Bengaluru to build tech, startup-focused museum

Showcasing the state’s tech, startup and innovation landscape, Karnataka will build a technology and innovation museum in Bengaluru, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai announced on Thursday. 

The museum is likely to be built on a budget of about Rs 100 crore and is expected to open for general public in a phased manner, with the first phase of its inauguration expected to take place in the next 18-24 months. 

“I want to tell the story of all ignited minds of Karnataka, the history and journey of innovation. It will showcase what Bengaluru is today and people who are responsible and their achievements,” Bommai said, at the BLR Design Week 2022.  

The museum will be built on the lines of Bezos Centre of Innovation in Seattle, US and Peres Centre for Peace & Innovation in Tel Aviv, Israel.  

The museum, to be built at the city’s NGEF (New Government Electrical Factory) site located at Baiyappanahalli, will exhibit Bengaluru’s emergence as India’s tech capital. Expected to be "experiential and dynamic,” the museum is also expected to focus on the constant shifts in the city’s tech, innovation and startup ecosystem using interactive technologies.  

“Globally, leading tech hubs like Tel Aviv and Seattle have underlined their tech legacies through museums. Peres Centre for Peace and Innovation in Tel Aviv and Bezos Centre of Innovation in Seattle are great recent examples. We hope our museum will add Bengaluru to this global list,” Prashanth Prakash, founding partner of Accel and chairman of UnboxingBLR Foundation said. 

The announcement comes at a time when Bengaluru leads the list of Indian cities receiving maximum startup funding in 2022, followed by Delhi NCR and Mumbai, according to a report by market intelligence firm Tracxn.

The decision to construct the museum follows the three-day annual tech exposition, “Bengaluru Tech Summit”, organized last month. It culminated with the state government envisaging the establishment of a startup park near Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, the set-up of about 50 research and development labs in 50 colleges across the state, and plans to set up science and technology research centres in universities, in a bid to push the growth of tech and innovation in the city.