BENGALURU: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Tuesday announced the 22nd edition of the India Innovation Summit, to be held in Bengaluru on July 23 and 24. The summit will focus on strengthening India’s capabilities as a manufacturer and exporter of technology products, rather than remaining primarily a services-driven economy.
IT/BT Minister Priyank Kharge will address the summit, while Chief Minister DK Shivakumar and Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal are among those invited.
“CII has, over the last two decades, focused on technology-led innovation for economic growth and job creation. With AI-driven disruption upon us, it is only appropriate that this year’s theme reflects that reality. Whenever disruption occurs, we must leverage it to create momentum for our companies and for the country,” said former CII president and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan.
Highlighting India’s dependence on imported technology, Gopalakrishnan said the country has the potential to build its own products.
“Almost every piece of technology we use today is imported. We have to develop our own technology and transform ourselves into a nation that manufactures and exports products. At present, our major exports are services,” he said.
He also credited the Karnataka government for supporting the summit since its inception. “The Karnataka government has been a steadfast partner since the first summit in 2005. It creates the ecosystem required for innovation and, in some cases, also acts as the customer,” he said.
Gopalakrishnan and Kamal Bali, President of Volvo Group India and Chairperson of this year’s summit, also called for greater investments in Karnataka’s AI ecosystem, including the establishment of data centres.
Responding to concerns over Karnataka’s water scarcity and the water-intensive nature of data centres, Gopalakrishnan clarified that the proposed facilities would not be large-scale and would therefore require limited land and water resources. “We chose this theme because it reflects the urgency of the moment. AI is expected to be embedded across every sector, and we need to build scalable products that are trusted and globally relevant,” Bali said.
