BENGALURU: Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, will inaugurate the G20-DIA (Digital Innovation Alliance) Summit in Bengaluru on Thursday.
The two-day summit, being held on the sidelines of the fourth meeting of DEWG (Digital Economy Working Group) under G20, will be attended by global experts and digital leaders, including representatives from other G20 countries. The summit will have discussions on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), Security in the Digital Economy, and Digital Skilling, among others.
As part of India’s G20 Presidency, G20 DIA initiative was launched under MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) Startup Hub. It recognises and accelerates the growth of startups from all G20 countries and nine invited guest countries in six sectors - EdTech, Health tech, Agritech, Fintech, Secured Digital Infrastructure, and Circular Economy.
A total of 174 startups from 29 countries are part of the programme. These startups will pitch their ideas to a jury of global leaders at the G20-DIA Summit, which will culminate on August 18, with an awards ceremony wherein 30 startups will be honoured in various categories.
Also, the fourth and final meeting of G20 DEWG (Digital Economy Working Group) kickstarted in Bengaluru on Wednesday. Alkesh Kumar Sharma, Chair, G20 DEWG and Secretary, MeitY , stressed on inclusive, decisive, ambitious, and action-oriented priority areas at the meeting.
MeitY, which is leading the G20 DEWG, has identified three priority areas namely Digital Public Infrastructure, Security in the Digital Economy, and Digital Skilling. Over 100 foreign delegates from G20 members, nine invited countries and five International Organisations, namely OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), ITU (International Telecommunication Union), UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), World Bank, and UNESCO attended the meeting on Wednesday, and it is expected that over 200 foreign delegates will join the DEMM by August 19. The first, second and third meetings of the DEWG were organised in Lucknow, Hyderabad and Pune in February, April, and June 2023, respectively.