Today at Vivatech, we had the opportunity to take ‘DEPA for training’ work directly to the Honourable Commerce Minister Shri Piyush Goyal. Ambassador Ashraf (former Indian Ambassador to Paris), Prof Ajay Sood (PSA), Emmanuel Bacry from the French Health Data Hub and Henri Verdier were among those in the room. Ambassador Ashraf himself carried the ideas in front of the French AI Minister at the panel and our minister at the closed door. The conversation travelled remarkably well.
The most important moment came in a private conversation with Minister Goyal on DEPA. He bought the framing in full. Three things stood out for him. First, that we have a live international collaboration with France. Second, that the French side is championing this with as much conviction as we are, which signals genuine intent on their part. And third, the architectural integrity of the idea as a DPI.
He then said something even more important. He said the right way to take this forward is to position DEPA as a standard at the India-EU level, which is what our intent is also. He told us the EU-India trade and technology conversation is coming up next month, that one of the agenda items there is standards, and that DEPA should enter that conversation directly. He also said he will find a way to embed this work inside the India-EU Free Trade Agreement that he has just signed. We will be working with his team in the coming week to get this rolling.
This is the kind of moment iSPIRT exists for. The substance carried that room only because it has been built carefully, over years, by a community that genuinely believes in what it is doing. We are blessed to have voices high up in the system who back us, and we are equally blessed to have the depth of work underneath that gives them something real to back.
There is much more to share, and there will be much more to do. The framework is starting to find its larger home, and we will keep you all updated as it unfolds.
