BENGALURU: In a big fillip to the state’s startup ecosystem, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday announced plans to set up a dedicated startup park near the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru in the next six months.
The state-of-the-art park will boast of specialisations and infrastructure geared towards emerging technologies, including agri-tech, climate tech and deep tech, which will boost the startup scenario in the city, state and country at large.
Addressing delegates at the silver jubilee of Bengaluru Tech Summit 2022, Bommai said the park will be multi-modal and help promote various spheres of the startup ecosystem. India has the third largest startup ecosystem in the world, with Karnataka alone hosting over 17,800 startups in Bengaluru, while over 3,700 are outside the state capital. Expressing that Karnataka needs to do more to promote startups, Bommai also announced a Knowledge and Technology City near KIA going forward.
Bommai said the government is setting up six such new cities in the state over the next six months to promote the growth of knowledge and technology sectors. These new cities will be developed in Kalaburagi, Hubballi-Dharwad, Mangaluru, Mysuru and Bengaluru. They will be well-planned, high-tech, and help promote IT, BT and startups, he added.
“We have been facing a lot of challenges, the globe is shrinking and life is reducing by the year, while natural resources are dwindling by the second. This is alarming. Unless there is an ambition on our part for a better life and better environment, we don’t have a future. We have to give a better world to our children,” the chief minister mentioned, calling upon leaders of the scientific world to innovate for the betterment of the human race and develop technologies to create a new healthy human being and future for all.
Lauding the startup sector in Karnataka for achieving distinction of housing the first and the 100th unicorns in the country, IT/BT Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan said the state government has set a target of achieving $300 billion digital economy by 2025, when the share of biotechnology will be $36 billion.
The 25th edition of Bengaluru Tech Summit has participants from over 30 countries, 350 domain experts in over 70 sessions, and attendance of over 5,000 delegates, apart from the presence of over 400 startups.