Kerala to Set up First Robotics Park in Thrissur: Minister P Rajeeve

Kochi: Kerala will set up its first robotics park in Thrissur, heralding a new chapter that will boost innovation, collaboration and growth in the field of artificial intelligence, Minister for Industries P Rajeeve said on Friday.

At a Robotics Roundtable organised here, Rajeeve said the project will have four sections. It is to be built on a 10-acre plot in the central Kerala town with the help of district panchayat.

Rajeeve also informed that the state government will conduct the Global Investors Meet on February 21 and 22 next year in the city.

The roundtable was organised at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Bolgatty Island by Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) in association with the Department of Industry and Commerce.

Noting that the Robotics Roundtable was the beginning of the journey of the state to transform the society into a hub of hi-tech manufacturing technology industries, the minister said the Global Investors Meet will be the culmination of the precursor events, including roundtable series focusing on 12 sectors, road shows and the publishing of more documents on 22 priority sectors.

"KSIDC is ready to give equity investments in five robotic startups this financial year. After scrutinising applications, KSIDC will give equity investments as a fund of funds. Besides, KSIDC will increase scale-up loan for robotic startups from of Rs one crore to Rs two crore," Rajeeve said.

The minister also gave away awards to the top exhibitors at the expo held on the sidelines of the event. The awardees included Fuselage Innovations, Genrobotics, Benditta Bionics, Xalten Systems, Estro Tech and Asimov Robotics.

Principal Secretary (Industries and Commerce) APM Mohammed Hanish was also present.

Earlier in the day, Inker Robotics CEO Rahul Balachandran, while addressing a session, said the proposed robotic park will have RoboLand as its first section, facilitating the public to get first-hand knowledge about the world of robotics.

"It will hold programmes related to AI and audio-video reality," he said at the panel discussion on ‘Propel Your Business — Fostering Dynamic Partnerships between Government and Industry for Future Innovations’.

The remaining three wings will be an institute for robotic courses, a centre for production and development of robots by Inker, which is a Kochi-based startup that engineers solutions to transform industries, and an incubator that can take care of 10 nascent firms, KSIDC said in a release.

The day-long event deliberated on what Kerala can expect on becoming a hub for robotics technology, it said.

A total of 195 startups were a part of the event, which had more than 400 delegates and featured an exhibition by 35 stalls.

The roundtable is the third in the government's series of missions seeking to bolster the links between the state and the innovative technology sector so as to facilitate a suitable ecosystem.

The opening chapter was an International Conclave on Gen AI held in association with IBM in Kochi last month. A subsequent meeting was attended by 300 entrepreneurs who brought in an overall investment of Rs 12,000 crore in the last three years.

Recently, the organisers hosted a roadshow in Chennai. More are coming up in Mumbai, Delhi, Dubai, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. 

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