Shri Siddaramaiah, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Karnataka, inaugurates Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025: “Futurise” – a call to imagine, innovate, and build what comes next
The 28th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025 (BTS 2025), organized by the Department of Electronics, IT & Bt, Government of Karnataka, and Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), was inaugurated by Shri Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister of Karnataka, Government of Karnataka, in the august presence of Shri D. K. Shivakumar, Deputy Chief Minister, Government of Karnataka. The august gathering was also be attended by dignitaries including Shri M.B. Patil, Minister for Large & Medium Industries, Govt. of Karnataka; H.E. Ms. Ilse Aigner, President of the Bavarian State Parliament, Germany; H.E. Mr. Jan Christian Vestre, Minister of Health and Care Services, Norway; Lord Mayor Nicholas Reece, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Australia; H.E. Mr. Rafal Rosinski, Deputy Minister of Digitization, Poland and Shri Arvind Kumar, Director General, STPI.
A highlight of the Inaugural Ceremony is the opening plenary session, titled, ‘India Futurises: From Leap-frogging to Pole-vaulting’ featuring Shri Priyank Kharge, Minister for Information Technology & Biotechnology and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, Govt. of Karnataka, Shri Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-Founder, Infosys; Chairman, Axilor Ventures; Chairperson – Vision Group on IT & Electronics, Government of Karnataka; Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Executive Chairperson and Founder, Biocon Limited; Chairperson – Vision Group on Biotechnology, Government of Karnataka and Shri Prashanth Prakash, Founding Partner, Accel India; Chairman, Vision group on Startups- Government of Karnataka
During the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025 inauguration, Shri Siddaramaiah, Chief Minister of Karnataka, said, “Bengaluru Tech Summit has evolved into a global platform where ideas, research and industry converge to shape the future. Karnataka is powered by one of the world’s strongest knowledge ecosystems, supported by top universities, engineering colleges, ITIs and a highly productive workforce. With over 16,000 startups, 550 GCCs and 400 Fortune 500 companies, the state contributes 42 percent of India’s IT exports worth ₹3.2 lakh crore. This year marks a major milestone with the launch of three transformative policies — the IT Policy, Space Tech Policy and Startup Policy 2025–2030. The Space Tech Policy aims to position Karnataka as India’s leading space hub, capturing 50 percent of the national and 5 percent of the global market by 2034. We are building a future-ready state through centres of excellence in AI, cybersecurity, robotics, quantum and the Beyond Bengaluru initiative to expand opportunities across districts. Karnataka continues to be India’s most trusted investment destination with clear policies and a culture that champions talent, innovation and global ambition”.
Shri D.K. Shivakumar, Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka, said, “Bengaluru’s strength comes from the two pillars — technology and talent. This city now hosts over 400 R&D centres, 500 Fortune companies, 12,000 active start-ups and contributes more than 40 percent of India’s software exports. We’re investing more than 1.5 lakh crore rupees to push infrastructure at high speed, including a 41-kilometre twin-tunnel elevated corridor and the Bengaluru Business Corridor stretching over 130 kilometres. We’re also working on a second international airport for the city and creating a dedicated platform for global NRI investments. Our goal is simple: build a future where innovation, education and opportunity reach every part of Karnataka”.
Shri M.B. Patil, Minister for Large & Medium Industries, Govt. of Karnataka, said “Karnataka has become the talent engine of the country’s tech economy, home to over 800 R&D centres, more than 100 chip design houses, and a thriving startup ecosystem of over 18,300 innovators working across AI, deep tech, quantum computing, biotech, space tech, and advanced manufacturing. We are backing this momentum with a dedicated allocation of 600 crores to support entrepreneurs building in frontier technologies and sustainability, while developing future-ready ecosystems like the upcoming Queen City and our 200-acre semiconductor park. Our goal is clear: to position Karnataka not just as India’s innovation capital, but as a trusted global partner shaping the next wave of technological progress”.
