Kerala to set up first robotics park in Thrissur: Minister Rajeeve

Global Investors Meet to be held on Feb. 21 &22, 2025

Kochi / August 23, 2024

Kochi, Aug. 23: Kerala will get its first robotic park in Thrissur, heralding a new chapter that will boost innovation, collaboration and growth in the field of artificial intelligence, Minister for Industries, Law and Coir Shri P Rajeeve said today. 

The project will have four sections when it comes up on a ten-acre plot of the central Kerala town with the help of district panchayat, the minister informed at the valedictory ceremony of the day-long the Robotics Round Table here. 

Shri 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 organized at Grand Hyatt in Bolgatty Island by Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) in association with the Department of Industry and Commerce.

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

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

The minister also gave away awards to the top exhibitors of 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) Shri A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish was also present.

Earlier, 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 rest 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 ten nascent firms.

The other speakers at the hour-long discussion, which was moderated by KSIDC Executive Director Shri Hari Krishnan R, included Dr. Saji Gopinath, who is Vice Chancellor of Kerala Technical University and Digital University of Kerala, All India Robotics Association (AIRA) CEO PallavBajjuri, and Dr. M.V. Judy of Cochin University of Science and Technology.

The day-long event, which was inaugurated by Minister Shri Rajeeve, deliberated on what Kerala can expect on becoming a hub for robotics technology. A total 195 startups attended the event, which had more than 400 delegates besides an exhibition by 35 stalls.

The roundtable is the third in the government’s series of mission which seeks 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 at Kochi last month. A subsequent meeting was attended by 300 entrepreneurs who had 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.  

ENDS