Starting December 1st of last year, India took over the G20 Presidency from Indonesia.
The only new group to be added this year under India’s 2023 G20 Presidency was the Startup20.
I had a chance to catch up with Dr. Chintan Vaishnav, who serves as Chairperson of Startup20 India and is also the Mission Director for Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).
“For the first time, the G20’s framework has become ambidextrous in the sense that it now encompasses both large corporations and startups,” says Dr. Vaishnav with a clear and inspiring vision for creating positive change in the country and society.
Startup20 held its inception meeting in Hyderabad on 28 and 29 January this year. Around 200 plus delegates from 25 countries participated in this meeting. “It was fascinating to see the diversity that existed in the forum,” Dr. Vaishnav says.
The overarching idea of Startup20 is to help G20 nations articulate recommendations for the startup ecosystem of their respective countries and work together.
The Startup20 agenda
By serving as the voice of the worldwide startup ecosystem, the Startup20 engagement group aims to unite diverse stakeholders on a shared platform. It is also working on developing a communication system that establishes a universally recognized definition of the term “startup,” as well as other industry-related terminology.
At the heart of Startup20 are three dynamic task forces or pillars, viz. Foundation & Alliances, Finance, and Sustainability & Inclusion.
The Foundation & Alliances task force serves as the platform’s backbone, driving consistency and cooperation across all G20 countries. Standardising definitions and terminologies used in the startup world and establishing institutional mechanisms to facilitate alliances between startup ecosystems lays the foundation for a truly global startup community.
“We want to harmonise this and agree to the differences. Using this, we want to create a mechanism where alliances between the different parts of the ecosystem like incubators, governments, investors, etc., becomes easier,” Dr. Vaishnav says.
The Finance task force will focus on financing and enabling startups to have access to capital. The objective is to propose and create pioneering funding models while linking startups with investors worldwide to facilitate the seamless flow of capital across various sectors.
The Sustainability & Inclusion task force is dedicated to harnessing the potential of startups in achieving sustainable development goals and advancing inclusivity.
“This has two dimensions. One, we can identify and promote those startups that make the world radically more inclusive and sustainable. For instance, the sustainable development goals. The second dimension is that can we build these ecosystems that are inclusive in themselves that will include women, people with disability, grassroot innovators, etc. This is what we decided to work on together,” Dr. Vaishnav says.
How can large corporates and startups collaborate successfully?
Dr. Vaishnav is quick to point out that big corporations, who adopted the mindset and agility of startups, innovated rapidly.
He illustrates this with an example of the power couple —BioNTech, the German biotech startup firm and pharma giant Pfizer—who partnered together to co-develop and distribute vaccine for Covid-19.
“BioNtech is a quintessential European startup tale. This is precisely what we need to leverage across the globe — the agility of a startup and the scale and stability of a large enterprise,” Dr. Vaishnav says.
On Atal Innovation Mission’s (AIM) next phase:
Dr. Vaishnav: Having aggregated the startup ecosystem, there is a realisation that one of the key differentiators that Indian startups are uniquely bringing to the global stage is that they are able to solve similar problems in an affordable manner. Nobody told them to do so.
There are some things that we have done at AIM that could be of value to other nations.
For example, last year we launched an initiative called the Vernacular Innovation Program (VIP). The purpose of this initiative was to lower the language barrier in the startup ecosystem. In India, according to the last census, around 11-12 % of Indians speak English. Now creativity has nothing to do with English. How does one create an ecosystem where people can learn modern subjects like design thinking, entrepreneurship, etc., in the language of their choice? How can they connect with markets, investors, and governments? This program could be useful in many parts of the world.
How can one distinguish between the constant influx of new technologies, each offering its own potential to transform the business world, and focusing on identifying what is truly essential at present? I asked Dr. Vaishnav for insights into this matter.
“There is no set answer to this question. However, I feel that one filter that can be used is to focus on areas of well-being or the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are issues that are relevant to the whole world. The use of technology and innovations in these areas should always take high priority. We can de-proritise entertainment or gaming, but food, shelter, and medicine should always be a ‘high priority.’ This is my personal lens,” Dr. Vaishnav says.
A final question on where we are lacking in terms of input and output?
“We are not taking enough bets on R&D projects that require a higher gestation period, and more patient capital. We have people who are coming up with these ideas but if we don’t do anything about them, they will find other economies to find support.
