A natural tech partnership for the New Year

A new report tracks the opportunities for future technology collaborations between India and the UK to strengthen links in the areas of Smart Cities, Digital Healthcare and Advanced Manufacturing. Today 30 per cent of India's population resides in urban centres, with these centres contributing around 65 per cent of India's GDP. It is projected that urban India will contribute about 75 per cent of the national GDP in the next 15-20 years, while the number of people residing in urban centres doubles to 600 million. A new report by Confederation of India Industry (CII) and Deloitte titled 'India-UK Technology Collaborations' highlights this speed of urbanisation will exert immense pressure on urban infrastructure, resources, and quality of urban life. While some new Greenfield cities may be contemplated for accommodating this significant urbanisation trend, most of this expansion will have to be accommodated within the existing urban centres. Smart Cities

In order to manage this high level of urbanisation, it is imperative for the Indian government to explore smart living concepts leveraging information, communication and technology and examine practices that other countries facing similar urbanisation challenges have adopted. The Smart Cities Mission Programme, covering 100 cities has been conceptualised to this end. While the government's outlay of Rs 500 billion (£5.5bn) to be spend on 100 cities over the next five years to transform and rejuvenate these cities may not be enough, it is a beginning made to an ongoing journey to be sustained by citizen expectations and aspirations. As these cities embark on their journey to become smart cities, there will be significant opportunities for domestic and international organisations to participate through providing their products, services, solutions to improve quality of life of Indian citizens adopting innovative technology, financing, business and operating models. The UK and India have come together to work on three smart cities in India. Of the three cities, two cities are in the state of Maharashtra (Pune and Amravati) and the third is in the state of Madhya Pradesh (Indore). Based on Deloitte's analysis of the smart city features listed in the smart city proposals of the top 20 cities, smart solutions using innovative technologies in urban mobility, citizen safety & security and intelligent governance services emerge as key citizen needs. The report found that collaboration between India and UK can help resolve challenges and provide innovative technological solutions for smart cities. During Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to UK in 2015, key MoUs were signed between India and UK in the energy, nuclear energy, public administration and governance reforms which could enable collaborations between India and UK for smart city development.

Significant opportunities exist in sharing of knowledge on smart & sustainable cities between India and the UK. The smart cities programme in India creates ample opportunities for UK organisations to showcase solutions that can be implemented using innovative business and operating models.-Anindya Mallick, Partner, Deloitte India

• It will lead to the creation of jobs for 2,500 nurses and 500 doctors
• It is the first of a proposed 11 new UK-Indo Institutes for Health that will be developed across India, which, when fully implemented, would amount to a £1-billion investment into India's healthcare system, accompanied by strategic clinical and training partnerships with UK's leading NHS organisations, universities and private sector companies.
• A bilateral India/UK taskforce involving government representatives will help drive forward delivery of the proposed 11 UK-Indo Institutes for Health, and foster greater collaboration in other areas of this sector.