THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the country’s first Digital Science Park coming up close to the Digital University of Kerala at Technopark Phase IV-Technocity in the state capital on Tuesday, marking a milestone in the state’s transformation into a knowledge economy.
Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan, Minister for Transport, Antony Raju, state minister in charge of Railways V Abdurahiman and MP Shashi Tharoor will join the function scheduled at 11am at the Central Stadium here.
Located adjacent to the Kerala University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology, (Digital University of Kerala-DUK) on around 14 acres of land, the Rs 1,500 crore Digital Science Park project has been conceived as a multidisciplinary cluster-based interactive-innovation zone focused on digital technologies. The project is to be completed in two years.
In the 2022-23 budget, the state government announced the establishment of a Digital Science Park adjacent to DUK at an area of 10 lakh sq. ft. in two blocks. Out of the total project outlay, `200 core has been already allotted by the state government. The remaining amount will be generated from other sources including industry partners.
Initially, Digital Science Park will facilitate industry and business units as well as technology startups from the domains of Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, electronics, smart hardware, and sustainable and smart materials.
The park will become operational with the launch of its first centre on electronics system design focusing on analogue and mixed-signal systems, VLSI, AI processors and allied areas. UK-based semiconductor and software design company ARM has signed an agreement with Digital University Kerala on the academic, research and startup-related activities as part of this centre.