Global Tech Advocates (GTA) – the world’s first truly international grassroots tech community – successfully brought forth its annual week-long GTA Festival Summit for the first time in India along with Tech India Advocates this November. Titled ‘Namaste, New India!’, this second iteration witnessed an international delegation of 30 seasoned tech leaders, investors and entrepreneurs convene for the GTA Summit in Bengaluru alongside visiting technological growth hubs across the cities of Hubli and Mumbai.
Delegates at GTA Summit Namaste New India Bengaluru
GTA is an open and inclusive community of tech leaders and experts from 27 of the world’s fastest-growing tech cities and regions, working for the betterment of the tech industry globally. The GTA Summit is an extension of this thought process, designed to bring together a global delegation of tech leaders and unlock a floodgate of opportunities to share insights and learn from a city or a region represented in the GTA community. The ‘Namaste, New India!’ Summit was in line with this. The anchor event of the week, this Summit, took place on Tuesday, 8th November 2022, at the Bangalore International Center in Bengaluru under the umbrella theme of ‘Decoding New India.’ Featuring a range of Indian and International tech perspectives through a number of panel discussions, the Summit unpacked the key ingredients of emerging New India. It gave attendees a chance to deep-dive into the extraordinary Indian start-up ecosystem through learnings from personal stories of notable start-up founders present as well as understanding the industries prime for tech disruption. The role of diversity and inclusion in a tech-enabled workspace for creating exciting opportunities, besides the evolving Venture Capital ecosystem, emerging investment models and its pursuit of diversity, were also discussed. Furthermore, the Summit also explored how academic commercialisation is fuelling India’s innovation economy, the talent behind it, as well as investment and innovation opportunities that can be seized in India’s next Techade.
Prominent entrepreneurs and tech leaders attending the event were Aprameya Radhakrishna (Co-founder of Koo), Dimple Parmar (Co-founder, ZenOnco.io), Dr Aravind Chinchure (CEO of Deshpande Start-ups), Jaya Dhindaw (Program Director – Integrated Urban Development, Planning and Resilience at World Resources Institute – India), Leslie Sarma (Co-Lead, Tech Singapore Advocates), Rajiv Srivatsa (Partner and Investor, Antler India & Co-founder, Urban Ladder) and many more. Russ Shaw CBE, Founder of Global Tech Advocates, said, “It was really amazing to see that the Summit was an exciting and successful networking experience connecting tech voices worldwide. Moreover, getting the opportunity to meet the entrepreneurs and investors behind some of the nation’s most biggest and successful companies and also engaging in various tours and events, gave us a greater insight into India’s flourishing tech community and its overall growth story. This year’s edition yet again proved to be a mutual learning opportunity for the GTA delegation, which, I believe, will have a great significance in further boosting the global tech economy.”
Ani Kaprekar – Co-founder – Tech India Advocates, commented, “Our nation is a notable tech hub globally. And with a powerful and spirited generation of entrepreneurs and 100 unicorns – 40 of which were born during the COVID-19 pandemic alone – India’s tech ecosystem is witnessing highly productive growth. The GTA summit was an incredible experience for a global tech delegation to go behind the scenes ‘decoding India’ and learn and understand key drivers of success.” In addition to the ‘Namaste, New India!’ Summit, the week-long event encompassed a 3-day tour in Bengaluru. This included an interactive session on ‘New India’ with the CEO of Action for India, a visit to the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) with an introduction to their cutting-edge Centre for Nano Science and Engineering as well as an evening reception hosted by the British Deputy High Commissioner to Bengaluru. Furthermore, a day trip to Hubli in partnership with the Deshpande Foundation, focusing on India’s rural tech innovation and agritech, was also conducted. And a tech investor roundtable was hosted by Rajasthan Royal in Mumbai.
Supported with contributions from Penningtons Manches Cooper, Tech Nation. London Stock Exchange Group and Globalization Partners, the GTA Summit was indeed a giant step that further nurtured a global tech community by celebrating the growth driven by some of the leading tech companies across the world. Global Tech Advocates is the only truly international grassroots tech community with more than 20,000 tech leaders, experts and investors connecting 27 of the world’s fastest-growing tech hubs and regions. Global Tech Advocates, founded by Russ Shaw, is the voice of tech worldwide, championing tech ecosystems and campaigning to address the challenges facing tech companies. Through a collection of networks in multiple cities, each with their own working groups dedicated to specific initiatives and verticals, Global Tech Advocates inspires tech leaders to volunteer their time to support each other, make connections and campaign for change. Global Tech Advocates is independent, not-for-profit and relies on the support of strategic partners to fund activities.