"New Centres of Excellence will be formed that will act as businesses, emerging technology, and skilling instrumentation facility incubator": IT & BT Minister Kharge

“The centres of excellence (CoEs) will be in partnership with the industries and we will be having automobile technology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and medical devices CoEs. By setting up such 6 to 8 new CoE within the current financial year, these CoEs will act as incubators for businesses, emerging technology, and as skilling instrumentation facilities,” stated by Priyank Kharge, Minister for Information Technology & Biotechnology speaking at a press conference and a preparatory meeting ahead of Bengaluru Tech Summit here in Bengaluru. He said, “This is evidence of Karnataka's continued commitment to growth, while rising above national and international boundaries through collaborations. Karnataka has consistently maintained a leading position in cutting-edge research, innovation, and technology owing to collaboration and interaction with esteemed industry stakeholders, research fraternity and by fostering the Start-up Ecosystem. Over the years we have established a strong bond with our Global Innovation Alliance Partner Countries.”

The Minister said, “As the 4th largest technology cluster worldwide and 21st most innovative ecosystem, we are working to get the top position by ensuring strong policy and financial framework.”Minister Priyank Kharge said that “For regional development as a focus area we are trying to adopt a cluster-based approach. With an aim to ensure there would be a structured growth in electronics, IT and BT; creating global innovation alliances (GIA); a conducive environment for investments to flow, and concentrating on vertical specific investments across the state of Karnataka, manufacturing will move out of Bengaluru. Mysuru has been identified as a semiconductor cluster with over Rs 4,000 crore of MoU have recently been signed,” he added. He said that the theme for this year’s summit is ‘Breaking Boundaries’ which promotes the spirit of innovation, disruption, and exploration across geographies and industries. Aiming to scale the skilling ecosystem, for which it recently announced a ‘Skill Advisory Committee’ headed by Kharge the 26th Bengaluru Tech Summit 2023, is expected participation of over 30 countries, 400 speakers, 75 sessions, 3000 delegates, 2000 startups, and an expected footfall of over 50,000 individuals. The 26th edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS 2023) is scheduled to be held from November 29 – December 1 in Bengaluru. Kharge said that the event dates were announced early to encourage international tech organisations to plan their participation.