UK keen on collaboration with Kerala IT: High Commission official

Impressed by Kerala’s vibrant IT ecosystem, a senior official in the Department of Business and Trade in British Deputy High Commission has expressed keen interest in exploring collaborative business prospects between UK and companies in Kerala during a visit to Technopark here.

The visiting delegate, Ms Gita Krishnankutty, Head of Inward Investment, South India, Dept. for Business and Trade, British Deputy High Commission, Bengaluru, had an extensive interaction with Col Sanjeev Nair (Retd), CEO of Technopark, and IT industry leaders and invited Technopark companies to participate in the high-profile London Tech Week 2024 in June.

Shri Sree Kumar V, Secretary GTECH and Shri Vishnu Nair, CEO, GTECH and IT industry, also joined the discussions.

 London Tech Week 2024 is scheduled to be held at London’s iconic exhibition venue Olympia located in Kensington, UK, from June 10 to 14.

London Tech Week is an event where visionaries and entrepreneurs, investors and enterprise tech leaders converge to accelerate tech innovation. Participants will get insights, inspiration and connections needed to thrive at the event. About 45,000 participants are expected to attend the event where more than 5,000 startups will be showcasing their products and services, besides the presence of 1000-plus investors.

Noting that Indian tech talent is exceptional and evolving rapidly, Ms Gita said UK is  keen on hosting health tech companies as well as those working in cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) in the event. Explaining the milieu of ease of doing business in the UK, she said they are looking expectantly at the next generation of bioengineering and semiconductors from India.

“UK has quality of life and ease of living, besides stable financial market and regulative tax regime. We are ready to support companies to invest in England and we steer people the right way,” she said.

Ms Gita said the amazing work culture, innovation, R&D and investment opportunities make the UK a preferred destination. The official added that companies participating in London Tech Week will be taken for a tour to the major Centres of Excellence in England after the event. 

Col Sanjeev Nair (Retd) said that UK can leverage the talent pool and digital ecosystem of Kerala fruitfully. MedTech, AVGC, Space tech and fintech companies from the state have made a mark by bagging vital projects and investments from across the globe, he added. While interacting with the industry leaders, the opportunities that Innovate UK platform offer to companies came up for discussion with a scope of giving it a wider outreach to companies within Kerala. Also the possibility of GCCs if looking for setting up base in tier II cities of Kerala like Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi was deliberated as both these cities are categorised as emerging technology hubs of the country with excellent infrastructure meeting ESG norms, talent pool, vibrant startup ecosystem and sound social fabric