12 Bangladeshi startups showcase at VivaTech 2024
Europe’s largest startup and technology event VivaTech is underway in Paris, the capital of France. 12 start-ups from Bangladesh are participating in this event for the first time with various emerging technologies. The country’s leading tech and software company, Riseup Labs Brain Station 23, BJIT Limited and Astha IT along with emerging Bangladeshi startup Compnigelo are carrying the country’s flag in this four-day event. Along with AI, Web 3.0, Cyber Security, Automation and various breakthrough innovation exhibitions, investors also participated in this conference.
Techtycoon Elon Musk, Google’s co-founder Eric Smith, Amazon CTO Warren Vogels, Mater Chief AI Scientist Ian Likun, Shopify President Harley Finkestein joined this event by Bangladesh’s State Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Zunaid Ahmed Palak.
In an interview with Vivatech News reporter, Luke Brown on the second day of the event, State Minister Zunaid Ahmed Palak highlighted the contribution of startups in creating new jobs in the country’s ICT sector. He said that under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the right direction of Prime Minister’s ICT Advisor Sajib Wazed Joy, the startup ecosystem has developed in Bangladesh in a very short time. Bangladesh has about two and a half thousand startups, which have created 1.5 million (15 lakh) job opportunities in the ICT sector. At the same time Bangladeshi start-ups are solving local problems with their innovative ideas. We aim to engage our startups with various frontier technologies including AI, quantum computing, microchip design and cyber security.
In response to a question from Luke Brown, the Minister of State further said that we have been able to provide internet access to 130 million users in the last 15 years. Export earnings in the ICT sector increased from $26 million to $2 billion. Currently there are around 7 lakh active IT freelancers in Bangladesh, who are working on various online platforms. About 2,500 government services in the country have been digitized and 52,000 websites have been created.
He said that computer labs and schools of future with modern technology have been established in schools and colleges of Bangladesh. Where the youth of the country are being trained and turned into skilled human resources. Based on this success, we are moving towards the implementation of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ‘Vision 2041: Smart Bangladesh’.
