Karnataka has signed eight agreements with five partner countries - US, UK, Finland, Netherlands and Sweden - at the Bengaluru Tech Summit to collaborate in skilling, ecosystem connects, life science and biotechnology, healthcare, aerospace and defence, education, sports economy, automotive and R&D.

"The state government has signed the agreements with partners in Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, UK and US as part of the Global Innovation Alliances (GIA) track," Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister C.N. Ashwath Narayan told reporters on the second day of the tech summit here.

The first agreement between the state's Centre of Excellence (CoE) of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Business Finland will focus on bi-lateral market access for start-ups, joint research programmes for societal good and mutual student and faculty exchange programme.

"The agreement will create awareness in AI and bring the power of AI in agriculture, transport, health, safety, governance and service delivery," said Narayan on the occasion.

The second pact between the state's CoE for Internet of Things (IoT) and Swedish Incubators and Science Parks will focus on market access to facilitate growth of start-ups and build industry connects.

The pact will also facilitate innovative applications and domain capability across sectors, including smart city, smart health, smart manufacturing and smart agriculture.

It will also create environment for product creation, testing and validation.

The third agreement between the state's Semiconductor Fabless Accelerator Lab and the US-based Applied Material Inc will focus on incubation and mentoring.

The agreement will facilitate infrastructural support, incubate early-stage start-ups, accelerate the fabless SMEs to encourage domestic innovation and create more jobs in the Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector.

The fourth agreement between the state's CoE of Data Science & AI and the UK Deputy High Commission will provide incubation and mentoring to create citizen centric AI solutions by start-ups in public service, education, water, energy and last-mile delivery.

The fifth agreement between the Karnataka Innovation Technology Society (KITS) and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation in the US will focus on automotive, including electric, connected and autonomous transportation.

The pact will also cover life sciences and biotechnology information, communications technologies, sports economy and educational cooperation.

The sixth agreement between KITS and the US-based Fairfax County Economic Development Authority in Virginia state will focus on biotechnology and healthcare and aerospace and defence.

The pact will attract and retain investment for identified sectors, cover skilling for state students in collaboration with institutions in the County, application of drone technology for agriculture, surveillance for military and medical assistance, setting up of an incubation centre in the County for providing Karnataka start-ups mentorship and market access in the US.

The seventh agreement between the state's CoE for cybersecurity and Hague Security Delta in the Netherlands will focus on market access for start-ups with joint workshops, seminars and skill upgradation programmes to build relevant skillsets of students and local professionals.

The eighth pact between KITS and Hague Business Agency will focus on the GIA market access to start-ups by providing assistance for sound business model and value proposition.

The tie-up will facilitate creation of India's first sector agnostic international market access programme, with focus on multiple cities/countries.

It will also assist 10 Karnataka start-ups to enter international markets and provide exposure to start-ups from cities beyond Bengaluru.

(IANS)