Ratan Tata delivers a deeply poignant and timeless message in his closing keynote

KEY STORY

Closing keynote at TechSparks 2020 by Ratan Tata, Chairman, Tata Trusts: Full message

• It is a privilege to have this opportunity to express both hope and credit for what is happening in the tech world in India.

• We have the largest startup population in the country, and in the world, actually. And we need to recognize that this element, this segment needs, on the one hand, self-contained creativity and innovation, but on the other hand, guidance based on the changing needs of the country as it grows.

• So, as we stand today, we have witnessed a set of speakers who have talked about the opportunities, the challenges, the dangers and the advent of failures, which inevitably also accompanies success.

• And we have before us, a mix of the good and bad, the excellent and the not-so-good, the hopeful but unsuccessful.

• And we mesh it into a salad, if you might, of young, credit-worthy entrepreneurs who have by their creativity, made successes of themselves, or are going to be successful.

•  The needs of the country are going to differ and change, and the creativity needs to adapt itself to meet those needs in the way no other segment can.

• We have to realise that we have a greater need for humanitarian challenges, healthcare, deliveries.

• We have great challenges before us on clean technology and green-based articulation of the challenges that are before us. We also have an issue of hunger and shortages; food is going to continue to be an issue that will have to meet the needs of the people.

• We have technologies relating to agriculture, while on the other hand, we have advanced electronics and space-age technologies, travelling around the gamut of the earth that we know today. So, it’s a very mixed and complex set of innovations, some very small but very successful, others big, calling for large amounts of capital.

• To put it all together, we must ask ourselves, can we make a difference? Can we be innovative and creative? And not just after the money value of what we’ve done, but the contribution it has made to our humanity, our human population in India. So, we should be humble, at the same time, attentive to the needs, looking for opportunities.

• And once again, I think TechSparks is an excellent way to voice this creativity to challenge and also register and recognise what has happened.

CONCLUSION

• I wish this group great success, and this success will only be measured in what one does for the country or for the universe. So, with it will go a lot of recognition to the young, creative entrepreneurial workforce, while at the same time demanding recognition on a global basis to young people – where age doesn’t matter, where creativity and innovation is the call of the day.

• All of you have a great world before you and great opportunities. Many of you are going to be tremendously successful and it’s a pleasure to be with you today.

• All the best, and we look forward to this being the most dynamic segment of India’s future.

• Let’s make it dynamic and make a difference at the same time. When we are not doing it for ourselves, we are doing it for the enjoyment of doing something that hasn’t been done before, but more importantly, meeting the needs of the country or the planet as such.

Thank you again for the excitement that you collectively provided me, and I wish you again, all success.