From Opinions Desk

The National Technology Day was observed on 11th of May. Today, when the country faces a unique sitution of forging ahead despite challenges, technology is at the forefront of meeting challeges. On this occasion, following leaders sent their comments –

“This National Technology Day, what stands out is how healthcare is slowly becoming more connected to everyday life rather than confined to occasional checkups. For a long time, care has depended on moments, a visit, a test, a report, often missing what happens in between. Technology is now beginning to close that gap by making it possible to follow health more continuously, not just occasionally. This shift matters because the right insight at the right time can often change outcomes in a meaningful way. At proRITHM, we are working toward making this kind of understanding more accessible, where data can quietly guide better decisions in everyday life. It is a step toward healthcare that feels more connected, more aware, and more in tune with how people actually live, which is what makes this progress truly meaningful on National Technology Day.”

— Vamsi Karatam, Founder & CEO, proRITHM

“The conversation around responsible innovation must extend beyond urban centres. Today, technology in India is increasingly shaping how people access education, healthcare, public services, mobility, and safety, not just in metros but across Tier-2, Tier-3, and emerging regions as well. Digital infrastructure is steadily helping bridge long-standing gaps in access, efficiency, and connectivity, bringing critical services closer to communities that were previously left out of mainstream technological progress.

In fact, AI alone is expected to contribute nearly USD 500-600 billion to India’s GDP by 2030, while digital public infrastructure models are already helping expand access to essential services at scale. At the same time, this pace of transformation brings a responsibility to ensure that technology remains secure, accessible, and built for long-term resilience.

India needs technology that simplifies complexity, strengthens infrastructure and solves real challenges at scale. Whether it is intelligent traffic systems improving emergency response times, integrated command centres strengthening urban safety, or AI-enabled infrastructure helping authorities make faster and more informed decisions, technology must ultimately improve how people experience cities and public systems in their daily lives.

At Secutech, we have seen this shift first-hand across government infrastructure, smart mobility and integrated security deployments. The next phase of India’s digital transformation will depend on how effectively AI, IoT, and automation are embedded into core infrastructure in a way that is ethical, resilient and future-ready.

–Aditya Prabhu, CEO & Co-Founder, Secutech Automation

“On National Technology Day, the conversation worth having is not about how fast we are moving. It is about whether we are building things that actually hold up over time. As digital systems become more deeply woven into how businesses and societies function, capability alone is not the measure that matters most. The harder question is whether the technology being built reduces complexity, improves access for people who have historically been left out; and creates economic value without eroding accountability.Inclusive growth will not arrive simply because technology is being adopted widely. It will come from the quality of judgment applied when integrating it. Speed without responsibility is not progress. It is just motion.”

–Piyush Goel, Founder & CEO, Beyond Key

“Most enterprises today are not struggling to find technology. They are struggling to make it work together. Disconnected systems, fragmented data, and workflows that were never designed to speak to each other, that is where the real integration challenge sits, and it does not get solved by adding another platform to the stack.Responsible innovation means building systems that are stable, genuinely usable, and capable of supporting serious business decisions over time. Not just this quarter.This National Technology Day, the more valuable conversation is not about how quickly technology is advancing. It is about how effectively it is actually simplifying the complexity businesses deal with every day.”

–Praveen Joshi, MD and Founding Member, RSK Business Solutions

“Technology is often spoken about in the language of scale, disruption and speed. We hear about AI transforming industries, digital public infrastructure reshaping governance, and automation redefining the future of work. India’s technology economy is projected to contribute hundreds of billions of dollars to the country’s GDP over the next decade. But behind these projections lies an important question: who is being prepared to participate in this future, and who risks being excluded from it?

In many underserved communities, the digital divide begins long before employment. It begins in classrooms where computer access is limited, in homes where phones are shared or controlled; and in environments where confidence with technology is never actively built. 

This is why conversations around responsible innovation cannot remain limited to advanced systems and infrastructure alone. They must also include adoption, access, familiarity, confidence and participation.

At Sambhav Foundation, we see this intersection closely through our work across education, skilling, and employability initiatives. In our digital literacy programmes with middle-school students, particularly girls, we have seen how early exposure to technology can influence not only digital capability but also aspiration itself. The shift is subtle at first. A student who initially hesitates to use a keyboard slowly begins navigating software independently, asking questions, and imagining possibilities beyond inherited social roles.

Similarly, our “learn-and-earn” manufacturing programmes for women demonstrate that access to technical education is often tied to economic realities. When training models acknowledge this reality instead of ignoring it, participation changes dramatically.

We are also seeing this in AI-linked skilling initiatives delivered through colleges and community training centres. If AI is to become a genuine equaliser, it must be accessible and grounded in local realities. Low-bandwidth learning systems, voice-enabled tools, and community-based digital learning models may ultimately have more transformative impact in rural India than high-end technologies designed only for already-connected populations.

Responsible innovation, therefore, requires more than technological advancement. It requires intentional design. It requires systems that recognise linguistic diversity, uneven infrastructure, gendered access barriers and the realities of low-resource environments. It also requires implementation models rooted in community trust rather than technology deployment alone.”

–Dr Gayathri Vasudevan, Founder and Chairperson, Sambhav Foundation

These comments show that the industry has great hopes and aspirations of meeting their goals using technology. It remains to be seen whether these aspirations are fulfilled.