Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh, highlighted that India is now an attractive hub for foreign investments in the manufacturing sector and is on a continuous rising trajectory of innovation, at the DST-CII Technology Summit.
“The Technology Summit forms a platform which can help bring innovative minds across both the nations together to maximise the economic potential of both countries and reflect the ongoing transformation of respective economies for the future,” he pointed out while inaugurating the 28th edition of the DST-CII Technology Summit with Singapore as the Partner country on 23rd February.
Dr Singh said, “During the last 75 years, India has gone through an evolutionary journey that helped us to carve an economic and political identity amidst the global nations. Today when India is celebrating the 75th year of its Independence, the roadmap for the next 25 years for India @100, by the year 2047, will be determined essentially by scientific and technological innovations in all walks of life.”
“Science and Technology is key to achieve the Prime Minister’s, Atmanirbhar Bharat. With the help of the Make in India drive, India is on a path of becoming the hub for hi-tech manufacturing with a market of more than a billion consumers and an increasing purchasing power. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has made technology a medium for attaining social justice, empowerment, inclusion, and transparency. The government is using technology to ensure effective last-mile delivery of services,” he added.
The Union Minister said, “DST has been making concerted efforts in cultivating and promoting scientific temperament amongst the masses and is leading the research and innovation drive in the country. DST is running several mission mode programs like National Hydrogen Energy Mission, National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (ICPS); Quantum Computing and Communication; National Mission on Supercomputing, Electric Mobility, etc. to support the cause.”
“Singapore is India’s largest trade partner in ASEAN. It is the leading source of Foreign Direct Investment. India and Singapore have well-established Science, Technology, and Innovation linkages with new dimensions being added to these ongoing Cooperation from time to time, ” Dr. Singh highlighted.
He expressed confidence that deliberations at the Summit on critical areas will provide novel ideas for harnessing the power of STI for greater societal and economic growth of both India and Singapore.
Mr S Iswaran, Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, Singapore, in his keynote address, emphasised that this year’s theme of the summit ‘Building Economies for the future’ is a timely reminder of the need to be forward-looking in the face of humanity’s most pressing challenges.
Appreciating India and Singapore’s 57 years-long friendship and multifaceted relationship at every level between the governments, businesses, and people, he suggested that boundaries need to be pushed particularly in three key areas --- Deep Tech like AI, IoT, CleanTech and Genome, and Bio-informatic Research.
Dr S Chandrasekhar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, pointed out that historically, India and Singapore have been collaborating and partnering at the levels of government to government, institutions to institutions, and businesses to businesses. “Now it is the time to design a more comprehensive approach where ecosystem to ecosystem connects can be leveraged to draw exponential benefits,” he stressed.
An MoU on Science, Technology and Innovation cooperation was concluded between Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and Ministry of Trade & Industry, Government of Singapore by Dr S Chandrasekhar, Secretary for and by Dr Lee Chuan Teck, Permanent Secretary, respectively. An Implementation Agreement to this MOU was also signed by Department of Science & Technology and Enterprise Singapore respectively by Mr SK Varshney, Adviser & Head, International Cooperation, and Mr Edwin Chow, Assistant Chief Executive Officer. This MOU would strengthen India-Singapore Science, Technology and Innovation Collaboration. It will enable the industry and research institutes to develop new products jointly related to economic and societal challenges.
Mr. Vishvas Sapakal, Joint Secretary (South), Ministry of External Affairs, Mr. Vipin Sondhi, Chairman, CII National Committee on Technology, R&D and Innovation, and MD and CEO, Ashok Leyland Ltd., Mr. Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Mr. Sanjeev K Varshney, Head, International Cooperation, DST, Mr. TV Narendran, President CII, and CEO & Managing Director, Tata Steel Limited, were also present during the inaugural ceremony.
The DST-CII Tech summit spanning over 23-24 February focusing on Technology & Innovation, Healthcare and Precision Medicine, Sustainable Urban Development and Smart Cities, Space Technologies, Industry 4.0 & Advanced Engineering, Green Mobility, Logistics & Supply Chain is deliberating between government bodies, Industries stalwarts, technology experts, prominent academicians. It will forge new collaborations and partnerships, leveraging emerging technologies to usher in an era of abundant opportunities of growth for both nations. The summit will lead to the formation of new joint ventures and will also help in creating new avenues for collaboration to boost trade and investment between India and Singapore.
