Key dignitaries from participating South Asian countries and India visited the newly launched ITU Area Office and Innovation Centre, at C-DOT, Delhi today. The Centre was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on March 22, 2023.

A ceremonial lighting of lamp was done to make the centre functional, which was participated by, Mr Cosmas Zavazava, Director, ITU; Mr Lyonpo Karma Donnen Wangdi, Minister, Bhutan; Mr Mohamed Shareef, Minister, Maldives; Ms Rekha Sharma, Minister, Nepal; Mr Meisam Abedikoushalshah, Minister, Iran and Mr Kanaka Herath, Minister, Sri Lanka. India was represented by Shri V.L.Kantha Rao, Additional Secretary, DoT; Shri S K Mishra, Advisor Finance, DoT and Shri R K Upadhyay, CEO C-DOT.

The C-DOT facility also hosted an exhibition by 46 innovators, which showcased prototypes and ideas by different stakeholder groups across India. The ITU is collaborating with some key private sector players, particularly in the technology sector, so that latter may exhibit their innovative solutions across thematic areas of innovation and development through exhibition stalls. The exhibition featured innovative solutions displayed by stakeholders representing academia, private sector, SMEs and start-ups and the public sector from India that can be scaled up through strategic engagement with stakeholders. The dignitaries also look a tour of the facility.

The day also witnessed a thought churning session, during the Regional Innovation Forum (RIF) participated by the guests from the neighbouring countries. A total of 250 participants including 43 international, attended the event.

The RIF aims to facilitate exchange of knowledge among a pool of multistakeholder audience and will provide support towards building partnerships that mainstream entrepreneurship-driven innovation and competitive digital ecosystems, in the lead-up to the Global Innovation Forum (GIF) scheduled for later in 2023.

The session concluded by ceremonial signing of the co-operation agreement for joint Capacity development activities under the ITU Academy Training Centre (ATC) program between National Telecommunications Institute for Policy Research, Innovation & Training (NTIPRIT – DoT) and ITU. Earlier ITU had selected NTIPRIT as one of its 14 Academy Training Centres across the globe for this purpose.

Shri Raju Sinha, DG, NTIPRIT on behalf of DoT and Mr Cosmas Zavazava, Director, ITU, signed the agreement, in the presence of other dignitaries on the dais.

The day also witnessed a Panel Discussion on Open Technology Innovation on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how technology can be one of the most important driving forces to help not only India or other South Asian countries; but the entire world in achieving these. While deliberating over the session, experts focused on the following discussion points:

1. Role of Policy in Open Technology.

2. Why technology is regarded as one of the key components for sustainable development?

3. What role do start-ups, open source and digital products play in open technology ?

4. What the ITU Areas Office & Innovation Centre at New Delhi, can do to strengthen the concept of open technology?

Additionally, the co-creation session aimed at demonstrating a quick overview of the process of design thinking at different stages of innovation, from pre-ideation to become a high-growth SME. The demonstration by ITU and IIT Kanpur focused on ‘Digital Health’ as an example of co-creating solution. Through this co-creation session, the participants discussed the opportunities and challenges for scaling up India’s digital health ecosystem and understand how the ITU Area Office & Innovation Centre can best support the further development of digital health innovations through partnerships and collaborations in the region to create potential next steps.

 

RKJ/DK

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