Agencies, with inputs by Ritu Jha–
US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Indian Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Tuesday led an industry roundtable and officially launched the two countries’ ambitious “Innovation Handshake” agenda, which President Biden and Prime Minister Modi previewed during the Prime Minister’s historic June 2023 official State Visit to Washington, DC.
At the event, co-hosted by the US-India Business Council and the Confederation of Indian Industry, CEOs from major ICT companies, executives from venture capital firms, and founders of startups in the critical and emerging technology space discussed how to enhance US-India technology collaboration.
“Through the Innovation Handshake, the United States and India are forging a critical tech partnership that will further strengthen our interconnected innovation ecosystems,” said Secretary Raimondo. “This is an important step to bolster the U.S.-India commercial relationship and I look forward to building on this progress with Minister Goyal to help U.S. and Indian workers and businesses succeed.”
“The Innovation Handshake signals a joint commitment to strengthen the startup ecosystem and promote cooperation in Critical and Emerging Technologies between India and the United States,” said Minister Goyal.
“Signing an MoU to Enhance Innovation Ecosystems through an Innovation Handshake is an important step in growing the India-U.S. partnership for the 21st century.”
The announcement laid the groundwork for two future Innovation Handshake events scheduled to take place in India and the United States in early 2024, which include an investment forum aimed toward helping U.S. and Indian startup companies take their innovative ideas and products to market and a “hackathon” in Silicon Valley where U.S. and Indian startups will pitch ideas and technologies to help address global economic challenges.
According to a US Department of Commerce, “The Innovation Handshake, a concept developed under the U.S.-India Commercial Dialogue, will bring the two governments together with venture capital leaders, entrepreneurs, and other industry and institutional stakeholders in a series of frank discussions designed to open up opportunities and address challenges in the priority sectors identified under the US-India initiative for Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET). “
The statement added, “The Innovation Handshake aims to connect the two countries’ dynamic startup ecosystems, address specific regulatory hurdles to cooperation, and promote innovation and job growth, particularly in emerging technologies.”
Ansari Ismail, co-founder & chief technology officer of botmind.ai, a Seattle-based company, who attended the Goyal-Raimondo event told indica that the meeting “looked promising.”
He said, “There was a lot of action, and ideas were exchanged on what to do and implement. Gina Raimondo was amazing and talked about how to reduce friction and have more collaboration and trust communication. This is a great start.”
Shantanu Bhattacharya, Founder & CEO of Blu Cocoon Digital, told indica, “It was good to catch up the Minister and the other members of the delegation. The platform we got was very important to position our solutions and offerings in a matured market like the US. I was looking for a meeting with the Minister and walk him through what we had to offer.” Bhattacharya was visiting from India.
He added, “There should be breakouts further on specific technology offerings across different industry verticals, otherwise one might tend to get lost in such big a forum. The MOU means that the US, as a mature market, is open to looking at solutions being built by India, is open to looking at cost arbitrage and thus making it a win-win for both countries.”
