Aspiring to turn Belagavi into a global hub for drones and electric vehicles (EVs), the Karnataka government is dedicating 500 acres to this sunrise segment. Stepping in that direction, the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM) is looking to sign up the first batch of investors on Friday.
In an event christened DRoEV-2023, where KDEM will have 200 stakeholders, including industry leaders, policymakers, the research and development community, and startups, participating, the exercise of setting up a new tech hub will be initiated. This is part of the state government’s efforts to look beyond the capital city and aggressively position emerging tech clusters from across the state on the digital global map by 2026.
“We received over 15 letters of interest (LOI) which will house the end-to-end supply chain for the EV & drones segments,” Sanjeev Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, KDEM told DH, adding that these will be signed at the event.
“Belagavi has the end-to-end capability to manufacture drones and EVs, and there are many startups that have already developed prototypes and products that are going into manufacturing, " said Gupta. So, it was natural for us to look at making Belagavi a destination for EVs and drone manufacturing, he added.
Belagavi already has 16228 registered micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and over 250 startups - many component producers among them. The new cluster will be based on a partnership model with the involvement of the government, industry players, and research institutions.
(Published 23 March 2023, 17:05 IST)
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