Global Technology Summit Innovation Dialogue 2024

Carnegie India co-hosted the inaugural Global Technology Summit (GTS) Innovation Dialogue with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, on October 8 & 9, 2024, in Bengaluru.

This dialogue marked a significant expansion of our engagement with thriving technology ecosystems that exist outside Delhi. It convened tech-focused discussions on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), focusing on how these technologies can promote inclusive growth, improve governance, support sustainable development, and forge international partnerships.

The GTS Innovation Dialogue brought together government officials, industry experts (product, policy, and engineering teams), startup community, venture capitalists, legal researchers, academics, and more.

During the two-day event, the dialogue featured both closed-door and public sessions. The invite-only closed-door discussions allowed in-depth conversations and collaborative problem-solving around key issues such as global adoption of DPIs, private sector innovation on top of DPIs, and approaches to AI safety. The format included workshops and roundtable discussions, providing participants with an opportunity to engage directly with peers and experts in a focused and confidential environment.

In addition to these exclusive sessions, the dialogue also featured public sessions on October 9, designed to extend the conversation to a wider audience. Attendees had the chance to engage with leading experts and thought leaders as they discussed topics such as the role of DPIs in fostering inclusive growth, acceleration of innovation through DPI, and the evolving landscape of open-source AI and AI regulation.

Agenda:

3:30 pm- 4:30 pm:  Registrations

4:30 pm-4:40 pm: Opening Remarks

• Speaker: Rudra Chaudhuri, Director, Carnegie India

4:40 PM - 4:50 PM: Keynote Address

• Speaker: Seth Center, Acting Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology, U.S. Department of State

4:50 PM - 5:20 PM: Conversation: The Present and Future of Tech Partnerships 

Speaker:

• Seth Center, Acting Special Envoy for Critical and Emerging Technology, U.S. Department of State

Moderator:

• Shankar Maruwada, CEO and Co-Founder, EkStep Foundation

5:20 pm-5:30 pm:  Live Video Address

• Speaker: Periasamy Kumaran, Special Secretary (ER & DPA), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India

5:30 pm-5:50 pm:  Keynote Address: The Past, Present, and Future of DPIs

• Speaker: Pramod Varma, Co-chair, Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure

5:50 pm-6:50 pm:  Panel: Global Perspectives on Digital Transformation

Many countries, particularly in the Global South, develop products and technologies aimed at fostering inclusive growth, enhancing governance, and advancing sustainable development. Some of these efforts are officially recognized as Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs), while others, though not formally categorized as such, share similar goals and are at various stages of progress. This panel aims to explore the key distinctions between broad digitization and DPIs, address the global challenges faced by DPI projects, and identify the factors that contribute to or hinder their long-term success worldwide. 

Speakers:

• Hilda Mwakatmubula, Digital Transformation Advisor to the East African Community
• Russell Woruba, Deputy Secretary for Digital Government and Information Delivery, Government of Papua New Guinea  
• Noureddine Boutayeb, President, The Moroccan Foundation for the Promotion of Pre-School Education
• Kamal Paudel, Under Secretary (Statistics), E-governance commission of Nepal, Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers
• Ramesh Ragineni, Executive Vice President, Software Engineering, Salesforce

Moderator:

• Kamya Chandra, Chief Strategy Officer, Centre for Digital Public Infrastructure

6:50 pm-7:50 pm: Panel: Open-Source AI for Global South 

Open-source AI holds the promise of democratizing access to AI technology, driving faster innovation, and fostering greater transparency and accountability. By using open-source AI models, developers, companies, and governments handling sensitive information can retain better control over their data, as these models can be deployed on local systems, ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and security of proprietary or personal data. This panel will delve into the crucial intersection of open-source AI and responsible governance, focusing on creating innovative policy solutions to address the distinct challenges and opportunities it presents for the Global South. Additionally, it will explore how open-source AI can promote transparency, accountability, and fairness in AI-driven decision-making. 

Speakers:

• Melinda Claybaugh, Director of Privacy Policy, Meta
• Kishore Balaji Desikachari, Executive Director, Government and Regulatory
  Affairs, IBM India and South Asia 
• Saurabh Karn, Founding Member, Sarvam AI
• Jun-E Tan, Senior Research Associate, Khazanah Research Institute
• Mike Bracken, Partner, Public Digital

Moderator:

• Rahul Matthan, Partner, Trilegal

7:50 pm-7:55 pm: Closing Remarks

8:00 pm onwards: Dinner