It’s time we talk more about Beyond Bengaluru: KDEM’s BV Naidu

KDEM Chairman BV Naidu and KDEM Chief Executive Officer Sanjeev Gupta explain the growing role of places beyond Bengaluru in the state’s tech-driven future

As the state gears up for the silver jubilee of the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS), the chiefs of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) spoke with DH’s Prathik Desai about their expectations from the latest edition of its marquee event. KDEM Chairman BV Naidu, one of the founding members of the BTS, and KDEM Chief Executive Officer Sanjeev Gupta explained the growing role of places beyond Bengaluru in the state’s tech-driven future.

How different will BTS be this year?

BV Naidu: One specific thing that I’m noticing is that it is going to be the largest BTS ever and the Palace Grounds will look like another festival, like it used to happen during the 2001-2002 times.

If you look at the contents of the overall conference, it is fantastic and has fantastic speakers lined up. From the KDEM’s perspective, BTS has brought a lot of focus to Bengaluru for the past many years. Now, we want to bring in a similar focus to beyond Bengaluru. So, that is the reason we did the pre-BTS events in Mysuru and Hubbali-Dharwad.

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What did these pre-BTS events entail?

Sanjeev Gupta: This event is firstly more like a talk about the technology which has been growing in these clusters. The second is demonstrating the capability of the startups and innovation coming out from these clusters. The third is how the industries are looking at these clusters for their own operations, new investments, growth journey and products. Fourth one is how we see the talent, which is, after the Covid scenario, becoming an important pillar for our journey of business setup. And in this scenario, how these clusters are (doing) on the talent part. These are the important pillars.

How will companies beyond Bengaluru get better recognition?

SG: The new companies which have come up in the last one year, we have felicitated them. We also brought in a contest where the startups don’t go to a VC (venture capitalist), but VC comes to the startup. Here, the VCs are brought to the doorstep of startups where the top 10 companies were pitching to them, and the VCs were engaging with them in terms of a letter of intent or interest. So, all the top three from each cluster are also invited to the BTS event. They will be showcasing their capabilities and they will be networking with larger audiences.

So, the outcome for me: VCs at the doorstep; new companies felicitated; brand values of the cluster increased; and other companies started looking at them and thinking: ‘oh if they are there, why we are not there’.

What kind of companies from beyond Bengaluru will we see at the BTS?

SG: We are trying to put together 20 stalls wherein we are bringing the winning startups from these two clusters (Mysuru and Hubbali-Dharwad) and some of the important startups from the third cluster who will be demonstrating their capabilities of innovation. Plus, there will be other players who will be coming in. For example, the organisation which is working on women employees to be made available for the industry.

BV: This organisation is completely run by women for women. Their focus is to increase diversity in the IT industry and focus beyond Bengaluru.

What else have you lined up at the BTS for these companies?

BV: The other thing that we are also positioning in this is cross-border integration. Earlier, this used to happen only between large companies from other countries and large companies in India. Now the times have changed, and we need to encourage startups-to-startups relationships. So, there is a delegation from the EU of around eight companies. They will be interacting with the startups in India.

Additionally, startups from these three clusters will be taken to the US and Europe to showcase their innovations.

Have you got any interest from potential investors for these clusters?

BV: Not necessarily on the back of BTS, but the response in the last one year has been great. The progress we made in Mysuru and Hubbali, and the BTS will further accelerate that. The idea is, at BTS when we showcase ‘Beyond Bengaluru’, it will obviously accelerate the investments.

What about Bengaluru’s infrastructure issues?

BV: Any growing tech cluster will continue to have these urban issues, not only Bengaluru. It is there elsewhere, the other day it happened in Gurugram and other cities also.

One of the focuses of the government to encourage the tech culture here is to encourage startups through the ELEVATE programme. It is the most successful programme in the country.

What are the technologies that will drive our future?

BV: Whether you take agritech or healthcare or aerospace or space technology, there is deep tech that is more horizontally cutting across these domains. So, for deep tech, I think, Karnataka as a whole has the right credentials to encourage this.

How will clusters beyond Bengaluru gain prominence in IT?

BV: There was a time when only 13-14 companies used to be there in Bengaluru. And we kept talking more and more about Bengaluru and that’s when Bengaluru happened.

Now, the time has come that we need to talk more about beyond Bengaluru. The time has come that these clusters need to happen.