Siddaramaiah govt aims to make K'taka global innovation hub

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah today said the government's aim was to make Karnataka the innovation hub of the world.
Presenting the 2014-15 state Budget in the Assembly, he said: "Government encourages new ideas and innovations for high values for IT products and service companies. The aim is to make Karnataka an Innovation hub of the World."
"In this regard, Government will provide "Plug and Play" Space for start-ups at subsidised rates," he added.
Stating that Skill Development Societies will be constituted with an initial corpus of Rs 10 crore to meet the skill requirements of IT and Electronic companies, he said "To encourage IT companies in tier II and III cities, Government will reimburse PF and ESI amount up to Rs 2,000 per employee per month for a period of two years."

"This facility will be applicable only to the jobs created during 2014-15," he added.
Greenfield Electronic System Design & Manufacturing (ESDM) clusters will be set-up for Electronic Hardware sector either in Bangalore or Mysore, in association with Government of India, the Chief Minister stated.

Siddaramaiah said "Animation, Visual effects, Gaming and Comics (AVGC) Policy will be revised. Digital Media City and AVGC Labs will be set-up in PPP mode."
Stating that during the 2014-15 fiscal two Sub Regional Science centers will be set-up, one each in Chamarajanagar District and Gowribidanur Taluk of Chickballapur District, at a cost of Rs 3 crore each, he said: "This is to encourage Science education among teachers/lecturers."

Noting that Robotics Technology is gaining prominence in several countries, he said: "It is proposed to give science education to the school students by using Robotics Technology and to provide Robotic Education for engineering students in association with Government of Korea."
Siddaramaiah also announced Rs 200 crore provision to the Information Technology, Bio-Technology and Science & Technology sectors.