BENGALURU: “Space technology is a key pillar in Karnataka’s DeepTech Decade vision. The state is uniquely positioned to lead the next phase of India’s commercial space growth by building deep capabilities across innovation, advanced manufacturing, data, upstream and downstream applications,” said IT/BT minister Priyank Kharge at a roundtable conference with space tech startup founders and stakeholders from the industry and academia on Thursday.
Kharge vouched for common testing and validation infrastructure as a means to significantly reduce barriers for startups and MSMEs while accelerating product development cycles and commercial readiness.
“Karnataka was the first State in India to put out a draft Space Policy, reflecting our early commitment towards building a globally competitive commercial space ecosystem. Our policy vision is anchored in long-term ecosystem leadership spanning infrastructure, manufacturing, research, talent development and industry collaboration,” added secretary of the IT/BT department N Manjula.
Representatives from startups and organisations including Pixxel, KaleidEO, Astrogate Labs, SkyServe, MISTEO, GalaxEye, Ananth Technologies, Centum Electronics, HAL, Astra Space, BHEL, Raman Research Institute, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, and others attended the conference.