Building a deeptech infrastructure in India will be crucial to secure the country's trajectory as a dynamic, innovation-driven powerhouse on the global stage, Sharma, an engagement management manager at Zinnov, Bengaluru, writes
India is at an inflection point in its technological evolution as evidenced by the growth of the sector. The country is poised to drive artificial intelligence (AI) investments worth $6 billion-plus by 2025. India’s moment to ride the next phase in the S-curve of technological advancement and leapfrog into emerging domains is now.
This includes not only AI, but also augmented reality / virtual reality (AR/VR), big data and analytics, blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), drones, and robotics. These ‘deep technologies’ will drive the next wave of innovation across industries and fuel the next phase of economic growth. For India to become a global innovation leader, we need to build capabilities strategically yet rapidly across the deeptech value chain—from research to commercialisation—in these cutting-edge technologies.Â
Deeptech adoption is rising; Zinnov’s analysis reveals that deeptech startups comprised 12 percent of all of India’s tech startups in 2022. In fact, the segment has witnessed a CAGR of 44 percent over the last decade and attracted $4.2 billion in funding in 2022. Deeptech’s adoption is critical not just for India’s economic advancement, but also to solve major socio-economic challenges stemming from its large and growing population of 1.4 billion.
Challenges in food security, agriculture, nutrition, and health care have plagued India for decades, and now require biologically inspired solutions and precision delivery mechanisms that deeptech can enable. In fact, India’s biodiversity and genomic variance within population groups provide unique opportunities for biotech innovation. Sectors like health care, agriculture, education, and financial services require advanced technological interventions to improve access, efficiency, and delivery at scale.
Enterprises and startups in India are leveraging deeptech whether it be for building application-level AI models or tapping AI talent for other functional/vertical-specific needs. India boasts a reservoir of technologically adept minds (especially when it comes to AI), a rapid uptake of digital services, and a thriving entrepreneurial spirit—an enviable foundation for progress. However, the crux of the matter lies in understanding the consequences of inaction when it comes to infrastructure and capacity building.