How do you view the findings of the latest report, particularly regarding areas of improvement and what has already been achieved?

We have been engaging with this report for the last two years. Whenever such a report comes out, it becomes a little benchmark for us to see how well we are performing, what needs to be improved, and where we are doing well. I look at this report more as a reflection of what we are doing right and what needs to be improved.

Over the past year, we have maintained our global ranking more or less at the same level, which is a significant achievement. In Asia, we are number two in cluster performance, which signals very well. If you look at the specific parameters contributing to this ranking, we scored nine out of ten on the performance of the overall cluster.

Secondly, in terms of R&D, we did much better than Silicon Valley regarding patents and the overall R&D ecosystem. These are areas where we have performed remarkably well on a global scale.

The report highlights some gaps as well. Where does the ecosystem need to step up?

There are two or three areas we need to further improve. One is local market access for start-ups, which we will be focusing on moving forward. The second is funding access, which we are continuously working to improve.

However, the report gave us a score of four out of ten for talent. We need to look closely at what exactly made them give such a low marking for talent, compare it with what was there last year, and focus heavily on that this year. Improving talent and local market access will be key to helping us scale up further.

Bengaluru’s software engineer salaries remain significantly lower than global standards. Is affordable talent still an advantage, or does it risk a brain drain where people relocate for better pay?

The talent is affordable, but the situation globally is changing. I just came back from Silicon Valley, and the situation is not that great there either.

Our quality talent availability in India, even though they are paid less, remains competitive to global wages—even if it is much lower than global averages. With everything we have put in place over the last few years, we have done well and will continue to do well. I do not see this causing a major problem for our ecosystem.

Other Asian hubs like Seoul, Singapore, Shenzhen, and Beijing are rising rapidly. Which cities should Bengaluru benchmark itself against?

We have already surpassed Singapore in terms of exit value. While I am not as exposed to China’s ecosystem to comment on Beijing or Shenzhen, we are definitely on track to be ahead of South Korea and Japan very soon. In fact, we recently hosted a delegation from South Korea; Japanese and Korean start-ups are increasingly looking at India because they feel we have done remarkably well.

The key takeaway from countries like South Korea is government support. The Korean government has spent a massive amount of money over the last 30 to 40 years on R&D, creating an incredible volume of technologies and patents. Our country has just started accelerating this approach recently with initiatives like the RDI (Research Development and Innovation) fund, SIDBI’s (The Small Industries Development Bank of India) ₹10,000-crore fund, and the MSME SRI (Self Reliant India) fund.

While the Korean government’s contribution has been historically massive, they lack a large domestic market. We have the markets to absorb innovation. If Korean and Indian start-ups come together, they can create a much larger shared value.

If the ecosystem progresses at this current pace, where do you expect Bengaluru to land by 2030? Is there a specific blueprint to get there?

By 2030, our aspirational goal would be to reach the top five or top six globally. If not, we will definitely be comfortably in the top 10.

As for how we get there, rigid blueprints will not work. Every country has its own unique local patterns. There is no single blueprint that can be adopted from Silicon Valley and applied directly to India or other countries. Our ecosystem is unique because it was built over a period of time on the foundation of a mature services ecosystem, which helps us immensely. Plus, we have the domestic market ready to absorb these products.

We are doing all the right things—the right policies and funding mechanisms are in place. Now, what we need is to improve upon our execution and implementation. In Karnataka, our Elevate programme has been hugely successful. Additionally, the Karnataka Accelerator Network is helping start-ups from other regional clusters gain mainstream visibility, and we have launched the K-Combinator for Mangaluru to boost local ecosystems.

If you had to choose five specific focus areas to alter or supercharge the ecosystem’s trajectory this year, what would they be?

If we have to be hyper specific, the first would be talent—focusing on the quality of talent, reskilling, and addressing the gaps identified in the report.

The second area is domestic market access, helping these young companies secure procurement and market opportunities locally and from the government.

The third is global market access. Some countries have dedicated international market access programmes; we have also started supporting start-ups to exhibit themselves at global exhibitions, and we need to improve upon those efforts.

The fourth is funding, though we are doing well there as global, local, and government funds are all actively accessible. Finally, the fifth would be the massive scale-up of AI implementation across sectors.