MANGALURU: If the bureaucracy plays its cards right, Mangalore will soon be the first startup district in the country.
Deputy commissioner of Dakshina Kannada Dr K G Jagadeesha said officials from Union ministry of commerce had contacted him in this regard and Mangalore is likely to be the first startup district.
Following a discussion with the ministry, the district administration examined two places in Adyar and at Surathkal near to the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK). Speaking to Express, Dr Jagadeesha said, “It is true that the top ministerial officials from the Union ministry of commerce, on the directions of the Union minister Nirmala Seetharaman, had met me and sought an opinion. As per my conversation with them I understand that Mangalore might get the first startup district tag. But I have not received anything in writing yet”.
Jagadeesha further said, “We are looking at an area of 20,000sqft in the centre of the city which has a social ecosystem for the IT BT professionals. Startup cannot work in isolated areas without social connect. We have two such systems--an incubation centre at STPI in Blueberry Hills behind the A J Hospital and another in Surathkal. But due to the lack of ecosystem and social connect they have not been preferred by the startups”.