Seattle’s tech trade might get a lift from the brand new consulate of India set to open quickly.

Technology can be a key focus for the Seattle-area consulate, stated Prakash Gupta, consulate basic of India for the brand new hub.

“There are a lot of brilliant, sharp minds here at the cutting edge of the next frontier of technology,” Gupta instructed GeekWire.

Gupta, a longtime diplomat for the Indian Foreign Service who beforehand did stints in New York City, Shanghai, and Jakarta, arrived in Seattle final month. His crew is looking for a everlasting workplace within the Seattle area, and plans to have 25-to-30 staff as soon as all the pieces is up and operating.

Discussions in regards to the consulate have bubbled for years, however had been fortified earlier this yr throughout Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the White House in June.

Technical cooperation was a degree of emphasis within the assembly between Modi and President Biden — and can be a high precedence for the Seattle outpost as properly, given the energy of the area’s tech ecosystem that features Microsoft, Amazon, and a whole lot of different corporations.

“This is the tech hub of the Pacific Northwest,” Gupta stated.

The consulate hopes to function a useful resource for tech corporations, traders, and employees in each Seattle and India.

“We see our role as a bridge,” Gupta stated.

• The Seattle space has one of the highest Asian Indian populations within the U.S.
• There are greater than 83,000 residents in King County that had been born in India, which ranks No. 1 amongst different international locations, based on Census information cited by the Seattle Times.
• More than 40% of foreign-born IT employees within the Seattle space hail from India, the Seattle Times reported.
• The Asian group is the only largest racial and ethnic minority group inside Microsoft, and almost 70% determine as South Asian, based on the corporate’s newest range report.

Many tech employees from India use H-1B visas — and having a consulate close by may very well be useful.

“It will be a great opportunity to be close to a strong diaspora and be able to provide services in a timely manner that will be a win-win for the community and the two countries.” stated S. “Soma” Somasegar, a former Microsoft exec and managing director at Madrona Venture Group. 

Gupta additionally pointed to commerce — Washington exports 40% of apples going to India, he stated — and better schooling as different priorities for his crew.

“An Indian consulate in the Pacific Northwest will strengthen cultural, business, and trade ties between the world’s two largest democracies, deepen our region’s partnership on critical leading-edge technologies, and allow easier access to locals seeking consular services,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), a former RealNetworks exec, stated in a press release to GeekWire.

Washington state Rep. Suzan DelBene, a longtime tech exec at Microsoft and different corporations, instructed GeekWire that the opening of the consulate “further underscored that our region is a hub for inter-cultural dialogue and economic activity between our two nations.”

The consulate will serve 9 states: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.

It can be India’s sixth consulate within the U.S. Other places embody San Francisco, New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, and Houston.

Seattle Deputy Mayor Greg Wong instructed GeekWire that the consulate is a mirrored image of the “growing bond between the Pacific Northwest and India.”

“Seattle is home to a growing Indian community, with increased economic, cultural, and social ties,” he stated in a press release. “Seattle is a stronger and better place because of the Indian diaspora’s unique and valuable contributions to the city.”

Gupta has spent the previous few weeks assembly with metropolis leaders, together with Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and Bellevue Mayor Lynne Robinson. It’s not clear the place precisely the consulate can be primarily based — in Seattle, Bellevue, or one other metropolis. Government leaders from Bellevue, the place Amazon is rising quickly, despatched a proper letter of curiosity in July.