NEW DELHI: Delivering the inaugural address at the 28th edition of the two-day DST-CII India-Singapore Technology Summit, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today offered attractive investment options. India is now an attractive hub for foreign investments, particularly in the manufacturing sector, he said.The Minister said, with the help of Make in India drive, India is on a path of becoming the hub for hi-tech manufacturing as global giants have either set up or are in process of setting up manufacturing plants in India, attracted by India’s market of more than a billion consumers and an increasing purchasing power.Dr Jitendra Singh said, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India, with over 1,200 government funded research institutions, proactive policy mechanism, collaboration between Industry & academia, is readying itself for an era of innovation economy. He said, India is on a continuous rising trajectory of innovation and with emerging technologies taking the centre stage of innovation like block chain, nanotechnology, quantum computing, internet of things, artificial intelligence, India aspires to be in the league of top 25 innovation nations.The Minister said, India is placed 3rd among countries in scientific publication as per NSF database and it has featured within the top 50 innovative economies globally (at 46th rank), as per Global Innovation Index (GII). We have also achieved 3rd Position in term of number of PhDs, in size of Higher Education System as well as in terms of number of Start-ups.Dr Jitendra Singh said that Singapore is India’s largest trade partner in ASEAN and it is the leading source of Foreign Direct Investment. Data indicates that about 9000 Indian companies are registered in Singapore and more than 440 companies from Singapore are registered in India. He said, Singaporean companies continue to participate in a number of smart cities, urban planning, logistics and infrastructure projects and Singapore is working with several states in preparing Master Plans for townships.Dr Jitendra Singh informed that India and Singapore have well established Science, Technology and Innovation linkages. He pointed out that the ISRO launched Singapore’s first indigenously built micro-satellite in 2011 and 8 more during 2014-15. New dimensions are added to these ongoing Cooperation from time to time, he added.Dr Jitendra Singh said, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narender Modi, India has made technology a medium for attaining social justice, empowerment, inclusion and transparency. He added that the government is using technology to ensure effective last mile delivery of services. The Minister pointed out that DST has been making concerted efforts in cultivating and promoting scientific temperament amongst the masses and is leading the research and innovation drive in the country. In this direction we are running several mission mode programs like National Hydrogen Energy Mission, National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (ICPS); Quantum Computing and Communication; National Mission on Supercomputing, Electric Mobility etc to support the cause.Dr Jitendra Singh said, the MoU and Implementation Agreement concluded today between two countries will strengthen India Singapore Science, Technology and Innovation Collaboration. He said, it will enable our industry and research institutes to develop new products jointly related to economic and societal challenges.Dr Jitendra Singh said that in the last 75 years, India has gone through an evolutionary journey that helped us to carve an economic and political identity amidst the global nations. Today when India is celebrating the 75th year of its Independence, the roadmap for the next 25 years for India @100, I mean by the year 2047, will be determined by scientific and technological innovations in all walks of life, the Minister added.Dr Jitendra Singh in his concluding remarks said, with the presence of government bodies, Industries stalwarts, technology experts, prominent academicians, there is already a lot of expectations from this summit in terms of next steps in areas like Knowledge and Innovation economy, Forging new collaborations and partnerships, Leveraging emerging technologies to usher an era of abundant opportunities of growth for both the nations.Addressing the Technology Summit, Singaporean Minister for Transport and Minister-in-charge of Trade Relations, Mr S Iswaran said that Bi-lateral Trade between India and Singapore increased by 35% from 19.8 billion dollars to 26.8 billion dollars from 2020 to 2021.Referring to the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA) Node set up in Bengaluru by Singapore, Mr Iswaran said, more GIA Nodes will be established in Indian cities for SMEs and Start-ups to scale up by using Singapore as a springboard for operations in Asia and the world.Mr Iswaran also flagged three key areas of future cooperation like D-Tech using A-I for smart cities Clean Tech for carbon mitigating technologies in Aviation and Transport sectors and joint projects on Genome and Bioinformatics research.Dr S.Chandrasekhar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India in his address said that India has taken up many missions on Innovation right from school level to explore new opportunities. He said, Innovation has high risk for investments, but rewards are also very high in this sector.Vishvas Vidu Sapkal, JS, South, Ministry of External Affairs said in his address that Innovation is key to tackle social challenges and called for India-Singapore joint ventures in areas like skill development, e-governance, smart cities, digital mobility, and Artificial Intelligence.Mr TV Narendran, President CII and CEO & Managing Director, Tata Steel Limited, Mr Vipin Sondhi, Chairman, CII National Committee on Technology, R&D and Innovation, and MD and CEO, Ashok Leyland Ltd, Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Mr Sanjeev K Varshney, Head, International Cooperation, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, also addressed the Summit.
