Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates has lauded India’s expanding influence in global innovation, citing the country’s achievements in vaccines, digital infrastructure, and artificial intelligence.
In a recent conversation with Times Now, Gates praised India’s digital public infrastructure (DPI), calling it a model replicated globally.
He stated, “Well even in my Microsoft days I got to see the depth of talent here. Now Microsoft has so many great people from India including Satya Nadella who’s doing a fantastic job and so you know when I started the foundation, I knew that in terms of improving children’s lives, India would be a place we’d want to be active in partnership with the government and that innovative spirit and it spread way beyond. Everybody knows DPI, which is amazing, and many countries are now adopting it. Vaccines are also well-known, but India’s impact is now expanding far beyond – to agriculture, artificial intelligence, and diagnostics. Particularly since the pandemic, I would say there has been an acceleration.”
“The financing for entrepreneurs here has been very strong. Some of them are building on that DPI infrastructure. The ones that are successful are setting a good example of starting their philanthropy at a pretty young age and so it’s exciting to come here and see not only effective innovations but that are done in such a clever way that the cost can be very low,” Gates asserted.
Foundation’s Role In Vaccine Development
The Gates Foundation has played an active role in India, especially in vaccine development and health innovation.
Bill Gates noted, “The partnerships we built here both in delivering things like new vaccines but also inventing things. The majority of all the world’s low-cost vaccines are made by key foundation partners who we’ve worked with, and you know that’s not only saved millions of lives in India, it saved millions of lives in other countries as well.”
Responding to concerns that vaccine makers conduct trials in India, Gates emphasized the country’s strong safety protocols and regulatory standards.
“Well, it is all about innovation. There is nobody who is more careful about making sure these vaccines are super safe, and the Indian government has a great regulator that helps guide us on all these things,” he clarified.
AI To Transform Key Sectors
Outlining AI’s future role, Gates pointed to three critical sectors in India: agriculture, healthcare, and education.
He explained, “It will serve three major purposes. One is for farmers. I think with the kind of weather prediction that AI can provide and you know taking all the pricing information, the soil information, you know presenting the various government credit programs. Even a farmer with a very small piece of land should be able to get fantastic advice and so that they will be far more productive even in areas like avoiding pests. A year ago, I saw in Odisha an early system that was already providing benefits there. So, using AI to help that farmer.”
“Next is AI for health care delivery. If a pregnant woman has any questions about what the doctor told them or what best practices are, they should be able to talk to the AI in their local dialect either typing or voice. And then finally AI for the student, like the world’s best tutor that is always motivating them and available 24 hours a day. So those are the three that we are going to try and advance quickly with partners here,” Gates remarked.
Support For India’s 2047 Vision
Bill Gates commended India’s development roadmap, particularly its 2047 vision.
“The vision of getting India to be a fully developed country by 2047 is very impressive, and the fact that not only at the federal level but at the state level. They’re each looking at how do they drive that economic growth,” he noted.
On global issues, Gates expressed concern over how conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are affecting international aid.
“We’ve got unrest in the Middle East. We have got the war in Ukraine, and sadly that’s diverting a lot of resources that should be going into the health issues to help Africa. It’s diverting huge resources away from the aid or debt relief that I’d like to see. Despite that, because of the innovation all over the world, I’m still very optimistic,” he remarked.
As India accelerates progress in sectors like tech, healthcare, and space, Gates reiterated his foundation’s commitment to supporting Indian-led innovations for global good.
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