Locally-built drone is highlight of Belagavi tech summit

A locally-built drone was the highlight of the fifth edition of the annual tech summit of Belagavi Technology Companies Association (BeTCA), which was held in Belagavi on September 19.Several companies showcased their products, made pitches for investment and collaboration, and delegates listened to stories of successful entrepreneurs. There were eight product launches, and an exhibition by home-grown technology companies, at the premises of the Foundry Cluster, built around this year’s theme of ‘Engineering the Future – AI. DeepTech. Security’.The event brought together technology companies, entrepreneurs, engineers, founders, professionals, and technology enthusiasts. The stalls showcased locally developed technologies and products across areas, including artificial intelligence, DeepTech, cybersecurity, aerospace, defence, embedded systems, healthcare, and engineering technology.The highlight of the event was the unveiling of Shaurya MAK IV, a locally-built drone that is being tested by the Indian defence forces.Rahul Patil, the 30-year-old engineer behind the drone, had just flown back from the testing ground of the Indian army. He was very enthusiastic about his product, and said the defence officers were very supportive and encouraging.Deepak Shapeti, a Stanford University graduate from Dharwad who founded Morphing Machines, a tech company that makes semiconductors, delivered the keynote address. He proudly displayed a petri dish that contained a newly-minted micro chip. “It is among the first indigenously built chips. Our company is raising the third round of capital,” he said.“You have the potential to build industry in Belagavi just as Taiwan built its industrial ecosystem. We all need to realise that you don’t have to leave Belagavi to build something remarkable. We need to be goaded by our passion and zeal to stay back and demonstrate,’’ he told local entrepreneurs. He shared his entrepreneurial journey and spoke about the importance of curiosity, having a broad perspective, taking risks, and not being afraid of failure.Another highlight was the Memorandum of Understanding between BeTCA and the Goa Technology Association (GTA).“The MoU is aimed at strengthening collaboration between the technology ecosystems of Belagavi and Goa. The agreement provides a framework for co-operation in innovation, entrepreneurship, start-up development, technology adoption, skill development, knowledge sharing, and industry collaboration,” entrepreneur R. K. Patil said.Mr. Patil and GTA founder Mangirish Salelkar signed and exchanged the papers.The Tech Meet featured a panel discussion titled ‘Beyond the Firewall: How Modern Cyber Attacks Are Detected, Traced and Stopped’. The panel included Saleem Landur, co-founder of a digital forensics company; Hitesh Dharmdasani, founder and CEO of NetSense CyberSecurity; and Swapneel Patnekar, cyber-threat intelligence professional.Murali Srinivasa, founder and CEO of LionCircuits; Deepak Shapeti; Uma Bondada; and Tulasidas Salunkhe spoke at another panel discussion on ‘From Ideas to Products’.Content creators Mehmood Athani, Swathi Gururaj Kulkarni, and Ian Nazareth, founder of The Foundry Podcast, spoke at ‘Building Belagavi: The Startup Story’. Mili Mishra, co-founder of Bumshum, moderated the session .Aadil Bandukwala, the host of the show, said that the BeTCA community was growing year on year. “We have around 90 members with 50 companies who employ around 800 persons in tech related industries. They are working in areas like DeepTech, embedded systems, SaaS, cybersecurity, defence technology, 3D technology, and artificial intelligence. Our jobs initiative has recorded around 143 job postings, with approximately 30 job offers made and around 20 positions accepted,’’ he said.The product launches included several tech tools. GroEDGE, by Rushikesh Burse, showcased an AI-powered patient acquisition MIMO360 by ZeuronAI, presented by Siddharth Nair and Akash Gadgade, is a connected healthcare platform Samhita Engineering presented its Product Engineering Suite (PES) through Sandeep Patil Conqer AI, presented by Rahul Hukkerikar and Rachana, enables businesses to create websites, generate marketing posters and captions, and automate social media postings FIXIDU, presented by Harshit Reddy and team, is an online aggregator connecting customers with handyman services Sora Labs, presented by Roshan Patil, showcased AI agents designed to connect conversations helping businesses Reputes, presented by Supreet Dixit, launched Zen Voice, an AI-powered CRM suite