2 days ago
Siddaramaiah meets industry leaders over breakfast ahead of tech summit, pitches Bengaluru as India's tech crown
Over a power-packed breakfast with nearly 100 top industry leaders, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday positioned Bengaluru as the undisputed tech capital of India and a frontrunner in emerging domains like artificial intelligence and quantum technology. The meeting, hosted by the state's Department of Electronics, IT & BT, served as a curtain-raiser to the 28th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit, scheduled from November 18 to 20. Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah meets CEOs ahead of Bengaluru Tech Summit.
'We are the best place for entrepreneurs to start and scale globally,' Siddaramaiah told the gathering, urging leaders to bring fresh investments to Karnataka.
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Highlighting Bengaluru's global stature in AI, the CM noted that the city ranks fifth among the world's top AI hubs and houses nearly half of India's AI talent, making it the second-largest AI talent pool on the planet. Karnataka's upcoming IT policy, he said, will create the infrastructure needed to accelerate AI growth even further.
Tracing the state's forward-looking vision from the Mysuru kings to India's first IT policy in 1997 and the recent Global Capability Centre Policy in 2024, Siddaramaiah underlined Karnataka's consistent leadership in technology adoption.
On the quantum front, he announced that Karnataka was the first Indian state to launch a dedicated Quantum Technology Roadmap, aiming to make it Asia's top innovation hub in the sector by 2035, with an anticipated $20 billion quantum economy. Plans include setting up Quantum Hardware Parks, Innovation Zones, and hosting a global Quantum Conclave in Bengaluru.
'Karnataka leads the country in software exports, contributing 44% of India's total,' the CM pointed out. 'The IT and ITeS sector makes up 26% of our state's economy. We already host more than 875 Global Capability Centres, accounting for 30% of India's total, and we aim to add 500 more by 2029, generating 3.5 lakh jobs and $50 billion in economic output.'
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He also revealed that the state is expanding its tech footprint beyond Bengaluru through new innovation clusters, while nurturing a thriving startup ecosystem with over 18,300 startups and 45 unicorns.
Among the ambitious projects discussed was KWIN City, a planned integrated hub for wellness, innovation, and future industries, designed to attract global talent and investors with dedicated R&D clusters and lifestyle infrastructure.
The CM also touched upon the proposed Health City, envisioned as a world-class healthcare and life sciences hub combining advanced medical research, biotech innovation, med-tech manufacturing, and super-specialty hospitals catering to both domestic and international patients.
(With PTI inputs)
