India must focus on creating its own intellectual properties (IPs) to emerge as a global hub of innovation," said Dr. Ekroop Caur, Secretary, Department of Electronics, IT, Biotechnology and Science & Technology, Government of Karnataka, on Friday.
“A major focus area is creation. For India to truly come of age as a global innovation hub, we need more IPs that originate and are recognized as being Indian. Our initiatives are designed to strongly support this goal,” she said.
Secretary also underlined the role of a cluster of premier academic institutions such as IISc, IIM Bangalore, IIIT and IIT Dharwad playing a pivotal role in providing world-class mentorship and academic support, significantly contributing to the overall growth of startups in the state.
“Another key differentiator is our strong academic ecosystem. The state has partnered with premier institutions like IISc, IIM, IIIT, and IIT Dharwad to create Centers of Excellence that offer world-class mentorship and academic support. This kind of collaboration is crucial in shaping high-impact, globally competitive startups,” said the Secretary.
Bangalore is the fourth-largest technology cluster in the world, home to over 18,000 startups and more than 50 unicorns.
While financial incentives are certainly part of their plan, Karnataka’s IT Secretary shared the state’s goal to focus on infrastructure and capacity-building in smaller towns.
“We’ve already set up several Centers of Excellence and plan to establish 8 to 10 more. We're also working on building DPI (Digital Public Infrastructure) and innovation labs to further strengthen these ecosystems,” she added.
When we started out, the ecosystem wasn’t as vibrant or robust as it is today.
To enrich the deeptech startup ecosystem, the Secretary said that the state is planning to set up a state-led venture capital (VC) fund, which continues to operate successfully.
“Over time, we’ve launched domain-specific funds—right now, we’re running a deep tech fund as well as a fund dedicated to the ABGC (Agritech, Biotech, and related sectors). Under our newly announced Local Economy Accelerator Program, we’re planning to introduce another Elevate-style program, specifically for deep tech startups. Additionally, we are exploring the creation of a Fund of Funds to further strengthen financing options for startups at various stages,” she added.
