AMN
The Cabinet on Friday approved the draft Memorandum of Understanding, MoU between the United States of America and India to enhance innovation ecosystems through an innovation handshake.
The Joint Statement released by US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June this year had welcomed focused efforts to establish an Innovation Handshake that shall connect the two sides’ dynamic startup ecosystems, address specific regulatory hurdles to cooperation, and promote innovation and job growth, particularly in critical and emerging technologies. To formalize the cooperation under the Innovation handshake and implement the guidance, a G2G MoU has been signed between India and the US on Innovation Handshake on 14th November, 2023 at San Francisco, USA. The scope of cooperation would include a series of India- U.S. Innovation Handshake events, round tables with private sector, including hackathon and Open Innovation programs, information sharing and other activities. The MoU laid the groundwork for two future Innovation Handshake events scheduled to take place in India and the United States in early 2024, which include an investment forum aimed toward helping U.S. and Indian startup companies take their innovative ideas and products to market, and a hackathon in Silicon Valley where U.S. and Indian startups will pitch ideas and technologies to help address global economic challenges. The MoU would contribute significantly towards strengthening Commercial opportunities in high tech sector.