By Gaurav Sharma

Dalian (China), Sep 20 (IANS): Several Indian and Chinese IT companies on Wednesday got together in China's port city of Dalian for cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence.

On the first India-China Dalian IoT (Internet of Things) Conference, the government officials and company representatives from both sides agreed that a lot can be done if India's excellence in software technology and China's expertise in hardware are brought together.

The event is being attended by 30 delegates representing the Indian government and companies, while 50 delegates from the Chinese industry are participating in the event.

Representatives of Indian companies like Wipro, HCL, Infosys, Cognizant and CBSI Technologies were present.

"Chinese hardware needs to be given soul that can come from India's software technology," said Sudhanshu Pandey, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce (India).

Talking about the event, Dalian Municipal Government Mayor Xiao Shengfeng said: "India leads the world in software with a great foundation of IT and BPO services."

"We believe that the conference co-organised by the two sides (NASSCOM and Dalian), serving as a platform for the upgrading of industries of Dalian, will drive the integration of advanced IT industry of India and the strong manufacturing industry of Dalian.

"We hope that the two sides will take good advantage of this conference to strengthen communication, increase understanding, and promote cooperation between IoT and smarter products that are in demand around the world," Xiao said.

Gagan Sabharwal, Senior Director, Global Trade Development, NASSCOM said: "India and China have both leveraged our human capital to become the world leaders in our domains, and are heralded as the fastest growing economies.

"With the new Digital wave, today we have a unique opportunity to merge hardware and software together to create smart solutions for the world," he said.