Intensification of the Partnership with India

Exchange at the Second Pune International Business Summit

The Karlsruhe Economic Development Corporation, as coordinator of the India Board Karlsruhe and the Karlsruhe Innovation Office in Pune, have been working closely with the main cooperation partner, the "Mahratta Chamber Of Commerce Industries & Agriculture" (MCCIA), since opening of the representative office of Karlsruhe in Pune. Regular exchange and numerous events also take place on site as part of the delegation trips - during these times in different ways.

“Contact is very important in these times,” said Prashant Girbane, “MCCIA” Director General. Approval by General Director Amit Yadav from the Ministry of Commerce of the Indian Government: “The summit offers the participants many opportunities. Because maintaining international contacts is proving to be difficult these days. "

After the success of the previous year, "MCCIA" organized another edition of the Pune International Business Summit. This also offered companies from the Karlsruhe technology region the opportunity to present the location and offer to an international audience from business and politics, emphasized Simone Pflieger from the Karlsruhe Economic Development Agency. There were also greetings from Minister of State Theresa Schopper, Lord Mayor Dr. Frank Mentrup and Baden-Baden's Mayor Margret Mergen, who also promoted the southwest of Germany.

The importance of a partner like "MCCIA" is particularly evident in these times, according to Dr. Jürgen Morhard, German Consul General in Mumbai, India: "The common is very important" - and referred to the more than 20 contributions by German partners at the summit in Pune. “When it comes to global challenges, partnerships are also important”. Maharashtra and Baden-Württemberg are well positioned there, even with their own office in Pune, which creates many opportunities for partnerships and collaborations. No wonder that over 350 German companies have already settled in and around Pune.

Best practice examples

In “Session VI” Karlsruhe and Baden-Württemberg were able to present themselves in a special way, because it was precisely the exchange and thematic involvement of suitable experts from the Karlsruhe networks - among other things on the topics of sustainable mobility, digitization and artificial intelligence (AI), climate, Energy, solar or water. "Especially in the currently challenging times, the ongoing processes in terms of digitization are important", says Ralf Eichhorn, Head of Innovation at the Karlsruhe Economic Development Agency. The themes of innovation and sustainability, combined with best practice examples from the German-Indian context - especially against the background of the corona pandemic for global economy and trade with developments and the realignment of supply chains - were decisive.

Karlsruhe insights for India

Successful organization of events despite the pandemic: Martin Wacker, CEO Karlsruhe Marketing and Events, one of the engines of cultural activities between Pune and Karlsruhe, looked at event highlights such as “Indoor Meeting", Schlosslichtspiele or “India Summer Days” in the past few months.

Trade fair CEO Britta Wirtz dealt with the future of trade fairs and findings about the pandemic, hybrid event formats - and specifically addressed the international IT-Trans trade fair.

Josephine Simon, coordinator of the digital hub for Artificial Intelligence spoke about “de: hub Karlsruhe”, Ceren Akbaba from Cyberforum dealt with the topic “CyberLab”, which brings ideas from startups to life. Sergey Biniaminov from "HS Analysis GmbH" dealt with the topic of how professional AI in medical image analysis can be made affordable for everyone. Dr. Thomas Usländer from "Fraunhofer IOSB" spoke about the "Competence Center Karlsruhe on AI Engineering".

Julian Zix from GINSEP ("German Indian Startup Exchange Program") gave a lecture on "Opportunities for Startups in Germany". Marc Beckett from “Fraunhofer IGB” and Ashish Pandit from “Let's bridge IT”, the representative office of the state of Baden-Württemberg in Pune, dealt with digitization in water management using the example of the Smart City of Solapur.

Presentation of a new matchmaking platform

Ashish Pandit and Anna Krywalski from "bw-i" gave an insight into the country's new matchmaking platform, "which can be helpful for contacts between the countries," said Dr. Mentrup. Whether in the branch focus Aeronautics & Space; Automotive; Biotechnology; Chemical & Plastic Industry; Creative industry; Energy & Renewable Energies; Environment Protection & Pollution / Water Management; Food and ingredients, ICT & Telecommunications; Life Sciences, Medicine & Pharmaceuticals, Mechanical Engineering & Machinery or Mechatronics & Robotics: In these times, other approaches are also necessary, such as online business partner meetings [LINK], which can significantly intensify cooperation with India. B2B meetings will take place here, especially from March 18 to April 26, 2021, at which potential business partners will be brought together.