Narendra Modi: The UK and India should leverage their tech prowess

I am delighted to address the India-UK Tech Summit 2016.

The Tech Summit was envisaged during my visit to the UK in November last year to reinforce the friendship between India and the UK. It also marks the high point commemorating 2016 as the “India-UK Year of Education, Research and Innovation”.

It is a privilege that Honourable Theresa May, the Prime Minister of United Kingdom has joined us at this event. Madam Prime Minister, I am aware that India has always been close to your heart and you have been a great friend of India. Recently, you celebrated Diwali at your home with members of the Indian community.

 

Your presence here today reaffirms your commitment to the bilateral relationship. It is an honour for us that you chose to visit India as your first bilateral trip outside your immediate neighbourhood.

 

Today, the world is at an inflection point where technology advancement is transformational. It is vital that India and the UK, two countries linked by history, work together to define the knowledge economy of the 21st century.

 

In the current global environment, our two countries face several economic challenges which directly affect trade and commerce. But I am confident that together we can leverage our scientific strengths and technological prowess.

India is now the fastest-growing large economy, with the most open investment climate. Our innovative entrepreneurs, talented work force and R&D capabilities combined with large markets, demographic dividend and increasing economic competitiveness offer new growth sources for the world economy.

Likewise, the UK, too, has experienced resilient growth in the recent past. It excels in academic quest and technological innovation.

Even though the quantum of bilateral trade has remained at the same level for the past five years, our investments in both directions have been robust. India is the third-largest investor in UK, and UK is the largest G20 investor in India. Both the countries support large numbers of jobs in each other’s economies.

The present India-UK cooperation in science and technology is driven by “high quality” and “high impact” research partnerships. I am glad to mention that in less than two years’ time under the “Newton-Bhabha” programme we have started wide-ranging collaborations covering basic science to solution science aimed at addressing societal challenges.

Together, our scientific communities are working on new vaccines for infectious diseases, inventing new smart materials, providing solutions for clean energy and climate change mitigation, and improving crop productivity including agriculture and food security.

We have agreed to establish India-UK Clean Energy R&D Centre on solar energy with joint investment of £10 million. A new anti-microbial resistance initiative with joint investment of£15 million is also being launched.

I feel that India and UK can partner in harnessing the vast traditional knowledge base in India coupled with modern scientific investigation to provide a holistic approach to preventive healthcare.

India’s partnership with the UK in industrial research has been one of our most exciting programmes. The Global Innovation & Technology Alliance platform of the CII and Department of Science and Technology along with Innovate-UK supports industry led R&D projects in affordable health care, clean technology, manufacturing and ICT.

These sectors open new potential for Indian and UK businesses to convert the scientific knowledge into technology-based enterprises. I call upon all the participants here to contribute and value-add to these exciting bilateral programmes.

The Tech Summit aims at strengthening our strategic partnership for mutual gains based on our shared technological prowess and scientific knowledge.

The convergence of my government’s flagship development missions, our technology achievements and aspirations, and our strong bilateral relations offer huge new growth avenues for Indian and British industries.

There is an opportunity for India and the UK to collaborate in Digital India and expand information convergence and people-centric e-governance.

India will soon have over a billion phone connections, with an urban tele-density of around 154 per cent. We have 350 million internet users. We are bringing in last mile connectivity to nearly 100,000 villages across the country. Such rapid growth offers new digital highways and new markets for UK and Indian companies to address.

A natural collaboration emerges in India’s rapidly developing financial services sector. “Fintech” is emerging as the next big transformation for India, as we bring 220 million new households into the umbrella of the Jan Dhan Yojana. This financial inclusion scheme is being melded with mobile technology and the unique identification card to form the largest social security programme in the world.

We also expect Make in India to be a key sector of bilateral engagement. Advanced manufacturing is a special endeavour under this programme. UK as a leading player can benefit from our liberal FDI policies in defence manufacturing, aerospace and electronics engineering.

The Smart City mission aims to integrate digital technology into our rapidly urbanising environment. I am glad that there is already a high level of interest from the UK in projects in Pune, Amaravati and Indore. I understand that UK companies have already signed deals worth £9 billion and I encourage more participation.

The Start-up India programme aims at converging innovation and technology with entrepreneurship for our tech-savvy youth. Today, India and the UK have emerged amongst the top three largest start-up hubs in the world with an exciting ecosystem of investors and innovators.

Together, we can create a vibrant and thriving environment for new commercial applications with breakthrough technologies.

I believe that India and the UK must continue to nurture and support an ecosystem of high quality fundamental research to pave the way for joint technology development that can address global challenges.