mobile
Technology
 
CII Media Releases
 
"Technology Summit offers invaluable platform to forge knowledge partnerships", says Minister Harsh Vardhan
Oct 29, 2018

·         Italian minister stresses need for common solutions

·         24th Technology Summit Gets Underway with Italy as Partner Country

·         2 Prime Ministers to Address Tomorrow

The DST-CII India-Italy Technology Summit was jointly inaugurated by Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr Harsh Vardhan and Italian Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Economic Development, Dr Michele Geraci, here on Monday. The iconic annual conference-cum-exposition of the world’s best in technology and research in different sectors is organised jointly by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India. The partners from the Italian side for the summit this year include Farnesina - the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; the Ministry of Economic Development; the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR); the Italian Trade Agency (ITA) and Confindustria.

Inaugurating the Summit, Minister Harsh Vardhan said, “The Technology Summit offers an invaluable platform to forge knowledge partnerships between the two countries.” Among the deliverables of the summit, he mentioned follow-up action between Indian and Italian organizations; timely convergence of dialogues in focus sectors; identifying potential projects for India - Italy bilateral R&D collaboration and identifying bilateral technology development initiatives to establish demonstration projects in a time-bound manner.

Deputy Minister of Italy Dr Michele Geraci said that more than 150 people from Italy had come to India for the Technology Summit, from more than 50 companies. Both the countries are going through big challenges which are crucial for them to solve. While Italy is looking at ways to ensure long-term growth, India is already on a high growth curve. This offers great  opportunity for the two countries to increase their bilateral trade.

Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology said that many collaborative projects were already going on between India and Italy and more than 100 scientists were working together. The synchroton project and the Trent project were two examples. Summing up the partnership between the two countries in a catch-phrase “From Hampi to Pompeii”, Prof Sharma mentioned that technologies for the restoration and preservation of cultural heritage was an area where Italy and India could do a lot of useful work together.

Talking about the challenges and opportunities in India-Italy business cooperation, Mr Shreekant Somany, Chairman of CII MSME Council & Chairman & Managing Director of Somany Ceramics, said, “Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) could be the cornerstone of partnership between the two countries." Among the potential sectors of increased bilateral trade, he mentioned fine dining, electronics, jewellery, watches and automobiles.

Chairman of CII Technology Committee and Chief Technology Officer of Tata Sons, Dr Gopichand Katragadda said it was important to keep an eye on the changes taking place constantly across businesses, needs of people and societies.

Mr Vincenzo De Luca, Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that two years ago, 23 new projects were launched, showing intense strong productive useful cooperation in a very short time. Key areas he identified for cooperation included clean energy, energy efficiency, life sciences, and space.

Mr Piergiorgio Borgogelli, CEO and Director General, Italian Trade Agency, said that India is creating opportunities for Italian companies to provide technologies and help in development.

Mr Giulio Pedrollo, Vice President, Confindustria, noted that the Indian government initiatives like Make in India program,  ease of doing business and others have fostered trade and investments.

The Tech Summit, being held since 1995 when it was conceptualized by CII, this year focuses on seven key sectors identified jointly by both the countries. These include aerospace, cleantech, cultural heritage, education, healthcare, ICT and renewable.

29 October 2018

New Delhi

Email to a friend   Print
Download CII App:
App Store Google Play