Innovation, tech to be focus of PM Modis's Silicon Valley visit

New York: Innovation, entrepreneurship, technology and renewable energy would be the focus of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Silicon Valley over the weekend where he will meet CEOs of top American companies like Apple, Microsoft, Google and Tesla.

On the first day of his arrival in Silicon Valley on September 26, Modi would visit the campus of iconic Tesla where he would be welcomed by its CEO Elon Musk. Modi would have a look at some of their path breaking inventions, particularly in the renewable energy sector.

"One of the important interests in Tesla is in battery technology because it has implications on in terms of storage and renewable energy," Indian Ambassador Arun K Singh said.

Later, Modi would have one-on-one meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Modi would also be having dinner with top CEOs of the Silicon Valley companies, considered to be pioneers in digital economy.

Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Sunder Pichai of Google, John Chamber of Cisco, Paul Jacobs executive chairman of Qualcomm and Santanu Narayan of Adobe would make presentations on digital technology.

The focus of their presentations is expected to be what digital economy means for India, what the opportunities for India US collaboration are and what plans they have for India.

Thereafter, Modi is expected to discuss his vision for policy on 'Digital India'.

"Visiting Silicon Valley a number of times, I got a clear sense that the role and participation of Indian origin tech entrepreneurs in that area is extremely significant in terms of main stream cutting edge technology and the efforts going on there," Singh said in response to a question.

Today more than 15 per cent of startups in Silicon Valley are attributed to Indian origin tech entrepreneurs.

"This is an additional dimension to the potential of co-operation between India and the United States," he said.

Given his deep interest in renewable energy, the US Department of Commerce in association with the Precourt Institute of Energy of the Stanford University, has hosted an event on this topic.

It would bring on one platform thought leaders, those from industry, startups and venture capital, looking at "how do we deal with renewable energy and use it to meet India's needs and requirements," the Indian diplomat said.

Before the round table, Modi will meet US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.

Another significant event for Modi is expected to be on startups.