Deep Tech and its Rise In India

The next big surge in the world of innovations will be powered by Deep Tech – A set of technologies pushing the frontiers of Science and Technology, solving some very complex problems of society and unlocking new markets. This includes Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Technologies, Synthetic biology, Cyber-physical Systems, and Blockchain among others. India which has seen a wave of start-ups emerge will have its second wave on the foundations of these technologies. Whether it’s the field of defence and the modernisation agenda being driven there, the pressing problem of climate change and the technological solutions that will give us the hope of minimising its effects or the digital transformation we are seeing in almost every organisation in every sector, deep tech will fuel it.

Technology allows humanity to address its most complex problems and often unleash its greatest potential. Today, technologies from many domains are converging, dramatically enhancing the transformation potential in almost every sector of human activity. This diverse work, focusing on complex technological innovation or significant scientific discovery, is the world of deep tech. The pervasiveness of technological convergence, the rise of cloud computing, lowered cost of computing are all driving the wave of deep tech that we are witnessing and about to see its surge.

Excellence and innovation will fuel the Indian economy in the next 25 years. Every day, a diverse range of companies spur growth producing high-quality products that are sought after by consumers around the world. Leaders in innovation from India are emerging.

While each company followed a unique path, they will all have one thing in common: access to India’s world-class R&D and new wave of manufacturing. These competitive advantages will long fuel Indian innovation and will only grow stronger. Today, the Indian start-up ecosystem has leapfrogged to the third largest ecosystem in the world.

The world has noticed. Global businesses and investors are flocking to India over the past few years and seeking to turn those competitive advantages in their favour. Bolstered by the country’s political stability and market access, factor inputs being in place and complementary assets being connected, along with the benefits of India’s highly skilled workforce along with the reverse brain drain that is happening and innovation prowess- a deep tech hotspot in India is emerging.

According to the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Survey, India’s advantages across business-friendly policies, strong talent and high productivity—especially in technology and advanced manufacturing— will continue to drive inbound FDI flows over the next three to five years. Policy and regulation often stifle innovation. Yet with the right adjustments, they become catalysts. India’s future-focused approach to business collaboration fosters an environment where the public and private sectors can champion innovation together. Invest India the national investment facilitation and promotion agency has recently launched the Emerging Tech and R&D investment unit focussed on driving Emerging Tech investments in India along with ensuring India turns into an R&D hub in the years ahead. A wide range of initiatives and incentives make it easier than ever for foreign companies to make India’s advantages their own. The government has recently put for discussion the national deep tech policy which is a work in progress and implementation mechanisms need to be deliberated upon and clarified; however a step in the right direction.

Invest India has been driving innovation agenda in the country, helping agencies and its partners engage deep tech effectively, mitigate risks associated with it, helping push the Atma Nirbhar agenda at the forefront along ensuring the capturing of the value of the Indian Innovation and Technology base. Talent availability is always a function of the environment which the latter, which Invest India is helping build and acting as a catalyst for building synergy among the stakeholder groups. Challenges of Funding, convening the right set for creating infrastructure, developing frameworks for standardisation, advocating the right set of regulations in the domain of emerging and deep tech along ensuring co-creating, co-investing opportunities amongst friendly countries remain the pivot of this new endeavour. Supporting Tech diplomacy, interlacing existing mechanisms and strengthening pipelines of adoption remain crucial and this unit intends to do that.

In turn, India is fast becoming the leading destination for the world’s innovators, entrepreneurs and business leaders to unlock new opportunities for enduring value creation.