Friday, 21 November 2022, Bengaluru: On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Bengaluru Tech Summit, Government has committed to driving efforts to position emerging tech clusters on the digital global map. Concerted efforts to drive anchor industries across the 3 clusters in Phase 1 with the help of the industry & academic partners is the road map.

Mysuru: Cybersecurity & ESDM

Hubballi – Dharwad – Belagavi – Agritech, ESDM, AI

Mangaluru: Fintech, Healthtech

Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) being the enabler and pro-industry is working towards getting all stakeholders together to achieve this goal. By 2030, Beyond Bengaluru will contribute 2.5% of Karnataka’s GDP. The state will contribute more than USD 250 Billion toward the digital economy goal of India by the year 2026.

Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) held the Beyond Bengaluru Tech Summit to bring out the current strengths of the emerging tech clusters and put together a strong road map till 2026. As part of this summit, Hon’ble IT Minister Dr. C. N. Ashwath Narayan felicitated 33 companies that have expanded & started their business across these 3 emerging tech clusters in the last 12 months.

BV Naidu, Chairman of Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, shared his thoughts on the project’s recent milestones: “The past year has been filled with highlights as we catalyzed several start-ups in conducive environments. We’ve overseen a GCC Spoke-Shore Strategy & startup grid initiative that saw around 33 companies begin/expand operations in Beyond Bengaluru clusters, generating employment for over 10000 people. We launched future digital jobs in AI and cybersecurity in Mysuru, Hubballi, Dharwad, Mangaluru, Kalaburagi, and Belagavi with 2,000+ job opportunities. We will build on this and look to expand our vision, taking technologies and opportunities to other parts of Karnataka. Our academic & training partners are also geared up to meet the industry demand for a skilled and employable workforce across the anchor sectors to start with. Plus Beyond Bengaluru is a step in the right direction in our aim to drive 10,000 start-ups by 2030.”

Sanjeev Gupta, CEO of Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, added, “KDEM’s focus is on promoting these clusters by maintaining constant dialogue between companies, investors, and the broader global ecosystem. Last 12 months we have gotten into 13+ industry MoUs to drive the Beyond Bengaluru mandate that will help us reach our 2026 goals. One of our key initiatives is the Start-Up Grid—which connects various tech-related start-ups across multiple sectors in the digital economy. We already have more than 400 start-ups on the grid, allowing each to access services like infrastructure and customized partner products. We are further planning to incentivize start-ups outside Bengaluru with cluster seed funds, dedicating INR 75 Cr towards all three clusters. We believe these positive actions will attract more investors and entrepreneurs with scalable ideas from both India and abroad.”