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Follow UsBANGALORE, INDIA: Francis Maude, UK minister for the cabinet office and Paymaster General, on his one-day visit to Bangalore today to interacted with Bangalore's stakeholders about open governance issues, the current level of IT implementation and utilisation and more importantly the impact it has on the quality of life.
Maude was here as part of the GREAT Roadshow, a series of niche events aimed at fostering exchange between the UK and India to facilitate trade and investment.
The UK is a model country for delivery of services to citizens and hence is keen to share its experience and expertise in this field with India. E-governance measures such as Sakala and e-Sugum are examples of Karnataka's leadership role in open governance.
Maude is engaging with the Karnataka government (represented by Srivatsa Krishna at Department of IT, Karnataka Government and Mohandas Pai, Director, Karnataka ICT Group 2020) to understand ways the UK can collaborate with the Karnataka government in establishing incubation centers for innovative UK and Indian Technology startups. He will focus on two areas of collaboration: electronic Systems Design and Manufacture (ESDM) and Information Communication and Technology (ICT) that have the potential for UK-India joint work at an SME level- and at this event we will touch upon the social agendas that go along with digitalization of government services.
Maude is slated to meet several of Bangalore's leading IT companies and those involved in the wide range of partnerships between the city and Cambridge, two of the world's leading technology hubs. He will join the vice-chancellor of Cambridge University at a reception to celebrate the research and innovation ties between the two cities.
Some of the specific initiatives that he is focusing on during his visit include:
Incubation Linkage: United Kingdom Trade & Investment (UKTI) will work towards developing and delivering mentoring programmes for entrepreneurs in Bangalore who have a UK linkage. UKTI will do so in collaboration with National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) - the industry body for Indian software industry and with the recently established Karnataka Biotechnology and Information Technology Services (KBITS) which has set up an incubator in Bangalore. This will be a link between startups in London in Tech city and the Bangalore Incubator.
Linkage for "IP Bridge": The International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IITB) is building an ESDM (Electronic System Design and Manufacturing) Innovation Centre in Bangalore. The IP Bridge one of the major components of the Innovation Centre - it looks to develop IP bridge linkages between India and other countries. UKTI is actively working with IIITB and has already initiated a few discussions to connect UK and Indian innovative technology companies.
Startups in Karnataka: UKTI is also looking to work with the Karnataka Information Technology Venture Capital Fund (KITVEN Fund). Under this agreement, KITVEN will consider co-funding UK start ups with capital that set up a base in Karnataka. KITVEN is a State & Central Government financial institution backed Venture Capital Fund (VCF) operating in the State of Karnataka since 1999.
On Monday, he will take part in panel discussion titled ‘Creating a Smart Society'. TV Mohandas Pai, chairman, Karnataka ICT Group 2020, is hosting the discussion and other panellists include Srivatsa Krishna, principal secretary IT/BT/ST, Government of Karnataka; Ashwin Mahesh, social technologist; and BV Naidu, chairman, Sagitaur Group. The panel will focus on aspects of "IT for Society" such as Digital by default, Open data/transparency, and cyber security.