Agritech, e-commerce & retail tech, edtech, fintech, health tech, R&D and innovation are the six key sectors where India and Australia can work closely to deepen the bilateral ties and advance their tech and innovation collaboration, according to a report titled, ‘Recommendations to build stronger ties between India & Australia in technology and innovation - A call to action’ launched by the Indo-Australian Chamber of Commerce (IACC) on Friday.

Under agritech, the report’s recommendations to Indian government include that it seek Australia’s expertise and experience to set up a specialised agri university in India, encourage Australian companies to utilise India’s cost-effective manufacturing capability and its large market to test agro-based technology and encourage Australian companies to invest in Indian agri-logistics space.

“We (Australia) are making pioneering advances in cyber security, artificial intelligence, quantum computing and 5G, as well as the policy frameworks governing these. India has become one of our closest partners on science, technology and innovation. We have a vision for an open and resilient global technology marketplace,” Sarah Kirlew, Australian Consul-General for South India said in her keynote address.

Delivering a special address, Neeraj Mittal, Principal Secretary, Information Technology Department, Government of Tamil Nadu said dominance in software and technology is the greatest strength of India enabling it to collaborate with many countries.

BharatNet Project

He also highlighted that the Tamil Nadu government has recently launched the BharatNet Project with an aim to provide 1 Gbps bandwidth connectivity to all Gram Panchayats. The project will be completed in a year or year-and-half and once that is over, it will open up a whole lot of opportunities in education, entertainment, telemedicine and a host of other sectors,” Mittal said.

Petula Thomas, CEO, IACC said that the report considered views of 82 industry leaders, senior government representatives and tech experts from both the countries and it will serve as a roadmap for implementing the recommendations set out for stakeholders primarily in six key sectors.

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