Two major policy announcements were made during the Inaugural Ceremony:
- Karnataka Space Technology Policy 2025-2030 was announced during the inauguration. The policy aims to position Karnataka as a global hub for space innovation, manufacturing, and research by 2030. It focuses on developing a highly skilled workforce, fostering deep-tech startups, and attracting international investments across the space value chain. The policy strengthens both upstream and downstream space capabilities through dedicated manufacturing parks, advanced testing infrastructure, and a new Centre of Excellence for Space Technology. It also promotes technology transfer, R&D, quality certification, and IP creation to accelerate product development. A major thrust is on integrating space applications into governance, agriculture, disaster management, and rural development to drive real-world impact. Overall, the policy sets a strong foundation to capture 50% of India’s space market and significantly expand Karnataka’s footprint in the global space economy.
- The Karnataka IT Policy 2025 –2030 was introduced to reinforce the state’s leadership as India’s premier technology hub and to accelerate its global competitiveness. The policy focuses on driving innovation, strengthening digital infrastructure, and fostering emerging technologies such as AI, cybersecurity, semiconductor design, and cloud computing. It aims to enhance ease of doing business through simplified regulations, incentive frameworks, and a future-ready policy environment. A major emphasis is placed on expanding the talent pipeline by upgrading skilling programmes, promoting industry–academia collaboration, and encouraging R&D-led growth. The policy seeks to boost IT penetration across Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, enabling balanced regional development and job creation. It also promotes sustainable and inclusive digital development through startups, women-led enterprises, and socially impactful tech solutions. Overall, the policy sets a comprehensive roadmap to propel Karnataka’s IT sector into its next phase of high-value, innovation-driven growth.
The Future Makers Conclave at the BTS will be a high-energy gathering of founders, investors, and innovators, almost 10,000 of them, who will shape the next wave of entrepreneurship. The Conclave is a flagship meet that aims at delivering highly tangible and definite value for all participants from the start-up ecosystem — budding entrepreneurs, early-stage founders, seasoned entrepreneurs — who are looking to scale up. IT will ensure that every attendee leaves with concrete key takeaways, whether in capital access, pilots, business tools, mentoring, visibility, or networks.
Themed “Futurise”, this year’s summit will bring together global leaders, policymakers, investors, startups, and innovators to explore emerging frontiers across DeepTech, Biotech & HealthTech, Semiconductors, and Startup Innovation. This year, BTS features 10 focused conference tracks, including IT & DeepTech, Electro–Semicon, Digi Health & Biotech, India–USA Tech Conclave, and Global Collaboration and Startup Ecosystem, which includes the sub-tracks AI Universe- a run up to the India AI Impact Summit, Defence & SpaceTech, and Finverse. Other tracks include the Academia-Industry Collab, Assistech and Women in Leadership. The summit will bring together over 50,000 visitors, including 1,000+ investors, 15,000+ attendees, 500+ speakers, and 1000+ exhibitors. The event will host over 80 knowledge sessions, 5,000+ curated meetings, and welcome participation from 60+ countries and all 30 States and Union Territories of India.
The notable speakers at the summit include Dr. V. Narayanan, Chairman, ISRO; Sindhu Gangadharan, MD, SAP Labs India; Lingraju Sawkar, CEO, Kyndryl India; Ajay Vij, Senior Country MD, Accenture India; Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director – Asia South, NVIDIA; Andrew Chin, Chief AI Officer, AllianceBernstein; Meerah Rajavel, CIO, Palo Alto Networks; Amardeep Singh Bhatia, IAS, Secretary, DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Govt. of India and Abhishek Singh, IAS, Additional Secretary, MeitY, Govt. of India. Few known leaders in the technology and innovation industry like Manu Saale, MD & CEO, Mercedes-Benz R&D India; Viren Prasad Shetty, Vice Chairman, Narayana Health; Dror Bin, CEO, Israel Innovation Authority; Maheshwar Rao, IAS, Chief Commissioner, BBMP; international filmmaker Shekhar Kapur; Kirthiga Reddy, CEO, Verix & OptimizeGEO; and Ruchir Dixit, VP & Country Manager, Siemens EDA will be part of the sessions at the summit.
