Bengaluru, NFAPost: According to a panel discussion organised Start-up Incubation and Innovation Center (SIIC) at IIT Kanpur (IITK) in association with UK-based global talent investor Entrepreneur First (EF) the emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) have compelled to reimagine businesses and make them more agile, flexible and responsive.
Speaking at the panel discussion, Padma Shri awardee Prof Manindra Agarwal from IIT Kanpur said AI in defining the future of businesses and promote the growth of new-age tech start-ups in India.
“Imagine a farmer who has all the information at one place to evaluate, well in advance, what kind of crop can he grow in the upcoming season. At the same time, the analytics that could provide policy makers with information to predict crises and act on it in a timely manner to mitigate the situation. With agriculture still being the biggest employer in India, technologies such as AI can have a big impact in fostering the growth of this segment,” said Prof Manindra Agarwal.
Post-Covid world
He also pointed out that Covid-19 has accelerated India’s efforts with innovation and the need of the hour is to put the focus firmly on AI.
“It will redefine the reality of the post-Covid world. According to the report from NASSCOMM, Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) could potentially add $450-500 billion to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025 and drive India’s economic growth,” said Prof Manindra Agarwal.
He said AI was once seen as mimicking human intelligence but the last decade has introduced the world to a fourth paradigm of AI, which is immeasurably advanced.
“It is extremely important for our new generation to build new deep tech businesses that can have a larger and deeper impact. And they can. Because Indian entrepreneurs and researchers have immense talent which hasn’t gone unnoticed by the world,” added Prof Agarwal.
AI researchers
Speaking at the event, Entrepreneur First India General Manager Esha Tiwary said India is fortunate to have AI talent and researchers in the country that are top of the line at a global level.
“In fact, we are at the peak of reverse brain drain in the country – well trained and high-quality AI researchers and experts are coming back to India to create impact here. As the real impact of AI lies in solving complex real-world problems, it is quite exciting and inspiring to already see disruptions happening across multiple industries such as fintech, healthcare and real estate,” said Entrepreneur First India General Manager Esha Tiwary.
Entrepreneur First India General Manager Esha Tiwary said to establish scale and solve a real world problem through cutting-edge innovation, startups need deep technical knowledge apart from commercial skill-sets, which high-quality researchers bring to the table.
Entrepreneurship
“At EF, we create this bridge between business and technical experts so that they can come together to solve some of the world’s biggest problems and create long-lasting impact through entrepreneurship,” she said.
IIT Kanpur officially partnered with Entrepreneur First earlier this year to facilitate the journey for exceptional and talented individuals who aspire to become entrepreneurs.
The panel discussion was part of the collaborative programme between IITK and EF to engage with potential founders through webinars, interactive discussions and online mentorship for students, researchers, and alumni of IITK and affiliated institutions.
The esteemed line of panellists included Prof Manindra Agarwal, IIT Kanpur, Esha Tiwary, General Manager – Entrepreneur First, India, and Rupak Agarwal, Founder & CEO – EvueMe Selection Bot.
The panel touched upon various topics on Artificial Intelligence such as the evolution of Artificial Intelligence in India over the years, adoption of AI from Academia to Industry, certain industries placed at an advantage for leveraging AI and trends in the deep tech ecosystem to name a few.
Start-up landscape
According to a report, the total number of tech start-ups in India has grown to 8,900-9,300, with 1,300 start-ups being added in 2019 alone. As the Indian technology start-up landscape evolves to become the fourth largest in the world, it’s time to bring academia, industry and policymakers together to formulate a well-thought-out plan and encourage innovations that can solve real problems of the real world.
Founded in 2011, Entrepreneur First is the world’s leading technology talent investor, bringing together extraordinary people to build startups from scratch in London, Singapore, Berlin, Paris, Toronto and Bangalore. Through their $200m fund, the company invests in individuals to find a world-class co-founder, develop an idea and fund the deep technology businesses they create.
Entrepreneur First has created more than 200 companies, which include Magic Pony Technology (acquired by Twitter), Represent (acquired by CustomInk), BloomsburyAI (acquired by Facebook), Tractable, Cleo, OpenCosmos, CloudNC, Transcelestial and many more. The global investor is backed by Reid Hoffman, Greylock Partners, Founders Fund, Mosaic Ventures and Lakestar.
