The Karnataka government has deferred the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS) in view of the coronavirus pandemic.
The announcement was made by the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Information technology and Biotechnology, Dr CS Ashwath Narayan on Wednesday.
"Originally, BTS was scheduled for September 21-23 this year. However, owing to the anticipated inability of international delegates to attend the summit in view of COVID-19, BTS has been postponed," he said.
The city’s flagship tech summit is now scheduled to take place on three dates, from November 19-21. The 2020 BTS will focus on leveraging technology to tackle the challenges thrown up by COVID-19.
"There will be symposiums and tech-related talks by experts and technologists. The government has already planned physical distancing protocols to be followed at BTS," an official statement said.
Ashwath Narayan and the Additional Chief Secretary, IT, EV Ramana Reddy and others were part of the meeting which decided on deferring the summit.
Hon'ble Dy CM @drashwathcn chaired a meeting to discuss the preparedness for conducting Bengaluru Tech Summit - 2020. @ITBTGoK pic.twitter.com/uQqJTl9BvQ
— Office of Dr. Ashwathnarayan (@OfficeofAshwath) May 19, 2020
The 2019 Bengaluru Tech summit was held in November last year. At the event, the Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had announced that he wanted to make Karnataka the innovation hub of Asia. The summit last year saw delegates from across the world attend and showcase their innovations.
The 2019 summit was held at the Bangalore Palace and had hundreds of exhibits from the state as well as exhibits from other countries. The tech summit was organised on a grand scale.
According to information provided on their website, the tech summit is organised by the Department of IT and BT, Government of Karnataka. “The event, since its inception, has been a strategic platform for industries, technologies and academia to understand and leverage the latest technological innovations for a smarter tomorrow,” the website says.
So far, 22 tech summits have been held in Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka government will also postpone the Global Investors Meet (GIM) planned in November this year by a few months following inadequate preparations due to the COVID-19 induced lockdown, Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said on Wednesday.
Speaking to PTI, he said the government had initiated preparations for hosting the three-day GIM, slated from November 3, but could not take up pre-event activities thereafter in the last two-and-half months due to 'stay-at- home' restrictions following the pandemic.
"We need at least six months of preparations to host such a global scale event in terms of holding road shows in different cities, including overseas, to invite investors", Shettar noted.
The Minister said the government would decide in June-July on the new dates of the GIM.
Inputs from IANS, Pti