On April 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to lay the groundwork for India’s very first Digital Science Park in the district of Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. This momentous project, estimated to cost in excess of Rs 1,500 crore, is considered a major milestone as Kerala moves into becoming a knowledge economy powered by digital technologies.
The science park, which will be spread across 14 acres of land, will be located next to the Digital University of Kerala at the fourth phase of Technopark. The project is envisioned to be a multi-specialty cluster-based interactive-innovation zone devoted to digital technology and is expected to complete within two years.
An agreement was signed between the UK-based semiconductor and software design company ARM and the Digital University of Kerala, to carry out educational, research and startup activities as part of this Digital Science Park. ARM’s implementation plans include analogue and mixed-signal systems, VSLI, AI processors, and other related projects.
In the 2022-23 budget, the Kerala government declared that this Digital Science Park would be constructed on an area of ten lakh sq. ft. and Rs 200 crore has already been allocated by the Government of Kerala. Further, agreements have been made with esteemed universities such as The University of Manchester, The University of Oxford, and The University of Edinburgh, to help develop the Digital Science Park.
The park will begin its operations from the 10,000 sq. ft space in Kabani situated in Technopark Phase IV within the next couple of months. Initially, there will be two buildings with a combined area of two lakh sq. ft., which will house the Centre of Excellence, research labs, Digital Incubator and the administration buildings.
This world-class centre is designed around four main pillars, centred around digital industry, digital applications, digital deep tech and digital entrepreneurship. Digital industry will focus on the future such as electronics, semiconductors and VLSI 5G communications, smart materials and medical materials; digital applications will focus on e-mobility and digital health; digital deep tech will look at AI, blockchain and security, and geo- and sustainable informatics; and lastly, digital entrepreneurship is focused on creating new products, jobs and capacities.
The Centre of Excellence will feature a variety of resource including Cleanrooms, material characterisation facilities, integrated sensor labs, energy labs, RF and wireless testing labs, unconventional computing centres, high-end data centres, robotics labs, electronic design centre, software development labs, informatics and computing labs, and blockchain and cybersecurity labs. In fact, AI-focused specialists like multinational tech company NVIDIA have also signed on to be part of the Digital Science Park, further solidifying its status as a cutting-edge centre for scientific research.
The state of Kerala is rapidly transforming into a global leader in the field of digital innovation, thanks to the leadership of the state Government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The setting up of India’s first Digital Science Park is the logical outcome of this progress, and is set to offer opportunities to many aspiring scientists and technologists.
