India's First Digital Science Park Set To Come Up In Thiruvananthapuram, PM Modi To Lay Foundation Stone Tomorrow

India's first Digital Science Park will come up at Technocity campus in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the Park on Tuesday (25 April).

The Rs 1,515 crore Digital Science Park project will be spread across an area of around 14 acres near Kerala University of Digital Sciences Innovation and Technology.

The park is designed as a multidisciplinary innovation zone for digital technology and is scheduled for completion within two years.

Digital Science Park is envisaged as a key research facility to develop digital products and services by industry and business units in collaboration with the academia.

As a third generation Science Park, the Digital Science Park will house common facilities to support development of products in the area of Industry 4.0 Technologies like AI, Data Analytics, Cyber Security, Smart Materials etc, according to a PMO release.

The state-of-the-art basic infrastructure will support high-end applied research by industries and co-development of products in association with the universities.

Initial investment for Phase-1 of the project is around Rs 200 crore while the total project outlay has been estimated at around Rs 1515 crore, the PMO said.

The Park is divided into two blocks and spans 10 lakh sq ft, supporting industry, business, and startups that specialise in areas such as AI, robotics, electronics, smart hardware, and sustainable materials during its initial phase.

The Park will have high-end research labs and facilities such as cleanrooms, material characterisation facility, integrated sensor labs, energy labs, motor and drives labs, RF and wireless testing, and robotics labs.

It will also have high-end data and electronic design centres, software development, computing, Blockchain, and cybersecurity labs, and unconventional computing centres plus other facilities.

The Park will become operational with the launch of its first centre on electronics system design focusing on analog and mixed signal systems, VLSI (very-large-scale integration), AI processors and allied areas.

UK-based semiconductor and software design company ARM has signed an agreement with Digital University Kerala on the academic, research and start-up-related activities as part of this centre, reports The Hindu.

Further, tech giant NVIDIA is also likely to collaborate with the Digital Science Park to set up a Centre for Artificial Intelligence.

Additionally, the universities of Manchester, Oxford, and Edinburgh have signed memoranda of understanding with DUK for involvement in the park's development.

The park comprises of two buildings with a total area of 2,00,000 sq ft.

The first building is 1,50,000 sq.ft. and houses five floors, including CoEs, research labs, and digital incubator. The second building consists of administrative and Digital Experience centre.

Digital Science Park will begin operations at 10,000 sq ft of space at Technopark Phase IV's Kabani facility within the next few months.