Digital Communications will take place annually through appropriate mechanism within the existing framework of the India-EU Joint Working Group on ICTs which was set up in 2011.Both sides agreed to hold the next India-EU dialogue on cooperation in the field of Digital Communications in the first half of 2019.