Future of Technology Will Have Indian 'Fingerprints' Everywhere, UAE Minister Says

Addressing the opening session of the Bengaluru Tech Summit earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the effective use of technology to deliver crucial government services has helped raise the standard of living of millions of Indians. He noted that India’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index has improved from 81 in 2015 to 40.

Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, the Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has remarked that “Indian fingerprints” will be present everywhere, as he heaped lavish praise on New Delhi for making enormous technological strides in recent years.

"Our belief is that India is not just past and present but India is also the future. The future will have an Indian fingerprint on it for everyone and everywhere," Al Olama stated at the inaugural session of the 25th Bengaluru Tech Summit. The three-day event kicked off on Wednesday and is being attended by 575 global companies, as per an official release.

Al Olama said that technology was being driven from places like Bengaluru, which is also referred to as the ‘Silicon Valley of India’ for its Information Technology (IT) exports as well as for hosting offices of global tech companies such as Apple, Google, Adobe and Cisco.

The Emirati minister said that although the futuristic technologies were coming from other places in the world as well, it was primarily Indians who are “shaping” them all over the globe, an apparent reference to Indian-origin people occupying top positions at companies such as Microsoft, Google and, previously, Twitter.

Al Olama predicted that besides technology, Indians would also emerge as leaders in other domains in coming years.

"I don't think that it's just the future of technology that is going to be driven by India. It's going to be the future of technology, education, finance and many other sectors (that's going) to be reshaped by India," he said.

He further expressed confidence that the India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) which was signed in February would provide a “stepping stone” for the two economies to jointly forge a “new era of technologies”.

The India-UAE CEPA comprises 15 chapters and has a separate chapter on encouraging digital innovation and promoting “digital transformation” of the global economy.

Al Olama said that the UAE serves as a “natural springboard” for technology industry players who wanted to take their ideas to Africa and other parts of Middle-East.

He also expressed optimist that the I2U2 grouping comprising Israel, India, the US and the UAE would serve as another platform for advancing collaboration in the technological domain.

The I2U2 was announced in last October, with the first leaders’ meeting of the grouping convened in July this year during US President Joe Biden’s visit to the Middle-east.

One of the primary goals of I2U2 is to “mobilize” private and public sector investments to promote the development of critical and emerging technologies.