Innovation key for sustainability, inclusive growth: KTR

Inaugurating the The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Global Summit (TSG) 2022, he said entrepreneurs create economic value and they need to be motivated, cultivated and nurtured to the greatest degree.

Hyderabad: Innovation is a critical means by which countries can create and sustain competitive advantage and drive inclusive growth. This is even more applicable in the current volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) world, IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said here on Monday.

Inaugurating the The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Global Summit (TSG) 2022, he said entrepreneurs create economic value and they need to be motivated, cultivated and nurtured to the greatest degree. Highlighting the successes of the Telangana Startup ecosystem, he said there were about 6,500 startups in Telangana across 50 sectors. India’s first space startup in the private sector, SkyRoot Aerospace, was also incubated in T-Hub. HR tech firm Darwinbox became an Unicorn earlier this year. Keka, also a HR technology player, secured $57 million, India’s largest Series A software-as-as service funding.

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“We are a startup State and take pride in having built India’s leading innovation network T-Hub, spread over 2.1 million sq ft. T-Hub has so far supported over 1,100 entrepreneurs in its over seven year journey and helped them raise $ 1.9 billion. The State also set up complementary ecosystem enablers like the T-Works, WE Hub, TSIC, RICH, TASK, Emerging Technologies, IMAGE, NCAM. We aim to spread the impact of Indian entrepreneurs across the globe. The focus is on using technology to solve societal problems,” he said.

Rama Rao urged top technology company Adobe to consider increasing its presence in Hyderabad. He also asked the venture capital community members to set up their operations in Hyderabad. While explaining about the enabling infrastructure in the city, he said ‘it will not be a breeze walking in Bengaluru like it is the case here’. Top technology companies like Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Uber, Salesforce, Micron, Qualcomm and others have set up their second largest campuses here in Hyderabad.

Telangana in the past eight years has seen its per capita income and GSDP grow 130%, IT exports by 240%, agriculture by 119%, and increased the green cover from 24% to 31.7%. While it accounts for 2.5% of India’s population, the State contributes about 5% to the GDP. Hyderabad is now the hub for human vaccine manufacturing about nine billion doses or about one-third of the global production. That capacity will increase to 14 billion doses in a year to account for about 50 % of the total vaccines made in the world.

TiE as an initiative is a success story since its inception in 1992 and a model in creating a nurturing ecosystem for entrepreneurs. It also engaged with the Telangana innovation ecosystem and TiE’s support helped in building the best in class advisory services and resources for entrepreneurs.

Hyderabad figured in the top 10 cities in the Global Ecosystem in the Affordable Talent, in the Top 15 in the Asian Ecosystem for Funding and in the Top 15 in the Global Ecosystem in the Bang for Buck Category. Government of India’s DPIIT also recognised Telangana as the ‘top performer’ for developing a strong start-up ecosystem in the State. Telangana ranked fourth on performance in the India Innovation Index report released by NITI Aayog, the Minister said.

Adobe Chief Executive Officer Shantanu Narayen there would be a lot of interplay of technology and healthcare in days to come. The combination allows to bring significant change in the society at the same time allowing an opportunity to create wealth. “There is no way I would leave Hyderabad if I was growing now. There is access to ideas, talent, capital and Government support. Also, there was never a better time in technology as now where there is a confluence of technology, medicine, education and other domains,” he said.

The seventh edition of the TSG has seen over 3,000 registrations. In its 30 years, TiE has enabled value creation of $ 1 trillion. It aims to support one million startups by the end of this decade, TiE Global Chairman BJ Arun said.