CM to Open 3-day Huddle Global Startup Fest at Kovalam on Nov 28

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will inaugurate Huddle Global 2024, the country’s flagship startup festival organized by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), at Kovalam here on November 28.

Prior to the inaugural session,Pinarayi Vijayan will interact with founders of startups and investors attending the event.

The three-day event at Hotel Leela Raviz, Kovalam, packed with deliberations, presentations and engaging conversations, is aimed at imparting greater scale and speed to Kerala’s fast-growing startup ecosystem, besides showcasing the eventful journey of the ecosystem.

Cutting-edge solutions from Deeptech and R&D startups will be the spotlight of the expo at the event, which will have engaging conversations touching upon a wide spectrum of topics ranging from leveraging new technologies to attracting funds and mentorship for the ecosystem to make further strides, KSUM CEO Anoop Ambika told at a press conference here today.

Three roundtables focusing on agriculture, space-defence and industry sectors will be held on the sidelines of Huddle Global 2024.

Minister for Law, Industries and Coir P. Rajeeve will lead the roundtable on industry and speak about the services for industry and corporate who want to set up business in Kerala.

Minister for Finance K N Balagopal will lead a roundtable with investors, fund-of-fund programme beneficiaries and other stakeholders on November 30.

In the visionary talk segment, Minister for Higher Education and Social Justice Dr R Bindu will speak on education and nurturing deeptech talent.

Sarada Muraleedharan, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Kerala; Dr Rathan U Kelkar, Secretary, Electronics & IT, Govt. of Kerala; S D Shibulal, Co-founder, Infosys & Vice Chairman, High Power IT Committee, Govt. of Kerala, and Shaji K V, Chairman, NABARD, will be among the key dignitaries at the inaugural session.

Discussions will be held on setting up a Defence Innovation Zone in the capital city under the aegis of KSUM on the sidelines of the conclave. The strategic report on the Emerging Technology Hub that focuses on five sectors such as food & agriculture, space, digital media &entertainment, healthcare & life sciences and renewable energy will be unveiled at the event.

Around 300 women entrepreneurs will attend the event which will feature an exclusive Women Zone to support women-led startups.

Now into its sixth edition, the annual event will set the stage for the state’s robust startup ecosystem to leverage immense opportunities, including raising funds, scaling up business and buttressing the global connect.

The expo, styled The Emerging Tech and Deep Tech Zone, is conceived as a hub for startups to present their advanced solutions and engage in interactive demonstrations before major stakeholders from across the world converging at the flagship event.

The Deeptech Zone at the event will host a variety of events, including knowledge sessions, Deeptech Startup Expo, and Deeptech Student Innovations initiative.

The Emerging Technology Zone at the conclave will highlight advancements across five focus areas: Energy, Healthcare, Digital Media & Entertainment, Food & Agriculture, and Space.

The conclave will feature a wide range of speakers from different domains including industry leaders, sectoral experts, innovators, mentors, fund providers and public speakers, drawn from around the world.

Leading SaaS provider Zoho Corporation’s Founder & CEO Mr Sridhar Vembu will be among an impressive line-up of speakers, including historian and writer William Dalrymple; ISRO Chairman Dr. S. Somanath and KSIDC Managing Director Mr S Harikishore.

Participants will also engage in a roundtable discussion aimed at fostering collaboration among R&D institutions, industry leaders, and startups in the space tech sector. The deliberations will cover a range of live topics such as Autonomous Vehicles, Green Hydrogen, and Quantum Technologies in various sessions.

Erik af Hällström, Consul General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finland; Jonas Brunschwig, Consul General, Switzerland; Richard McCallum Group CEO UK – India Business Council; Silai Zaki, Consul General, Australia, and Jorge Loyola Castro, Trade Commissioner to India, ProChile, will converge for the panel session on ‘Scaling Globally-The Country Perspective’ on the inaugural day.

Besides, a session on ‘Economic Diversification through Port-Driven Industrial Clusters: The Vizhinjam Potential’ will also be held with the panelists being Dr Divya S Iyer, MD, Vizhinjam International Seaport; Pradeep Jayaraman, CEO, Adani Vizhinjam Port; and Anil Raj, Managing Director, Systrome Technologies. Dr. Jayasankar Prasad C, Director, DCSMAT Institutions, Kerala, will be the moderator.

The opening day will also feature tech talks on ‘Green Hydrogen – Fuelling the Future with clean energy in a AI Era’ by Mr K R Jyothilal, Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of Kerala; ‘Kerala Genomic Data Centre – An Overview’ by Mr Sam Santhosh Founder & Chairman, SciGenom Labs; ‘Graphene: Unlocking the Future of Technology and Industry’ by Dr. Alex James, Dean of External Linkage and Projects Digital University Kerala; and ‘Green Open Access Registry’ by Dr. P V Unnikrishnan, Member Secretary, K-DISC.

An exclusive app has been launched for the event to facilitate smooth and seamless networking among entrepreneurs, mentors, investors and other participants of the Huddle Global.

Indian Council of Agricultural Research– Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (ICAR_CTCRI) , ‘National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT), Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT), Kerala Space Park (K-Space), Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), ‘ National Transportation Planning and Research Centre (KSCSTE – NATPAC), ICAR – Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (CIFT), ‘ Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) and Institute of Advanced Virology are also joined as ecosystem partners, further enriching the event’s collaborative spirit.

Ashok Panjikaran, Senior Manager, KSUM; and Ashitha, Assistant Manager, PR & Media, KSUM, were also present at the press conference.

Turning Kerala into a global technology hub, with a strong startup ecosystem serving as a source for a wide range of products and services powered by new technologies, is the prime goal of Huddle Global 2024.

KSUM, the nodal agency of the Kerala Government for entrepreneurship development and incubation activities in the state, has been organising ‘Huddle Kerala’ since 2018.