SOME TESTIMONIALS

2025 PROGRAM

The 4th meeting of the India Global Innovation Connect
Innovation in the Age of AI: Business, Society And Governance

8:30 - Ongoing | Registration of participants

9:30 - 10:00 | Official Opening Ceremony

10:15 - 11:00 | One-on-One dialogue

11:15 - 12:30 | AI and Deep Tech as the new frontier of innovation

12:30 - 13:30 | Buffet lunch

13:30 - 14:45 | Plenary in parallel

A new paradigm for startups funding

  • The changing world of startups valuation
  • The new “MUSTs” the funders are looking for
  • How new sources of funding are playing out

13:30 - 14:45 | Plenary in parallel

Success factor for joining the world’s leaders in semiconductors

13:30 - 14:45 | Brainstorming

What next in the Fintech sector?

  • The next developments to expect
  • What new opportunities this could create
  • How does India stand in this domain compared to what is happening elsewhere?

15:00 - 16:15 | Plenary in parallel

The race to market: The changing paradigm for the go-to-market process

  • The enhanced role of Accelerators
  • Adjusting product-market fit to the accelerating changes in consumers expectations
  • Leveraging AI to compress time-to-market and enhance productivity and market research

15:00 - 16:15 | Plenary in parallel

Shaping AI for society and society for AI

As we become increasingly aware of the transformative – and even potentially revolutionizing – impact of AI on economies and societies, there is a realization that transparency, accountability and ethical safeguards are crucial to address the concerns that this technology is generating and to ensure its widespread acceptance. At the same time, it is no less crucial to ensure that people are able to acquire the skills and mindset needed to operate in an environment reshaped by AI, to manage a human-AI interaction that will increasingly permeate more and more aspects of our professional and social lives.

  • What actions are needed to achieve these two intertwined goals?
  • What is required to avoid creating “AI divides” inside and among countries?
  • How can startup founders pioneering the new disruptive technologies capabilities help leveraging AI for the common good?

15:00 - 16:15 | Brainstorming

What next in the Aerospace sector?

  • The next developments to expect
  • What new opportunities this could create
  • How does India stand in this domain compared to what is happening elsewhere?

16:15 - 16:45 | Networking break

16:45 - 17:30 | One-on-One dialogue

17:40 - 18:45 | Capitalizing on the innovation dynamics between startups and established corporations

  • Enhancing the role of GCCs in the race for technology innovation
  • Strategies for successful corporate-startups collaboration

17:40 - 18:45 | Brainstorming

What next in the Cleantech sector?

  • The next developments to expect
  • What new opportunities this could create
  • How does India stand in this domain compared to what is happening elsewhere?

18:45 - 19:30 | Cocktail Reception

19:30 - 21:15 | Sit-down gala dinner

With keynote speaker

9:00 - 10:15 | Making the most of the new ways of raising capital for startups

New funding models have emerged – or have been developing in the last few years – which are offering more diverse options to startup founders. It is not only Family Offices and Corporate VCs getting increasingly involved in startups funding. The revenue-based financing model is for instance creating access to non-dilutive financing. Or the model of Simple Agreement for Future Equity – SAFE – could be an efficient way to get funding at an early stage of the startup as it gives investors the right to purchase preferred shares in the startup when the company raises a future round of funding. There is also the increasing role played by crowdfunding and Angel Investors, while the debt-financing model can be mostly attractive in a low-interest rates context.

  • What criteria to select the most efficient funding model?
  • In what ways different funding models condition a startup’s strategy and the Modus Operandi?

10:30 - 11:30 | Engineering cross-border innovation synergies

There is no underestimating the benefits of engineering cross-borders synergies between innovation ecosystems to benefit from the multiplier impact of combining complementary knowledge and resources to accelerate the development of new technologies. Joint research projects, technology transfer programs, Joint-Ventures on technology projects are among the most used ways of implementing these
synergies.

