India and America sign MOU to promote innovation ecosystem

India and the US have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under their Commercial Dialogue to "Promote Innovation Ecosystem through Innovation Handshake".

On this occasion, US secretary of commerce Gina Raimondo was present while Union Minister Piyush Goyal was present on behalf of India.

The proposal of this agreement between India and America was prepared during PM Modi's visit to America in June last year. PM Modi had also made an announcement regarding this last year itself.

The MOU was signed at the industry roundtable titled “Decoding the “Innovation Handshake”: US-India Entrepreneurship Partnership” in San Francisco.

Co-organized by the US-India Business Council (USIBC) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and supported by the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) and Startup India, the event brought together CEOs of leading ICT companies, executives from venture capital firms and key and founders of startups in the emerging technology sector discussed. During this discussion, there was special discussion on how to increase US-India technology cooperation.

The signing of this MOU aims to connect the dynamic startup ecosystem of both the parties, address specific regulatory barriers for collaboration, share information, best practices and especially critical and emerging technologies (CETs) such as raising funds for startups. This has been done with the aim of promoting initiative and job growth.

There were also discussions to increase technology partnership between India and America and together exploring the possibilities of production in the field of semiconductor, 5G and 6G telecommunication networks, quantum and advanced computing. A joint statement was also issued regarding this. The statement said that both governments are committed to enhancing technology partnership, jointly promoting development and production opportunities, and optimizing regulations.

India and the US have signed several agreements to promote mutual commerce, technology transfer, joint development of technologies in the fields of semiconductor, 5G and 6G telecommunications and open source based telecommunication networks, quantum and advanced computing.

The joint statement said that President Biden and Prime Minister Modi described the signing of the MoU for Semiconductor Supply Chain and Innovation Partnership as an important step in coordinating the semiconductor promotion programs of the two countries. This will promote business opportunities, research, talent and skill development.