Kerala proposes to set up an emerging technology hub to facilitate the journey of companies during this wave of gen next emerging technologies, said Rathan U. Kelkar, Secretary, Department of Electronics and IT, Kerala.
He was talking at a session “Technology and Kerala Opportunity” at the two-day Invest Kerala Global Summit here on Saturday.
Mr. Kelkar cited the proposed emerging technology hub to be implemented by the Kerala Startup Mission at an investment of around ₹300 crore as one of the examples of how the State government is facilitating growth during the era of emerging technologies.
It will primarily focus on five areas – space, health, renewal energy, agriculture and digital media. We are looking at developing capabilities for enabling people to absorb these technologies by creating a pool of trained people across the State with the help of the State digital parks. We have created the right ecosystem in across 100 technical institutions, which will train people on gen next technologies along with the Information and Communication Technology Academy of Kerala through industrial participation, said Mr. Kelkar.
So, the government has understood the ecosystem and is trying to fill in the gaps and putting in place the right policies in place so that the industry can leverage that. One thing that Kerala does extremely well is to ensure that policies and structures are put in place for leveraging advanced technologies.
Besides, attention is given in developing infrastructure – both physical and human. The latest State Budget has made significant investments on physical infrastructure for emerging technologies.
Mr. Kelkar also cited the digital science park with an investment of ₹1,500 crore and the foundation stone for which was laid by the Prime Minister as another example of how the State creates an enabling ecosystem.
It is a unique park where we are bringing in collaboration between the industry, academia and the government. We are looking at having cutting edge technologies while providing facilities for startups as well, he said.
