Oct 08: The German Indian Innovation Corridor - GIIC brought together 300 leaders from business, government, research and investment under the theme of AI for Industries. The one-day summit opened with a vision for 2035, in which Europe and India create a global axis for innovation, growth and geopolitical stability, presented by Jan Lachenmayer and Upen Barve, Chair and Vice-Chair of the GIIC Executive Board.
Trust is the common currency for an innovation corridor that makes projects and programmes possible across shared value chains - we connect innovators, visionaries and doers on both sides to drive them forward and scale them.— Upen Barve, The Fusionist & Vice-Chair of the Executive Board, GIIC
Major Announcements at German Indian Innovation Summit 2026
India Desk Germany
GIIC reported on the first successes with India Desk Germany, delivered jointly with Berlin Partner for Business and Technology and NLND, giving Indian startups and companies a permanent access point into the European market through Berlin. Dr Stefan Franzke, Martin Eyerer and Siddharth Bhasin spoke of the partnership and its first successes on stage.
Close cooperation between India and Germany holds enormous potential for innovation and economic growth. With India Desk Germany, we're creating direct access to Berlin's innovation ecosystem and supporting Indian companies and start-ups as they expand into Europe. This covers future industries such as artificial intelligence, deep tech, mobility, aerospace and life sciences.
Berlin stands for international connectivity and technological excellence - exactly the strengths we bring to grow the German-Indian innovation corridor further.— Dr Stefan Franzke, Managing Director, Berlin Partner for Business and Technology
NASSCOM and GIIC Partnership
Following the NASSCOM Business Forum with Shivendra Singh, Jan Lachenmayer and Upen Barve and NASSCOM announced a partnership to connect German companies with India's Global Capability Centre model - the setup SAP, Siemens and Bosch already
use to run enterprise IT and R&D operations in India - and held an invite-only German business roundtable at GIIC. NASSCOM represents India's $283bn IT and software services industry and over 3,000 member companies.
GIZ GIIC Innovation Challenge, Gurugram
Elisabeth von Ritter announced the GIZ GIIC Innovation Challenge, a public-private initiative tackling public urban mobility in Gurugram, India, with a focus on environment, efficiency, and female inclusion and safety.
A Full Day on AI for Industries
Through the day, the summit ran parallel tracks on AI for manufacturing, mobility, aerospace and defence innovation, and health innovation including cardiovascular AI - alongside sessions on geopolitical risk, the investment landscape between Germany and India, and German and Indian deep tech startup pitches.
Speakers included Harish Salve (Senior Advocate and Chairperson of the Board of Governors, IIT Delhi), Pankaj Vyas (CEO and Managing Director, Siemens Technology and Services), Sunil Kakkar (Senior Executive Director,Maruti Suzuki) and Norbert Jung (CEO, Bosch Connected Industry), among others. The day closed with keynotes from Gero Dimter (Vice President, Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz) and Aidyn Kussainov (Founder and CEO, nx10).
We didn't just talk about scaling - we showed, through real-world examples, how it can be achieved. The India Desk Germany is an enabler for that, and the summit is a meeting place to find the right allies and build trust. It's not just about trading more with each other - it's especially about developing more together, to enable shared value creation.— Jan Lachenmayer, Chair of the Executive Board, GIIC
