India-US Partnership & Innovation Summit held jointly by Consulate of India and Northeastern University

The Consulate General of India in partnership with the Center for Emerging Markets, Northeastern University (NU), Boston, hosted an India – US Partnership for Innovation Summit October 14, 2022.

The Summit in Boston was held to celebrate 75 years of India’s independence – Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav – and was attended by leading business leaders, think tank members, scholars, researchers and students, a press release from the Consulate said.

Inaugurating the day-long conference, Ambassador of India to the United States Taranjit Singh Sandhu joined by video conferencing, and highlighted how high value and cost effective innovations in India were bringing value to India-US ties – in the fields of pharma, health-care, clean energy, start-ups, digital education and other segments of bilateral engagement.

Ambassador Sandhu underlined the need for the global community to adopt Mission LIFE – i.e. lifestyle for environment – called for by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India’s Minister of Health & Family Welfare, and Chemicals & Fertilizers of India Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya addressed the gathering focusing on recent developments in the India-US health sector, especially the close collaboration in vaccine development. Minister Mandaviya noted that India had vaccinated over 95 % of its adult population distributing 2.19 billion doses, as also supplied COVID vaccines to over 100 countries.

Other speakers in the summit included former Minister of Civil Aviation, Railways, Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu who mentioned the innovative steps taken by India in providing better services to rail passengers.

Bharat Lal, director general, National Centre for Good Governance, who earlier spearheaded the Jal Jeevan Mission (clean drinking water mission) talked about the success of this project in India, noting that the percentage of households with clean tap water connection in India had gone up from 17% in 2019 to over 55% by Sept., 2022. He also stressed that the Mission would be completed by 2024 where 100% coverage of clean tap water connection would be achieved.

Dr. Umamaheswaran, director, Human Space Flight Center, ISRO, spoke about India’s progress in the space sector achieved in the most cost effective manner.

Sumant Sinha, Chairman & CEO, Renew Power, gave a detailed account of the progress in India in harnessing renewable energy.

Phalgun Kompalli, co-founder, upGrad, a leading ed-tech company spoke about the growth of digital education and the value company like his bring to the US higher education landscape.

MD & CEO of Invest India, Deepak Bagla, gave a presentation on India as the most preferred destination for investment.

Pamela Reeve, chair of the board at American Tower Corporation, a Boston based global company, noted the journey of the company in India where it owns more than 75,000 telecommunication towers and how Digital India program was transforming lives of people in the country.

Krish Nangegadda, member, IDEA Advisory Board, NU, made a presentation on the start-up collaboration between GITAM University in India and NU.

Consul General of India, New York Randhir Jaiswal showcased India’s achievements in the recent past and highlighted the importance of Indo-US partnership for the future.

Ravi Ramamurthy, director, Center for Emerging Markets, Northeastern University, who moderated the Summit, elaborated how innovations in India could be most relevant for countries such as United States.