Bengaluru, June 2024.

The 3^rd Edition of the India Global Innovation Connect (IGIC) 2024 commenced today in Bengaluru with a powerful start, attracting more than 500 attendees featuring an impressive lineup of global industry leaders across 17 nations, investors, venture capitalists, entrepreneurs from US, Japan, Korea, Germany, Singapore, Israel, Switzerland, France, the UAE and others to engage in technology and business interaction with their peers in India.

The inaugural day of IGIC 2024 witnessed key industry leaders from Indian and global startup founders, VC’s and investors, corporate and government leaders, technology and public policy experts under one common platform. The leaders and industry experts engaged with attendees in a range of keynotes and panels discussions including,India as a destination of choice for investment in startups, Riding the wave of the digital consumer revolution, The GCCs dynamic and the startup solutions to boost corporate innovation, India’s unique innovation model, roadmap for India to join the world’s semiconductors ‘top players league’, vision for India’s technology future for the next five years, among others.

Claude Smadja, Chairman, Smadja & Smadja Strategic Advisory, said, “India has made significant strides in deep tech, health tech, semiconductors and aerospace technologies and has been very focussed already on Innovation and on supporting startups of the 21^st century. The New Governmentat the Centre as such does not need new policies but rather at this stage it should focus on accelerating the development and expanding on what is already happening. We are at an inflection point and the challenge now is to cross this and scale up to higher levels,” he added.

Sanjeev Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), India, “Bengaluru has successfully established itself as a global technology hub. Today 25% of India’s registered startups are based here in Bengaluru, Karnataka and IGIC is a natural partner to build brand Bengaluru and accelerate its position in the technology, investments, GTM, mentors and startup value chain. With largest pie of the unicorns along with the largest talent base in this ecosystem Karnataka is at the forefront to drive the digital economy of the nation. With this global IGIC platform we also bringing startups from our emerging tech clusters (Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubballi Dharwad Belagavi) into mainstream and enabling better access to investors, mentors & global business partners for them”.

B V Naidu, Chairman of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) said, “Bengaluru startup ecosystem is thriving, with over 25,000 startups attracting substantial investment bolstered by a mature IT services sector. If you have yet to invest in India, you're missing out on a rapidly growing market. India has one of the world's best digitization stories and impressive internet penetration, with 1.1 billion out of 1.3 billion people connected. Additionally, India boasts one of the highest smartphone penetration rates. The government's push for digital transformation is evident in the 15 billion UPI transactions worth USD 250 billion last month. The large population, coupled with various social and urban challenges, presents not just opportunities, but immense potential for innovative technology solutions. This dynamic environment has led to the creation of 105 unicorns in India, with over 45 based in Bangalore. We aim to not just maintain, but to expand this success through strong government-industry partnerships, which have been a key factor in Karnataka's achievements.”

Building on the success of its previous two editions in 2022 and 2023, IGIC 2024 is being convened by global strategic advisory firm Smadja & Smadja with Karnataka Digital Economy Mission as a strategic partner of IGIC which also benefitsfrom the official support and involvement of government and business organizations such as Swissnex, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) German Entrepreneurship, French Tech India and Business France, Enterprise Singapore, etc.

The IGIC mission is to expand and deepen the technology and business interaction and synergies between India’s ecosystems and a number of foreign ecosystems, to identify and assess new opportunities created by the fast evolution of disruptive technologies and to explore new opportunities for business partnerships.

The key partners associated with India Global Innovation Connect 2024 include: Founding Sponsor - Tata Digital Private Limited; Strategic Partner – Karnataka Digital Economy Mission; Sponsor – Axilor Ventures; WizFreight; Knowledge Partners – Covington & Burling, Swissnex; Partner Organizations – Japan External Trade Organization, Start2 Group; Enterprise Singapore; French Tech India; Business France.