Mumbai, March 22 (IANS) Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Sunday that in the coming decade young innovators will not only answer deep tech challenges of the country but also that of the world, especially the Global South and emerging economies.

Delivering the valedictory address at the concluding session of Bharat Innovates deep-tech pre-summit at IIT Bombay, he said the academia, industry, financial industry and youth are the key players to make the country a bigger innovation and technology force.

“Indian technology is attracting the world in digital transaction, affordable healthcare and generic medicines. The Global South will not be able to adopt the technology of the Western bloc and they want to adopt our technology,” Pradhan said, suggesting greater effort to convert technology into public purpose by bringing academia and industry together.

He said an “India-Fast” approach needs to be adopted to meet the growing economy’s needs.

“When we grow bigger, we need to meet the aspirational spending and expectation of people,” he said, adding that a balance needs to be struck between the civilizational knowledge with the young generation’s innovation.

“In the coming days we will convert Bharat Innovates into an institutional mechanism. Unless we do research, we will not grow. Waste management, biomass treatment, bio-medicine and Hydrogen are some areas which need more work to be done in research and innovation,” he said.

Pradhan said, “It is encouraging to witness the depth of innovation emerging from India’s startup ecosystem with a strong focus on technology-led development, sustainability and real-world impact. Such platforms are vital in connecting ideas with investment and enabling scalable, future-ready enterprises.”

Earlier, he interacted with 200-plus startup founders and investors at Bharat Innovates deep-tech pre-summit, an official said on Sunday.

The two-day event to showcase startups, investor interactions, and industry networking featured around 137 promising deep-tech startups selected from more than 3,000 applications received from across the country, said the official in a statement.

The Bharat Innovates initiative was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the inauguration of the India-France Year of Innovation.

A flagship programme of the Ministry of Education, it operates under the strategic guidance of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India.

Bharat Innovates 2026 unfolded across three milestones: National Basecamp: Gandhinagar and Mumbai (December 2025 and January 2026); Bharat Innovates Deep-Tech Pre-Summit: IIT Bombay, Mumbai (March 21–22, 2026) and International Innovation Showcase: Nice, France (June 14–16, 2026).

The Pre-Summit brought together 200-plus startup founders; 70-plus investors and venture capital leaders; 50-plus industry leaders, corporate partners, senior government stakeholders and innovation missions.

The Bharat Innovates Deep-Tech Pre-Summit showcased innovations across 13 critical technology domains, including Advanced Computing, Healthcare and MedTech, Space and Defence, Energy and Sustainability, Semiconductors, Biotechnology, Smart Cities and Mobility, Blue Economy, Next-Gen Communications, Agri and Food Technologies, Advanced Materials, Manufacturing & Industry 4.0, and Disaster Management.

–IANS

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