The annual flagship event of the Karnataka government as well as of the Centre, the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS-2021), touted to be Asia's biggest tech festival, is scheduled to be held this year from November 17 to 19 in a hybrid format and will be inaugurated by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu.

Addressing a press meet on BTS-2021, state Electronics, IT/BT and S&T Minister C.N.Ashwath Narayan said that the 24th edition of the event with the theme 'Driving the Next', will be held on four tracks of IT, BT, start-ups, and the Global Innovation Alliance (GIA).

The summit is likely to witness participation of over 30 countries, 300 plus speakers, 5,000 plus start-up attendees, 300 plus exhibitors, 20,000 plus business attendees, and overall digital reach to half a million tech enthusiasts with over 75 conference Sessions.

The event which rides on the mantra of 'Reform, Transform and Perform' will witness the participation of Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, World Economic Forum founder and Chairman, Prof. Klaus Schwab, Kyndryl CEO Martin Schroeter, senior Central and state government ministers, a host of international industry captains, government officials, Nobel Laureates, visionary leaders among others, Narayan said.

The inaugural ceremony on November 17 will be presided over by Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot wherein Chief Minister Basvaraj Bommai, Union Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar will be attending.

Narayan said that the new features added this year are India USA Tech Conclave, India Innovation Alliance, BENGALURU NEXT Leadership Conclave, BENGALURU NEXT Innovators Conclave, and a showcase of Science Gallery.

Besides this, multi-track conferences, international exhibitions, the Global Innovation Alliance meet, start-up focus, national rural IT quiz, BioQuiz, biotech posters, STPI IT export awards, smart bio awards, and start-up unicorn felicitations will take place.

The Electronics and IT Track will focus on key topics like GCC, Hybrid Cloud, ESG, AI and ML, 5G, media and entertainment, cyber security, global ESDM market, and skilling and reskilling fintech transformation.

The Biotech Track will focus on topics like Moderna and MRNA technologies in conceiving vaccines, investing in nextgen medtech and diagnostics, gene editing, oncology, vaccine equity, showcasing India's vaccine leadership, latest innovations In cell therapy, Narayan said.

The India-US Tech Conclave will be held in association with the US-India Business Council, and its sessions will be addressed by experts with east coast focussing on life sciences, west coast on start-ups, and middle America on IT.

The India Innovation Alliance will focus on connecting various innovation clusters from different states with Karnataka.

During this conclave organized by the state Department of Electronics, IT, Bt and S&T and Software Technology Parks of India, 22 unicorn companies (from Karnataka) which are considered as innovative disrupters and attracting FDI from all over the world will be felicitated.