Hubli IT Park drawing more companies

Source: Hindu

Persistent efforts to attract information technology (IT) and information technology enabled services (ITES) companies to the Information Technology (IT) Park in Hubli, which became functional in 2002, seem to be showing results with more companies evincing interest in starting their operations here.

The IT Park in Hubli was inaugurated by the then Union Minister for Information Technology Pramod Mahajan on September 19, 2002 amid much hype. However, the park was a showpiece for a few years with major companies remaining reluctant to start their operations here.

Initial years

In the first four years, only Tata Teleservices and RMS Technologies set up their units at the park apart from the branch of Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), and 1.6 lakh sq.-ft space remained unutilised. The only silver lining at that time was that the STPI branch had received good returns and was expanding its operations to other cities in north Karnataka.

In its attempt to attract investors, the State Government organised “Destination Hubli” in Bangalore in 2004 to showcase the city as an IT destination. This was followed by IT Investors' Meet in 2006 here, during which the Government announced reduced rent at the park to attract more companies.

Results

“Ever since the IT Investors' Meet was held, we tried to keep in touch with the companies that had evinced in starting their operations here. In the subsequent years our follow up yielded results,” H. Devanand, Manager of Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KEONICS) at Hubli and in-charge of the park, told The Hindu.

Now, of the total 1.72 lakh-sq.-ft space available in the four-storey park, only 82,000 sq. ft is vacant.

Expansion

An area of 16,000 sq. ft was recently allotted to the STPI for expansion of its existing set up at the park.

Meanwhile, Hubli Electricity Supply Company (Hescom) has proposed to take around 30,000-sq.-ft area on rent for its proposed Data Entry Centre and a private firm has evinced interest in taking 20,000 sq. ft on rent in the park.

“Of the 16,000-sq.-ft space allotted to the STPI, 6,000 sq. ft will be utilised immediately. The rest will be utilised in a phased manner,” Mr. Devanand said.

Another significant issue is that after remaining inactive for four-and-a-half years, the International Institute of Information Technology Hubli-Dharwad (IIIT-HD) became functional in 2008 with the launch of two finishing school programmes by IIIT-Bangalore. Now, IIIT-HD is successfully running the programmes and is also conducting other IT-related activities.

STPI incubation centres to dot four State districts - Belgaum gets one

Source: http://www.deccanherald.com/content/24634/stpi-incubation-centres-dot-four.html

The STPI-Bangalore, as part of its new initiatives, is planning incubation centres at Mysore, Shimoga and Belgaum besides enhancing its Hubli incubation centre space.

Official sources told Deccan Herald an acre of land apiece at these cities have been provided by the State government for STPI to set up the incubation centres.

These centres are expected to cost around Rs 8 crore to Rs 10 crore for STPI sources said, adding they are working on the MoU with the State government for the same.

Further, they said the proposal is being forwarded to STPI governing council for necessary approval and budgetary sanctions.

These incubation centres, sources said, would be 20 seaters to enable enterprising entrepreneurs to float their start-ups. In Mysore the centre is planned near the Infosys Campus at Hebbal Electronic City, Hootagalli.

Point of presence

Likewise, STPI-Hubli houses the first of its kind incubation centre designed for startup companies. The 4,000 sq ft furnished infrastructure with full fledged plug and play facility presently houses 3 IT companies operting at the incubation centre.  Currently, sources said, STPI Hubli has also a point of presence (PoP) at Belgaum to service the datacom needs of IT/ITES industry in Belgaum city. A similar PoP is planned at Manipal too. Both these would be upgraded to a full-fledged incubation centres soon.

The idea of an incubation centre at Belgaum is to see it is closer to the Maharashtra border so that it could attract potential entrepreneurs from Pune as well to provide for remote engineering as also IT-enabled services, they said.

Sources said at the 170 seater Bangalore incubation centre, while 11 companies have moved out for expansion, eight more are bing support currently.

BangaloreIT.biz begins buzzing today

Bangalore: Starting today, the 11th edition of India’s flagship Information and Communication Technology Event “BanagloreIT.biz” will begin at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore.

Chief Minister of Karnataka B.S. Yeddyurappa will inaugurate the event while Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the exhibition.

The three-day event, organised by the Department of Information Technology and Biotechnology, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Bangalore, and MM Activ, aims at creating a meaningful business-to-business platform for the industry to promote partnerships and forge alliances with leading players in domestic and international markets.

Mexico is the partner country and partner State is Gujarat for the prestigious programme.

Countries like Germany, Japan, Bavaria, Denmark and the United Kingdom are taking part in the programme.

Some of the key sessions on day one of BangaloreIT.biz include the lecture on “Computing for Socioeconomic Development” by Kentaro Toyama, Assistant Managing Director, Microsoft Research India and “Information and Communication Technology and National Security,” by Naavi Vijayashankar, Director, Cyber Law College, among various others.

Segregated into various pavilions such as Infocom and Hardware, Software and STPI, IT Parks and Special Economic Zones and the Government of Karnataka Infrastructure Initiatives Pavilion, the exhibition will feature over 65 high-profile speakers and over 100 companies.