Minister Bains visits India's "Silicon Valley" - Tours quantum computing research centre and technology companies

BENGALURU, India, Nov. 9, 2016 /CNW/ - Bengaluru (Bangalore) has been a centre of human history since 4,000 BCE. Today, it is the epicentre of India's 21st­-century information and communications technology industry-the country's own version of Silicon Valley. In both Canada and India, technological advances and innovation hold the key to creating well­-paying middle­­­­-class jobs.

The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, was in Bengaluru to build on the partnership between Canada and India on innovation. This trade mission raises Canada's profile as a destination for foreign investment and a source of cutting-edge research and development.

Minister Bains toured the prestigious Raman Research Institute, a partner of the University of Waterloo. Minister Bains spoke about collaboration between Canada and India on research into quantum computing, which uses the laws of quantum mechanics to process vast amounts of information simultaneously. Quantum computing is most applicable to computer encryption and security.

The Minister visited Bengaluru-based Wipro Ltd., an information technology services company, where he met Azim Premji, the firm's chairman. Wipro has a Canadian connection through Calgary's ATCO Group, an energy and construction company. In 2014, Wipro signed its biggest-ever deal—worth more than $1.1 billion over 10 years—with ATCO Group.

Minister Bains also met A.S. Kiran Kumar, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization. During the meeting, the Minister promoted the Canadian Space Agency and spoke about opportunities for cooperation in the aerospace sector.

Quote

"Bengaluru and Kitchener–Waterloo are leading centres of technology research and are economic drivers of prosperity and growth for the middle class in their respective countries. The partnership between the knowledge institutions from these two cities will drive advances in quantum computing. This field of computing has the potential to completely transform the scale, speed and complexity of what even the most powerful computers today can do. And it has the potential to upend everything we know about the science of computing. The partnership between the Raman Research Institute and the University of Waterloo could even plant the seeds for the next great companies to come from our two countries. Canada stands ready to be a world leader in the potentially transformative field of quantum computing."

– The Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development

Quick facts

• Founded in 1948 by Indian physicist and Nobel laureate C.V. Raman, the Raman Research Institute conducts research into astrophysics, the physics of light and matter, theoretical physics and more.
• Wipro employs more than 170,000 workers and was voted one of the most ethical companies in the world for five years straight by the Ethisphere Institute. 

Associated link

• Canada's Innovation Agenda

Follow Minister Bains on social media.
Twitter: @MinisterISED

SOURCE Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

Philip Proulx, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, 343-291-2500; Media Relations, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, 343-291-1777, [email protected]