At present, the primary area of interest for both the countries has been the cooperation in the maritime domain.
Credit: X/@matteoperegodic
Bengaluru: Technology transfer, rather than product push, was the major focus in the India-Italy bilateral relations which will see several government to government memorandum of agreement (MoUs) besides industry agreements, Italian Undersecretary of State for Defence Matteo Perego di Cremnago said on Tuesday.
He was speaking to the media along with Ambassador Antonio Bartoli at the consulate here after attending meetings on the sidelines of Aero India.
"Our priority is to focus on cooperation in defence in different domains, from maritime to cyber security. We are looking at technology transfer rather than sale of products," he said, noting that the approach aligns well with the Centre's 'Make in India' programme.
At present, the primary area of interest for both the countries has been the cooperation in the maritime domain. The agreement between the two countries in 2023 and November 2024, Italy-Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-2029, have sought to enhance that cooperation in other sectors.
The defence undersecretary said emerging technologies were a major area of interest. "We are proposing to the Indian minister of defence -- we already discussed some of our priorities this morning -- including the opportunities to work together in innovation and new technology like cyber domain, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. The ecosystem for new technology is booming in Bengaluru and we want to be part of it and we want our companies to be here," he said, adding that Italian Defence Minister Minister Guido Crosetto is scheduled to meet his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh in March to further strengthen the ties.
Ambassador Bartoli said that as part of that technology transfer, the Italian government would have a science attaché in the Bengaluru consulate within the next six months.
"The attache will foster scientific and technology connections and become a point of reference for Indian and Italian universities and centres of excellence," he said.
The move is not just to establish points of contact but is part of the larger push to connect the academic world with the technology and business community, both startups and traditional companies. "That’s particularly relevant in a technology hub like Bengaluru. We have this idea of creating a platform to help establish a dialogue between our industries and the Indian ecosystem ," he added.
The two officials also spoke about the recent completion of the Mumbai-Geneva data highway, to enhance data connectivity. "We have a lot of complementarities and similarities. India and Italy have historical trading ties, since the days of the Roman empire. We want to sign an agreement to make it even more convenient to use India as a hub for containers," the ambassador said.