Karnataka, which hosts sizeable global in-house centres (GICs), global capabilities centres (GCCs) and global R&D Centres, is now planning to link up with academia through the New Education Policy (NEP).

“NEP has come in handy to address the industry’s long standing demand for industry-ready manpower,” Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwathnarayan told BusinessLine in an interaction.

“We are working out a mechanism as to how a student can be prepared to be industry-ready. Here, the government, by including academic courses and subjects through NEP, will facilitate companies to cut down on time and cost,” he added.

As there is convergence happening in different cutting edge technologies, the State government is coming out with an amended start-up policy. “The current Karnataka Startup Policy 2015-2020 is coming to a close. Through various grants and subsidies it has helped over 400-500 start-ups in the State. Many have benefited through schemes like Unnati and Elevate,” he said.

“Through the new policy, the government is planning to give impetus to MI, AI, IoT, agri-tech, heathtech and educ-tech, in addition to other emerging sectors,” Ashwathnarayan added.

Karnataka plans to hold its flagship technology event, BengaluruTechSummit 2020, this year. “This year it will be held virtually for the first time, between November 19 and 21,” he said.

The Biohelix Park

The State government spent ₹150 crore to develop institutional and innovation areas in the Biohelix Park. The institutional area hosts the academic institutions — Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology (IBAB) and Centre for Human Genetics (CHG). The innovation area hosts a med-tech centre and incubation facility at Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre (BBC). “The third component, the industrial cluster area — Bengaluru Lifesciences Park — will be established on PPP mode and it will house an incubation centre, built-to-suit facilities and multiple tenants,” said Ashwathnarayan.

Digital Economy Mission

The Karnataka Digital Economy Mission will be constituted shortly, said Ashwathnarayan.

“The mission will be a company incorporated under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 with the Karnataka government holding 49 per cent and the remaining 51 per cent with the industries and other stakeholders,” he added.

The idea of forming this company is to promote over 7,000 start-ups, e-commerce and other gig economy companies operating in the State. Earlier, these were operating under the ‘Technology Mission’ and governed by three-four government agencies or departments. Now they will come under one roof.

Global innovation alliances

“At the forthcoming BengaluruTechSummit 2020, we are entering global innovation alliances (GIA) to create innovation hubs. The government will have 12 MoUs with GIA partner institutions. So far the State government has signed seven MoUs, and five more are in the pipeline,” said Ashwathnarayan .

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