  • What success factors for developing genuine innovation synergies?
  • What ways to measure the tangible results of these synergies?
  • What safeguards to protect the interests of each party in such synergetic collaborations?

10:30 - 11:30 | Brainstorming

What next in the Clean Energy sector?

  • The next developments to expect
  • What new opportunities this could create
  • How does India stand in this domain compared to what is happening elsewhere?

11:30 - 12:00 | Networking break

12:00 - 12:50 | One-on-One dialogue

The geopolitics of innovation … And why it matters to you
Deep technologies and the Data that sustain their development are today key tools driving growth performance and military capability, creating dominant positions or even supremacy in these domains, and providing to countries that master them a crucial tool for international influence and geopolitical leveraging. Increasingly stringent restrictions on technology transfers, sanctions banning the export of categories of chips, or high-tech products or services to specific countries are now part of the standard panoply of the geo-economic competition among countries. The fact that Deep Technologies are by nature dual-use ones creates even more complex situations, opening the gates to discretionary decisions and pressures by the country most able to dictate its will.

  • How can countries of middle technological level protect their ability to develop further their capabilities in this context of great powers competition for technological dominance?
  • What should startup founders be aware of to avoid becoming the collateral casualties of the geopolitics of innovation?
  • How can open-source technological platforms can be developed and leveraged to blunt the impact of the geopolitics of innovation on third parties?

12:00 - 12:50 | India Innovation going global

12:00 - 13:00 | Brainstorming

What next in the Defense/Security sector?

  • The next developments to expect
  • What new opportunities this could create
  • How does India stand in this domain compared to what is happening elsewhere?

13:00 - 14:00 | Buffet lunch

14:00 - 15:15 | How do we innovate with AI?

Speaker:
Nir Koren, Global Innovation expert, CEO & Founder, Buildinn, Israel

In this thought-provoking session, Nir Koren explores how individuals and organizations can not only survive but lead in a world defined by rapid technological shifts and constant disruption. Drawing from real-world examples, powerful visuals, and cutting-edge AI tools, Nir invites the audience to embrace experimentation, and turn uncertainty into opportunity. With a dynamic storytelling style and deep insights into innovation ecosystems, this talk is a wake-up call — and a practical guide – to stay ahead in the age of exponential change.

14:00 - 15:15 | Brainstorming

What next in the Healthtech sector?

  • The next developments to expect
  • What new opportunities this could create
  • How does India stand in this domain compared to what is happening elsewhere?

15:30 - 16:15 | Plenary Dialogue

Above and beyond the Unicorn aura

  • The disruptor’s journey
  • What social impact to be commended for?

16:30 - 17:30 | The innovators leveraging the fine edge of AI’s capabilities

Startup founders pioneering new products and services by leveraging the very fine edge of Ai capabilities describe their work, the challenges they have faced -or are still facing – and look at the next stage they want to get in their innovation process.

17:45 - 18:30 | A roadmap for a $ 6-7 trillion Indian economy by 2030?

While there is today a momentum and mobilization of efforts to get India’s economy to the 6-7 trillion dollars milestone by 2030, there is still a lot of debate about the different elements of the strategy to achieve that goal, and not yet a clear road map on how these elements should be implemented in a synergetic and complementary way to successfully implement this strategy.

  • How to combine a technology-driven approach to growth with one producing the millions of new jobs needed to absorb the cohorts entering the job market?
  • How to engineer the necessary synergies between government policies, corporate initiatives and the R&D contribution from academia?
  • What is needed to mobilize the bigger domestic and foreign investment resources required?

18:30 - 19:15 | Farewell cocktail

2025

SPONSORS & CONVENER

STRATEGIC PARTNERS

SPONSORS

KNOWLEDGE PARTNERS

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS

CONVENER

ADDITIONAL SMADJA PLATFORMS

18 – 19 February 2025
Jakarta, Indonesia

18 – 19 March 2025
Tokyo, Japan

31 October – 1 November 2024
Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China

To be announced
Mexico

To be announced
Tucson, USA