The lineup further features industry pioneers such as Subash Chandar Govindarajan, Senior Director – Silicon, Google; S. Somanath, Former Chairman, ISRO, Manoj Meena, CEO & Founder, ATOMBERG Technologies; Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, NITI Aayog; Dr. Jitendra Kumar, MD, BIRAC; Shri Goverdhan Singh Rawat, Deputy MD, NABARD; Vivek Raghavan, Co-Founder, Sarvam AI; Kalika Bali, Senior Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research; Dr. Nagendra Nagaraja, Founder & CEO, QpiAI; Ankush Sabharwal, Founder & CEO, CoRover.ai & BharatGPT; Anoop Srikantaswamy, Founder & CEO, Moonrider; Dr. Vidyashankar S, Vice Chancellor, VTU and many more.
BTS 2025 will witness participation from over 60 countries, making it one of the largest global technology gatherings hosted by any state in India. This year, Australia joins us as the Country Partner, while NRW Global Business (Germany) and Norway are featured as Country Focus Partners, Poland is the Bronze Partner, and Italy is the Country Presence Partner. Further strengthening the global footprint of the summit are delegations from leading tech nations that are participating in the Conference and Exhibition, viz., USA, Cuba, Uruguay, Russia, UK, Israel, Belgium, Finland, France, EU, Dubai, Sharjah, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand.
On the domestic front, Madhya Pradesh is the State Partner, with Odisha as the Co-State Partner. The event also welcomes DPIIT – Startup India as its Startup Partner.
The Department of Electronics, IT & BT, Government of Karnataka, in collaboration with KEONICS, launched KEO (Knowledge Driven, Economical Open Source), a compact, affordable, AI-ready personal computer that was designed and developed entirely in Karnataka to bridge the state’s digital access gap. The device is priced at Rs 18999 and will make intelligent computing accessible empowering citizens across Karnataka.
The summit will culminate in the Future Makers Conclave (FMC) on 20 November 2025 — a flagship highlight of this year’s edition. The Future Makers Conclave unites remarkable stories, bold ideas, and inspiring journeys — a stage built to Dream big, Dare boldly, and Disrupt the future. The FMC will feature a Symphony of Sound & Mind performance by Voctronica and Suhani Shah, a celebrated mind reader, and keynote addresses by Group Capt. Shubhanshu Shukla (Test Pilot & Astronaut) and Ankur Warikoo (Influencer & Author); fireside conversations with Kaivalya Vohra (Co-founder, Zepto) and Sania Mirza (Six Time Grand-Slam Champion) and Richa Ghosh, Wicketkeeper- batter, Indian women’s cricketer The programme will also include investment announcements by leading VC in emerging AI/ DeepTech startups, the Karnataka Unicorn Founders Felicitation, and top Elevate Awards 2025 presentation — affirming Karnataka’s long-term commitment to accelerating innovation through its DeepTech investment roadmap.
In addition to conference sessions and exhibitions, BTS 2025 will also host specialised platforms like Investor Connect — enabling startups to engage directly with leading investors and industry leaders — and Mentor Connect, which offers valuable one-on-one mentorship sessions with seasoned domain experts. These platforms aim to catalyze meaningful connections, capital access, and strategic guidance for the next generation of innovators.
This year’s edition of BTS is supported by an extensive and diverse roster of global and domestic partners whose collaboration reflects the summit’s scale, credibility, and industry-wide relevance. The event brings together leading corporations, technology pioneers, academic institutions, R&D organisations, and government bodies across multiple categories, including Platinum, AI, Biotech, Diamond, Country, State, Connectivity, Startup, Innovation, and Infrastructure Partners. Key partners include Kyndryl, Infosys, Biocon Group, Bosch Global Software Technologies, Availity, TrustGrid, and several international country partners such as Australia, NRW Global Business (Germany), Norway, and Italy. The summit is also strengthened by the participation of major corporates such as Goldman Sachs, SAP, SynGene, Intel, Applied Materials, CRED, SBI, NABARD, Cognizant, GlobalFoundries, Analog Devices, among others. With over 100 partners spanning industry, academia, finance, policy, and innovation ecosystems, the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025 represents a truly collaborative effort to advance Karnataka’s Deep Tech Decade vision and accelerate global technology leadership.
