Flagship IT, bio-tech events merged

Would be held at the same venue from November 16 to 18

Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary (IT and BT); Krish Gopalakrishnan, Executive Vice Chairman, Infosys; Priyank Kharge, Minister of State for IT&BT; Biocon CMD Dr Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and Krishna Kumar Natarajan, Chairman, Mindtree at the curtain-raiser on Monday.

Recognising the convergence of information technology and biotechnology, the government on Monday announced that Bengaluru ITE.Biz and Bengaluru India Bio, Karnataka’s flagship events, would be held at the same venue from November 16 to 18. The logo for the joint event was unveiled.

This is the 20th year of Bengaluru ITE.Biz, which is dedicated to information technology and related services.

Minister for IT, Biotechnology and Tourism Priyank Kharge said that the time had come for the State to come out of the shell of ‘IT services’ and focus on R&D and startup technologies. "India has been riding the information super highway for two decades, with Bengaluru leading the way," he said.

He spoke about how the startup cell had given space for startups to seek guidance and financial aid. "Before the startup cell, 27 startups were registered with the State government. This number has now gone up to 3,500," he said. The department also plans to start centres of excellence in Internet of Things and artificial intelligence in the coming days.

Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said that with both events going to be held together, ‘the government can focus its energy on one event instead of two’.

Krishnakumar Natarajan,chairman of MindTree, said the event would make Karnataka the ‘leader in the convergence space of IT and biotechnology’.