Karnataka & VivaTech: Europe-India Startup Corridor

Bengaluru, Feb 19 (PTI) The Karnataka government on Thursday signed a LoI with VivaTech, Europe's leading startup and innovation event, to create a structured Europe-India startup and innovation corridor anchored by the Bengaluru Tech Summit, officials said.

The Letter of Intent (LoI) was signed by the state government's Department of Electronics, IT/BT and Science & Technology on the sidelines of the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, they said.

According to an official statement, the partnership reflects the mutual intent of BTS (Bengaluru Tech Summit) and VivaTech to strengthen innovation ecosystems and foster cross-border collaboration among startups, corporates, investors and public stakeholders across India, France and Europe.

The LoI will serve as a framework for structured engagement and future programmatic cooperation with a clear focus on expanding global market access, investor connections and enterprise partnerships for Karnataka's startup ecosystem, it said.


The statement further said that as part of the proposed areas of collaboration, the two sides will work together on: Startup and delegation exchange, Joint thematic programming, Corporate and investor connect platforms.

Ecosystem promotion and branding, long-term partnership development are among the other areas of collaboration, officials added.

Speaking on the occasion in New Delhi, IT Minister Priyank Kharge, said: "This is a progressive step for both our ecosystems. I have seen VivaTech firsthand - the scale of disruption and innovation there is truly remarkable. It is a powerful platform for our startups to gain access to the French and wider European markets."

According to him, this collaboration will help forge a long-term technology partnership between France and Bengaluru, especially in the backdrop of the India-France Year of Innovation 2026.

"By anchoring this engagement through the Bengaluru Tech Summit, we are building a strong Europe-India innovation bridge that enables our founders to think bigger, scale faster and compete globally in AI, deep-tech and emerging technologies," he added.