Karnataka Govt Will Go Miles to Back Startups, Says CM Basavaraj Bommai at India Global Innovation Connect

Bengaluru: Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka Shri. Basavaraj Bommai today inaugurated India’s first global conference on Startups, India Global Innovation Connect, organized by Smadja & Smadja, a Switzerland-based strategic advisory firm, in a strategic partnership with Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), Catamaran Ventures, and Tata Digital.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Bommai said Karnataka is at the forefront of startup innovation. Bengaluru is home to 400 Fortune 500 companies and no other country in the world has as many such companies. “Startup is not new to Karnataka and Karnataka is the top destination for startups and not one of the top states,” he said.

He further added, "The Karnataka government will go any miles in supporting startups. We are not worried about the competition. It keeps us going and growing. We convert the competition into acceleration," he said during his conversation with Claude Smadja, President of Smadja & Smadja advisory after inaugurating the two-day international conference India Global Innovation Connect here on Thursday.

Stating that Karnataka is the first state in the country to introduce a startup policy, he said, the seeds of the startup revolution were sowed by the Maharaja of Mysore who supported industrialization, banking and innovation much before the country attained independence.

The inauguration was also attended by a galaxy of international investors, private equity firms, entrepreneurs and innovators from Singapore, Israel, Switzerland, the US, Japan, Korea and Germany. Some of the key attendees included Mr B V Naidu, Chairman, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission; Mr Ranganath M D, President, Catamaran Ventures and Prashanth Prakash, Accel Partners, India and Hari Menon, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, Big Basket, India.

Declaring the conference open, Claude Smadja, President, Smadja & Smadja, said, “India has always been a land of great entrepreneurial promise for me. As the 4th Industrial evolution has begun, it is pertinent to acknowledge that India will play the role of a catalyst, especially with its ability to innovate solutions for itself and the world. India now has the world's third-largest start-up ecosystem. As a result, the India Global Innovation Connect highlights the potential of how India's start-up and innovation story is becoming global. Its emergence as the new Silicon Valley of the world will lead to a greater, safer, and stronger tomorrow.”

Over 100 speakers from India and countries like Singapore, Israel, Switzerland, the US, Japan, Korea and Germany are participating in the 2-day conference at the Hotel Conrad, Bengaluru. The panellists in 22 sessions will focus on technological partnerships, ideas on Greentech, Fintech, Deeptech, Edtech, Web 3.0, Super Apps, and Unicorn Growth stories and partnerships.