The Technology Summit and Technology Platform is one of the largest technological events in India and with India. It is a bilateral summit between India and "Guest Country/ies" organized by the Department of Science and Technology (Indian Ministry of Science and Technology) and the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) annually in New Delhi. For this year's edition, the 17th, Spain has been selected as "Partner Country", being the co-organizers of the event on the Spanish side the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI) and the Spain-India Council Foundation. In the two previous editions the "Guest Countries" were Finland (2009) and Germany (2010).
The Technology Summit and Technology Platform is a macroevent which comprises, among others, plenary and parallel sessions, B2B meetings and exhibition, and that in this 2011 edition has revolved around three themes: 'Renewable energy (solar and wind)', 'Water technology (management, purification and treatment)' and 'Biotechnology (health, industrial and agri-biotech)'.
It has been a business meeting who have attended more than 120 Spanish companies and organizations and about 200 Indian entities and that, therefore, has enjoyed an unprecedented private sector representation in India, which shows a degree of mutual interest that has far exceeded the expectations that existed a priori on this event.
Institutionally speaking, the Spanish delegation was led by the Secretary General for Innovation and participated by the Ministry for Science and Innovation, the Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Commerce (represented locally by the Commercial Office) and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation. On the Indian side, we enjoyed the presence of the Minister of Science and Innovation, senior officials of this Department and the President of the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII, the equivalent of the Spanish CEOE). With this, the Indian government has answered to the Spanish effort with a no small gesture of desire for joint collaboration.
The success of this platform of civil society has been given by more than one hundred private commitments made by participants, representing a record number in this type of meetings where the signature of more than 50 expressions of interest is rarely achieved.
The Spain-India Council Foundation, which has provided an indispensable financial and organizational support that made the Summit possible, is getting real charter of nature with these actions in the picture of the bilateral economic relations. The visibility and projection obtained with this meeting was one of the Foundation's primary objectives to be achieved, taking into account the limited time of operation that has had since its inception in 2009.
One of the most obvious conclusions to Spain after this Technology Summit is to have succeeded to position itself as a major potential partner of India in terms of technology and innovation. The vast majority of the participating companies, specializing mainly in the fields of infrastructure, renewable energy, telecommunications and financial services have had the opportunity to connect with their Indian counterparts, under the institutional coverage of both countries projected on the innovation, to which India provides, as it is known, the highest priority.