Looking at angel investing in technology startups: Kris

IT major Infosys Co-Founder and Non-Executive Vice Chairman S Gopalakrishnan on Monday said he is looking at angel investing in technology start-ups in his personal capacity after retiring from the board in October.

“I'm looking at that, obviously what I know well is technology, within technology this whole area of digital, marketing, e-retailing seems to be very hot. So that's an area where I would look at, and may be some other," he said in response to a question on whether he is looking at angel investing post retirement.

Speaking on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the CII- 10th India Innovation Summit here, he said “Yes there is an opportunity to look at products, but the boundary between products and services will get blurred in the future. Many of the products probably will be delivered as services, so I wouldn't distinguish between products and services,” he said. CII's 10th India Innovation Summit-2014 will be held on August 8 and August 9 in the city with a theme ‘Innovation for Inclusive Growth’.

Gopalakrishnan, who is the immediate past President of CII, is the Chairman of the summit.
On the Innovation Summit, he said the event is for the practitioners and by the practitioners.

“The sessions and panel discussions are typically based on case studies. Innovation has an important role to play in changing the environment for all sections of society and there is a need to look at innovation in agriculture, food & food production, market linkages, healthcare and every sector and facet of our life. Therefore this year we have chosen the theme Innovation for Inclusive Growth,” he said.

Gopalakrishnan said hosting the Innovation Summit in Bangalore is an added advantage as the city is ideally suited for innovation due to the presence of several large companies, government institutions, research and development centres centers, prominent medical facilities and academic institutions which drives an ecosystem for innovation.

“Bangalore is the startup capital of India as well as Asia and is also recognised as one of the premier startup destinations in the world,”he said.  

CII Karnataka State Council Chairman Sandeep Maini said that the India Innovation Summit,  has grown to be one of the flagship events of CII.