Emerging technology startups are key to India’s future economy: Jitendra Singh | Mint

Speaking on the occasion, Singh said that the hackathon will promote innovation and startups in India’s geospatial ecosystem. He invited the nation’s youth to participate and contribute towards the building of the nation’s geospatial economy.

The minister said, half of our population is under 40 years of age and are very aspirational and that is evident that the Indian start-up economy crossed a major milestone as it added the 100th Indian start-up to the Unicorn club in 2022.

He said, in line with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is on the cusp of geospatial revolution and a healthy synergy between the government, industry and the scientific community will tremendously boost the economic output and would help India to become a 10 trillion dollar economy by 2030.

The minister appreciated the Ministry of Science and Technology, Survey of India, IIIT Hyderabad and Microsoft India for planning, participating and designing the Geospatial Hackathon, which he said will serve as a formal launchpad to India’s geospatial strategy and policy which envisions making India a global leader in the geospatial sector in times to come.

He also appreciated all the partnering agencies, academia, research institutions, industries, and think tanks who have joined the noble mission.

Jitendra Singh said the aim of this hackathon is to promote partnerships not only among the public and private geospatial sectors but also to strengthen our country’s geospatial start-up ecosystem.

He added that for achieving the sustainable development goals for 2030, there is an urgency for our country to have reliable geospatial information for effective policy development, programming, and project operation.

Jitendra Singh said, after the unlocking of the space sector in 2020 for private participation, the Modi government has taken various initiatives to liberalise and democratise the geospatial sector.

The minister emphasized that with the launch of the national geospatial policy, India is walking the path of promoting ease of doing business in the entire geospatial sector and it will catalyse the mission to build India’s vibrant and globally competitive geospatial ecosystem.