ETSA 2021: New Karnataka would be one that helps startups grow and expand, says Basavaraj Bommai

The state government will be taking up initiatives that would further bolster the startup ecosystem, the chief minister said at the ET Startup Awards in Bengaluru on Saturday.

These initiatives, he added, included transforming seven government engineering colleges into the state’s eminent institutes of technology at par with IITs. “I was just thinking my boys will be struggling to go to IITs so I said let me create our own IITs. The digital world has changed everything. The digital world has opened up the entire world (and made it) into a very small place,” he said providing the template for these new institutions.

“So I will have seven new IITs within three-four years, and I have changed the concept of university also. No big building, big offices, vice chancellor, Chancellor, all those things… slim-trim digital universities.”

Bommai, himself an engineering graduate, also said the government is ready to provide startups with everything that they need to not only start-up but also grow up. The CM said there are plans in place to set up a semiconductor cluster soon.

“There’s a paradigm shift of thinking – that is new Karnataka,” he said. “We are creating a completely new atmosphere for the startups. When we recognise a startup, then we’ll offer them a place to work, the place to expand. That is what Bangalore and Karnataka are all about.”

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The chief minister said that the government has many programmes for startups, mentioning special packages to promote startups launched by women outside of Bengaluru. This is to encourage women in districts and rural areas engaged in the startup ecosystem.

He added that an R&D policy is in place which will make Karnataka the first state to have such a policy.

“I want startups to come like mushrooms all over the country more so in Karnataka and change the lives of the people,” he said. “Providing some solutions or economic help to certain companies is a very limited approach,” he said challenging startups to do more. “Do something which can change the life of the people for a better living.”

Bommai said that Bengaluru will be the leader in the startup ecosystem much like it has been a leader in the IT space. He said the city’s skilled people with a scientific bent of mind was what set it apart from other cities as he believed that “economy is not money; economy is people.”

“That’s the strength of Bengaluru, that’s the strength of the high-skilled, scientific bent of mind of my boys and my institutions,” he said. “We have the highest number of R&D international centres in the world – both in government and private sectors. You name the field and it is there. And very shortly, we’re going to have semiconductor plants here. Whatever the need is converted into a challenge and we are part of the solution.”