Emerging technology hub will be set up at Rs 350 crore, says Kerala CM

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday announced the launch of an Emerging Technology Hub in the state capital by the Kerala Startup Mission.

The hub, being developed at an estimated cost of Rs 350 crore will focus on leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) across key sectors including agriculture, healthcare, defence, and renewable energy.

Responding to a calling attention motion by Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) legislator Manjalamkuzhi Ali in the Assembly, he added that this hub, being set up on a three-acre site in Technocity, Thiruvananthapuram. 

Vijayan added that the state government is formulating a draft Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy to include AI-driven software development, database creation, innovation centres, skill development initiatives, and support for AI startups.

"In the recent state budget, the government announced key initiatives to support startups in the AI sector," he said.

As part of this effort, a deep-tech ecosystem will be developed, including the establishment of a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) cluster for entrepreneurs working in AI, machine learning, animation, visual effects, gaming, and comics. To facilitate this, an additional Rs 10 crore has been allocated to the Kerala Startup Mission.

The government has also allocated Rs one crore to organise a national-level hackathon on agentic artificial intelligence and will provide Rs 20 lakh each to the top five selected AI-based innovations.

Vijayan said that the state government is seriously considering the introduction of innovative courses, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science, in universities across Kerala.

"Our institutions, such as the Digital University and the International Centre for Free and Open Source Solutions (ICFOSS), are conducting advanced research in this field," he said.

The Digital Science Park has been launched to commercialise AI research prototypes while Digital University is working on a responsible AI policy, inspired by European AI frameworks.

Furthermore, Small Language Models (SLM) research is being carried out in collaboration with California-based NVIDIA, Vijayan added.

He emphasised that the government is adopting a practical approach toward AI integration, drawing lessons from history.

Recognising the possibility of job losses in the current IT services sector, the government is prioritising the creation of next-generation employment opportunities.

"Institutions like Digital University and ICFOSS are taking steps to introduce cutting-edge courses to meet this objective.

Efforts will also be made to reallocate workers affected by AI automation into emerging job sectors to enhance productivity," he added.

To bridge the digital divide and maximise AI-driven job opportunities, the government has launched community education programmes alongside various postgraduate courses.

Universities and educational institutions are conducting workshops on Generative AI for teachers, he added.