The State government has a big focus towards last-mile delivery/logistics/commute space, and EV (electric vehicle) adoption, Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan, who also holds the Electronics, IT and Biotechnology portfolio, said on Tuesday.
He was speaking as a panellist by participating virtually on ‘Governing goods on the move’ organised by the World Economic Forum as part of the ‘Global Technology Governance Summit 2021’. The shift to electric mobility, for instance, has become necessary now more than ever owing to the fast depletion of fossil fuels, increase in energy costs, the impact of transportation on the environment, and digital intervention. Industry, governments, and early adopters have succeeded in demonstrating that electric vehicles could deliver the practicality, sustainability, safety, and affordability characteristics expected from them, he explained.
Dr. Narayan said, “Mobile internet, automation, the internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, advanced genomics, renewable energy are some areas of innovation and technology that need to be adopted to bring about changes in ways of traditional systems of functioning.”
In addition, the government has fast-tracked the long-pending suburban train project, expanding the metro train network in Bengaluru and assisting last-mile logistics companies in their operations as they look at equipping more metro stations with rentable cycles and bikes and offer easy availability of shared 2/3/4-wheeler ride options for commuters, he said.
India being a growing economy, needs to invest in robust logistics infrastructure and efficient supply chains. To support the vision of ‘Make in India’, logistics and supply chain could be improved and made more efficient, Dr. Narayan said.
Institutions such as the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) have developed a ‘Smart Factory’ called 4.0 India@IISc. The Government of Karnataka had partnered with the World Economic Forum to launch the Centre for Internet of Ethical Things. This centre was aimed at being a sandbox for new emerging technologies and their applications and would bring together multi-stakeholders, he said.
André Andonian, Chairman, McKinsey & Company, Yoshifumi Kato, Chief Technology Officer, Denso, and Mariam Al-Foudery, Group Chief Marketing Officer, Agility, participated as panellists.
