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Karnataka is doubling down on deep tech, responsible Artificial Intelligence (AI), and sustainable infrastructure as it gears up for the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS) 2026, with the state positioning itself as India's innovation hub rather than joining a "race to the bottom" for investments.
Speaking on the sidelines of a BTS 2026 curtain-raiser in Delhi, Priyank Kharge, Minister of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj, said Karnataka has "funded over 1,300 startups" and remains "the startup capital of the country." The state's startup ecosystem is "valued over $300 billion" and ranks "number 8 in the world," he noted. This year's summit, scheduled for November 17-19, is themed 'AI and Beyond'. Kharge said the Delhi outreach was aimed at "dialogue with the diplomats to seek their help to ensure that we get more companies from their respective countries to Karnataka." He added that "over 80 countries" are already participating and "there will be over 40 ambassadors, high commissioners, deputy high commissioners and other dignitaries" at the event. On the policy front, Kharge said Karnataka is working on frameworks for "responsible AI" and "sustainable data centres," while also consulting the industry on "better regulations." Demand for regulatory sandboxes is rising, he said: "A lot of people have been asking for innovation, regulatory sandboxes. And I think that is something that we are also very keen to do as a government. We have done it at a very experimental level and I think we'll need to go on a scale and we'll do it." Asked about competing for large-scale data centre and AI investments, Kharge said Karnataka is taking a calibrated approach. "We are not here to race to the bottom. We are a much more mature ecosystem. So, while we want data centres, we also need to ensure that they are sustainable data centres. And also, we need to ensure that we use them to grow an ecosystem for emerging technologies as well." Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Founder, Biocon Limited, speaking about the event, said BTS 2026 will spotlight "all aspects of deep tech, AI-led tech and tech in general," including biotech. "Innovation is the new mantra for our country's growth towards Viksit Bharat and AI-led innovation is certainly the new frontier which India can also participate in, in a leadership manner," she said. Shaw said the summit will showcase technologies "from a start-up stage to a scaled-up level" and called it a moment of "huge disruptions" in how AI is deployed. "This is a very exciting time we're living in... how we use AI ethically and responsibly and like always, I think Bengaluru and Karnataka are taking the lead," she said. "Well, everyone is leveraging AI; these are early days of AI, but I think everyone is learning to deploy AI because if you don't, you will be left behind," she said. (ANI)
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