New Delhi: The India Mobile Congress (IMC) will be expanded beyond its current focus of the telecom sector, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said, with this year’s theme of “Global Digital Innovation” likely to fashion it along the lines of the Mobile World Congress, a global flagship event that gathers top technology firms from across the world every year.
“Time has come that we take IMC, a premier tech event of India, and not make it exclusively for the telecom sector. We should now have drone technologies, EV-related technologies, innovations in consumer and power electronics, in deep tech, green tech and AI in this,” the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology said at a curtain-raiser event Wednesday.
The seventh edition of IMC will be held from 27 October and will span five days at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi.
“India must become a technology developer, telecom manufacturer and exporter in the coming years and not a mere consumer or importer of technology”, Vaishnaw said Wednesday. The announcement of the exhibition comes a week after the launch of the Bharat 6G alliance.
IMC: What is new and is it the Indian MWC?
India Mobile Congress is Asia’s largest digital technologies forum which organises international conferences and open exhibitions.
This year, the exhibition will see around 1,00,000+ participants, 5,000+ CXO-level delegates, 350+ speakers, and 400+ exhibitors.
“The spotlight will be on 6G, advancements in 5G networks, use of AI in telecommunications and other domains, Edge Computing, Aspire — a startup event for entrepreneurship growth, and emergence of India Stack,” said the event’s official release.
This year, the event will widen to technology domains such as broadcast, sat-com, manufacturing, semiconductors, green technology, and drones through partnerships with various associations such as Elecina, IESA, ISpA, DFI, and others.
Since its inception in 2017, the event has served as a global forum for digital innovation and positions India as leading the change. Last year, the event received an overwhelming response from the industry and Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 5G around the same time.
Mobile World Congress is the world’s largest and the most influential networking exhibit for fostering the mobile technology ecosystem across the globe. The event is hosted by Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA).
Like MWC, the IMC envisages to become a premier technology event for innovators, entrepreneurs, investors, students and technology fanatics.
‘An October revolution in making’
V.L. Kantha Rao, Additional Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications, elaborated on what was going to be new in this year’s exhibition, saying the flagship event would lead an “October revolution or kranti” in the country.
Rao said over 75 innovators have been felicitated by the government and Rs 1000 crores awarded for innovation and research and development in recent times.
Fastest 5G rollout
Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan commended India’s fastest 5G rollout and discussed the need to look for more use-cases in sectors such as agriculture, animal husbandry, transport, education and health.
Ashwini Vaishnaw said the event must attract innovations related to EV, drones, power and consumer electronics, Deep Tech, cyber security and Artificial Intelligence.
“At least 5 partner countries must be onboarded,” said Vaishnaw, to which Pramod Mittal, chairman of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) added that Germany, US and UK were already partnering at the exhibit.
“At least 100 universities should be connected. Organise virtual exhibitions in institutes such as IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur to connect regional universities with the event in real-time and foster a regional ecosystem,” Vaishnaw told at the event.