THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Delegation from the US Consulate in Chennai, led by Consul General Mariana L. Neisuler, visited Technopark on Thursday to understand Kerala's IT sector.
During the visit, Electronics & IT Secretary Sambasiva Rao met Neisuler, along with Technopark CEO Sandeep Kumar and Kerala Startup Mission CEO Anoop Ambika.
Neisuler, who was visiting Kerala for the first time, praised the state's strengths in logistics, maritime, energy, and IT. She asked stakeholders in these sectors to develop clear plans that could attract US companies to Kerala.
Rao explained Kerala as a progressive state and asked for US support to promote it as a knowledge industry hub. He also proposed setting up joint Centres of Excellence between Kerala and US universities.
He pointed out that Kerala already has around 10,000 startups. To help these startups grow further, he said the state wants to set up startup accelerators. He invited US accelerators to open centres in Kerala that could become a model for the rest of the country.
Two officials from the US Consulate, Political and Economic Specialists Karthik Selvaraj and Geetha Gopalakrishnan, also accompanied the Consul General. The delegation later visited the Fablab at IIITM-K and the robotics company Genrobotics, both located in Technopark.
Several other IT industry leaders were also present at the meeting, including representatives from Tata Elxsi, TCS, IBS Software, Equifax, and GTech.