Bengaluru,  The Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) launched by the Karnataka government, as a platform to set up technological multilateral relations with foreign countries, is expanding every year, and for the first time South Africa, Vietnam and UAE will be participating in the BTS-2021 which will be held from November 17-19.

 

C.N. Ashwath Narayan, the Minister for IT, BT and S&T addressing a press conference regarding 'Growing GIA Partnerships @ BTS 2021' on Friday, said that new countries are keen on joining GIA to explore areas of collaboration.

BTS stands for Bengaluru Tech Summit.

"For the first time, mutual participation of Karnataka and Australia through BTS and Sydney Dialogue is being arranged. As part of this, The Sydney Dialogue sessions which also will be on the same days (November 17-19) will be streamed on the BTS platform and likewise streaming of BTS on The Sydney Dialogue will provide an opportunity to show content from our participants. These will cover Quad space collaboration and Foreign Ministers of both countries will address the impact of tech on democracy," Narayan explained.

'Beyond Bengaluru' will be focused to encourage setting up sister city collaborations with emerging cities of Karnataka and GIA partner countries in the event which is likely to see large participation also from the European Union and Commonwealth countries.

A Minister-level delegation from key GIA partner countries participating in the summit includes Stuart Ayers, New South Wales Minister, Prof. Andreas Pinkwart, North Rhine-Westphalia, TimoHarakka, Government of Finland, Nguyen Quan, Former Minister of Vietnam among others.

International technology experts who will address as keynote speakers include Martin Schroeter, CEO, Kyndryl; Prof. Klaus Schwab, Founder and Chairman, World Economic Forum; Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, Indian-American Physician; Priya Balasubramaniam, Vice President, Operations Apple Inc.; Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India; Gaven Standon, Executive Partner Ecosystem, Telstra; Gil Shwed, Founder and CEO, Checkpoint among others.

Australian Consul-General for South India, Sarah Kirlew who attended virtually announced that Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison will lead Australia's delegation to the BTS-2021.

Highlighting sessions include "Deepening India - Australia ties in 'tech and innovation" by Australia, "Healthcare and Medical Technology" by Germany, "Digital Health in Finland: Developing AI and VR tools to support the growth of health technology businesses" by Finlandamong others, Narayan said.

The GIA sessions will throw light on key issues of Cyber Security and Related Research Applications, Digital trust in a post-pandemic world, Driving Next with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Developing Artificial Intelligence and Visual Reality Tools for developing health care technology.

Other notable sessions include "Healthcare & Medical Technology" by Germany, "Digital Health in Finland: Developing AI and VR tools to support the growth of health technology businesses" by Finland among others.