The BIAL-EnAble summit highlighted breakthroughs in accessibility and charted a roadmap for inclusive mobility, supporting the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision.
Bangalore International Airport (BIAL) and EnAble India co-hosted the Open Sky, Open Mind (OSOM) Summit & Awards 2025. It was a one-of-a-kind global platform celebrating innovation, inclusion, and impact held at Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (BLR Airport). The event brought together airport leaders, startups, global innovators, and changemakers with disabilities to reimagine what inclusive mobility can look like for India and the world.
Designed as an immersive, experience-led conference, OSOM 2025 showcased how airports, technology, and universal design can work together to build an ecosystem where every person, regardless of disability, can navigate the world with dignity and independence.
Hari Marar, Managing Director & CEO, BIAL, said, “At BIAL, we believe airports are inclusive melting pots that truly reflect the diversity of the world they connect. That belief inspired OSOM, a platform to co-create meaningful, real-world solutions by bringing together employees, passengers, innovators, startups, and organisations like EnAble India. As these ideas take shape, we aim to build innovations that not only elevate the experience at BLR Airport but also set new benchmarks for accessibility across airports worldwide. Because when you make airports more accessible, you open the world to people with different abilities, empowering them to travel, connect, work, and share ideas.”
Dipesh Sutariya, Co-founder, Trustee, Chairman & Managing Director, EnAble India said, “Inclusion means business! Persons with disabilities are contributors, creators, consumers, and essential participants in India’s economic growth. OSOM 2025 demonstrates that when technology, design, and human intent come together, we build solutions that benefit everyone. Our partnership with BIAL exemplifies how inclusion drives innovation and empathy and shows what India can achieve through collective action. This is the blueprint for the Purple Economy, where profit meets purpose.”
The conference positioned the partnership between BIAL, EnAble India, startups, and grassroots innovators as a model of multi-stakeholder collaboration that supports India’s journey toward Viksit Bharat 2047, where accessibility is engineered into the nation’s infrastructure, economy, and everyday experiences.
This year’s edition featured a curated exhibition of grassroots accessibility innovations, a startup matchmaking forum, a panel discussion on airport accessibility, a high-impact fashion showcase led by models with disabilities from within the BLR Airport community, and an award ceremony honouring innovators transforming accessibility across India. The event also hosted global delegates from the Zero Project Tech Forum and leaders from the disability inclusion movement.
A defining highlight of the event was the powerful human-interest stories spotlighted throughout the day, featuring entrepreneurs with disabilities, grassroots inventors, mobility-tech founders, and creative professionals who are reshaping India’s accessibility landscape. Their journeys reinforced OSOM’s core belief: innovation flourishes when diverse minds and experiences are included at every stage of design and decision-making.
About Bangalore International Airport (BIAL):
Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (BLR Airport), operated by Bangalore International Airport (BIAL), closed FY 2024–25 with strong performance across key metrics. The airport became the first in South India to serve over 41.88 million passengers, earning a place in the ACI Large Airport category, and processed 502,480 metric tonnes of cargo. As South India’s busiest airport and the third largest in the country, BLR reached a significant milestone in February 2025, surpassing 350 million cumulative passengers since its opening. In terms of Cargo, BLR Airport continues to be the No. 1 Airport for processing perishable cargo in India for the fourth consecutive year. BIAL’s growth is powered by Fairfax India Holdings Corporation, its majority private promoter. Through significant investment, Fairfax plays a key role in accelerating the airport’s development and transformation.
About EnAble India:
EnAble India is a non-profit organisation working for over two decades towards the economic independence and social inclusion of persons with disabilities. Through employability trainings, livelihood opportunities, and awareness programmes, EnAble India has transformed mindsets and created pathways for inclusion across workplaces, communities, and society.
SOURCE – PR
