Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah on Tuesday flagged off the 28th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2025 (BTS 2025).

The theme for this year’s three-day summit is ‘Futurise’, as the BTS 2025 is expected to include a number of global leaders, policymakers, investors, tech startups, and innovators across sectors like deep tech, biotech & health tech, semiconductors, and startup innovation.

The inaugural event also saw the launch of KEO (short for Knowledge-driven, Economical, Open-source), an affordable AI-ready computer made in India.

Developed by the Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Ltd (KEONICS), this computer’s AI core has become a major talking point, as it runs AI applications locally, instead of relying on cloud services.

Developed initially for AI-ready grassroots education, the launch of KEO is part of a broader push for “accessible, locally adaptable, home-grown computing”.

ALSO READ | Karnataka to unveil KEO, India’s first AI-ready, affordable PC

Over 80 knowledge sessions and more than 5,000 curated meetings are expected to take place at the summit, set to welcome participants from all over India, as well as from 60 other countries.

The Karnataka CM was accompanied by Deputy CM D.K. Shivakumar, Large and Medium Industries Minister M.B. Patil, IT Minister Priyank Kharge, and industry leaders like Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalkrishnan.

Among the prominent foreign delegates are Nicholas Reece, Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Australia; Rafal Rosinski, Deputy Minister of Digitisation, Poland; Ilse Aigner, President of the Bavarian State Parliament, Germany; and Jan Christian Vestre, Minister of Health and Care Services, Norway.

“With the Tech Policy 2025-30, we aim to position Karnataka as India’s leading space technology hub, capturing 50 per cent of the national market and five per cent globally by 2034,” CM Siddaramaiah said at the inauguration.

More specifically, the summit will feature ten focused conference tracks including discussions on IT and deep tech, electronics and semiconductors, digital health, biotech, the India-USA Tech Conclave, and the Global Collaboration and Startup Ecosystem, a PTI report said, citing officials.

Sub-tracks include conversations on artificial intelligence, defence, space tech, ‘Finverse’, and women in leadership.