SME Times News Bureau | 05 Oct, 2011
India's premier IT trade fair, Bangalore IT.biz, Oct 18-20 will focus on innovation and research and development (R&D) in the technology space to drive the next phase of the knowledge economy.

"Innovation and R&D will be the key drivers to make the government's Vision 2020 a reality. As part of the global IT revolution, India is well positioned to leverage its strength in the tech space and explore the emerging markets for sustaining growth," Infosys vice-chairman and Karnataka Vision group chairman Kris Gopalakrishnan said Tuesday at a preview of the ICT event.

To be inaugurated by former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the three-day expo will showcase Bangalore as the country's innovation hub in view the presence of large number of global R&D centres, multinationals and Indian IT bellwethers like Infosys and Wipro.

With 'India Innovates' as its theme, the three-day trade fair at a five-star venue (Lalit Ashok) will provide a platform to foster an eco-system for innovation and position Bangalore as the R&D gateway to India.

Rwanda's Prime Minister Bernard Makuza and Bihar's IT Minister Shahid Ali Khan will be present at the inaugural session.

"As a networking platform for IT, IT-enabled services, hardware and semiconductor sectors, this year's edition will showcase innovators of products, technologies, services and delivery," Karnataka IT Secretary M.N. Vidyashankar told reporters at the launch preview.

The expo will have multi-track conferences, a CEO conclave, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) IT export awards, Young Entrepreneurs' Start-ups in Soaring Spirits (YESSS) and national rural IT quiz.

"About 50 start-ups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will display their products and technologies at a special pavilion along with about 130 exhibitors across the sectors," Vidyashankar noted.

With Bihar as the partner state, about 10 states, including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, will participate in the expo.

Organised by the state government in association with STPI, Nasscom, MAIT and ISA (Indian Semiconductor Association), the multi-track conferences will have sessions on Aadhaar: the next Y2K on the Unique Identification Number (UID) project; human resources & skill development; animation & gaming; IT & green technology; cloud -- what's next?; innovations in telecom -- rural connectivity; and mobile applications.

Nasscom will release a special report on "Karnataka -- Nurturing Eco-system of Bangalore as an Innovation and R&D gateway to India".

A workshop on electronic design and manufacturing systems will be held during the event in partnership with the communications ministry and ISA.

About 1,000 delegates from across the country and overseas are expected to attend the event.