G20 Digital Innovation Alliance showcased at VivaTech Paris

Paris [France], June 15 : G20 Digital Innovation Alliance under India's G20 presidency has been showcased at the ongoing Viva Technology the biggest startups and digital event in Europe being held in Paris. India's digital infrastructure and capabilities were also on display.

The objective of the G20 Digital Innovation Alliance (G20-DIA) is to identify, recognize, and enable the adoption of innovative and impactful digital technologies developed by startups, from G20 nations as well as the invited non-member nations.

Jitendra Vijay, Chief Executive Officer, of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) said that under G20 Digital Innovation Alliance, they are bringing startups together from the G20 nations and nine invited guests countries in six key sectors humanity's development, agriculture, health care, education, finance, cybersecurity and circular economy.

"Top startups from these six sectors will come to India as part of this program. 174 startups will be part of this program. We are running a virtual accelerator for startups so that they can learn how to grow their business globally. We will have speakers from different parts of the world, North America, South America, Africa and Asia, India. Also, we'll have investors giving them mentoring and coaching and finally, we'll have the three-day event in Bangalore under G20 where all the startups will come to India, and participate in various panels and pitching competitions," Vijay added.

Vijay said that around 30 startups will get awards and recognition as part of this program. More than 3000 applications have been received from India for this program.

"We are hopeful that we'll be able to raise funding from various large VC funds that will be attending the program."

CEO Vijay said that ultimately the goal is to showcase India's strength and startup ecosystem and at the same time, bring all the other startup ecosystems together.

Satya Narayan Meena, ACEO and CFO, GeM said that he was at the event to share the success story of Government eMarketplace (GeM).

"Globally in public procurement, we are number three position behind South Korea's KONEPS and Singapore's GeBIZ in gross merchandise value. However, in terms of seller base, GeM is eight times what KONEPS has, and maybe 50 times what GeBIZ has," Meena said at a panel discussion.

Talking about India's digital success story Ashish Saraf, Vice President and Country Head, of Thales India shared about the DG Yatra application used at airports. Flyers in India are now using facial recognition using Digi Yatra to move throughout the terminal, including security and boarding areas.

Saraf added that DigiYatra will be deployed in about 100 airports in India where your face will act as your boarding pass.

"India is showing the world how to manage airport traffic in a contactless manner for the public good is a great example of digital India," Saraf added.