Bengaluru: Karnataka is stepping up efforts to expand its technology ecosystem beyond Bengaluru. Chief minister D K Shivakumar on Friday unveiled a roadmap to develop emerging cities as innovation hubs while announcing an AI University and fresh policy support for deep-tech industries.Addressing CEOs at a breakfast meeting ahead of the Bengaluru Tech Summit, Shivakumar said the government would roll out a policy within the next 100 days to encourage companies to establish operations outside Bengaluru by offering world-class office infrastructure at affordable rates.“Bengaluru is our crown, but Karnataka is our heart,” Shivakumar said, adding that Mysuru, Hubballi-Dharwad, Mangaluru and Belagavi should emerge as major technology and investment destinations.Shivakumar said Karnataka’s software exports have crossed Rs 4.3 lakh crore and are expected to exceed Rs 5.5 lakh crore this year. He added that the state’s global capability centres (GCCs) have evolved from back-office operations into hubs for innovation, product development and high-value engineering.At the Bengaluru Tech Summit curtain raiser, IT-BT minister Priyank Kharge unveiled Innoverse, a Section 8 company that will serve as Karnataka’s unified deep-tech platform, bringing together startups, academia, researchers, investors, industry and government. Built on a “triple helix” model, it aims to accelerate the commercialisation of research in aerospace and defence, electronics, space technology, biotechnology and applied AI. Karnataka’s flagship technology event, the Bengaluru Tech Summit (BTS) 2026, will be held from November 17 to 19 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) under the theme “AI & Beyond.The summit is expected to attract 1,800 exhibitors, 25,000 delegates, 1,000 startups and more than 60,000 business visitors from 75 countries, reinforcing its position as a leading platform for technology, innovation, investment and global collaboration.Kharge also announced an expanded Elevate Next programme, doubling grants for deep-tech startups to as much as Rs 1 crore. The first cohort comprises 33 startups selected from 983 applications, with grants worth Rs 33 crore, including 12 women-led ventures.Kharge said Karnataka was creating a regulatory sandbox to enable startups to build AI applications using government datasets, while also preparing a sustainable data centre policy and advancing its quantum computing roadmap.“DeepTech innovation requires more than funding—it requires a connected ecosystem. Innoverse has been envisioned as that platform, bringing together research, industry, capital, talent and government to help breakthrough technologies move from the lab to the market,” Kharge said, adding that the initiative would help startups develop, scale and compete globally.The government also unveiled MIST (Museum of Innovation, Science and Technology), a nearly 2 lakh sft museum dedicated to innovation and startups. The Rs 300-crore project will be developed under a public-private partnership model while preserving the site’s heritage structure.
