India must innovate, not become tech colony of others: Amitabh Kant

It must build AI systems built on domestic datasets that don't have biases of the West, he says

India has to maintain its sovereignty in technology and build its own “end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem”, said Amitabh Kant, the country’s G20 Sherpa, on Friday.

 

"It is very important that for India to maintain its sovereignty in technological advancement and leading from the far front, we must not become a technological colony of either the West or any other country in the world,” he said in a keynote address at the second edition of Startup Mahakumbh in Delhi.

 

“We must continue to innovate in a very nimble, less energy-consuming, and cost-effective manner," he said while speaking on the theme 'From Catch-up to Take Off: India's Startup Ecosystem Poised to Lead’.

 

The country has vast datasets that it should use to innovate in AI. "We must build sovereign frontier models which are based on our own datasets and do not have inherent biases with the West. We must build an end-to-end AI ecosystem and not just the application layer."

 

"Startups must get into areas of AI, machine learning, blockchain, big data as disruption in these areas will be very critical. The future lies in India becoming a champion of deep technology."

 

Indian startups must make strides in deep technology, new industries, and robotics, said Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, while inaugurating the Mahakumbh on Thursday.

 

Indian startups are focused on hyper-fast deliveries while China is making strides in deep technology, said Goyal.

 

Kant said startups should focus on sunrise areas such as electric mobility, battery storage, green hydrogen, and circular economy. "China controls about 70 per cent of the solar market, nearly 74 per cent of the battery market, and close to 80 per cent of the electric vehicle market. Therefore, these are areas where India needs to make a big breakthrough."

 

Kant urged startups to follow good corporate governance models. "Many of you (startups) are constantly innovating, and then you forget the governance part of it but good governance must become a very critical part. If governments have to be kept at arm's length, self-regulation will have to be critical and for self-regulation, there must be ethical governance, good audits, and better financial management."