Karnataka govt in talks with IISc to set up design centre

The government of Karnataka is in talks with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to set up a centre of excellence for design in the state, it said in a press statement.

The state government wants the industry, academia and R&D institutes to work together on technologies and new domains, the statement added.

“The Government of Karnataka has been an active partner of the design ecosystem. Through its strategy of nurturing the ecosystem, it has assisted in funding, incubation, new technology domains and global connect. We are in talks with Indian Institute of Science to establish a CoE for Design to act as the nodal agency for enhancing this domain in Karnataka,” said EV Ramana Reddy, additional chief secretary, department of information technology, Bt and S&T, Government of Karnataka.

The announcement was made during the Nasscom Design4India summit and awards at Bengaluru.

Launched by Nasscom in 2016, Design4India focuses on building design capability and capacity in the information technology workforce by catalysing the ecosystem of design practitioners, academia, industry and the government. Design4India is an open platform that enables the design and technology ecosystem to come together and drive design adoption at scale.

“Bengaluru is competing at a global level through exchange of people and ideas so that Karnataka may consistently maintain its lead position in innovation, science and technology. The World Design Organisation’s initiative World Design Capital (WDC) is the designation given to a city which has proven the use of design in revitalising urban areas. It is indeed a matter of pride that Bengaluru has been shortlisted as one of the two finalists for the World Design Capital 2022,” Reddy added.

Karnataka government claims it has been taking various initiatives in the field of science to keep up with the technological development happening across the country.

In December 2018, the Karnataka government partnered with Nasscom to seek ideas in data science and AI.