Type Government owned Owner Government of Kerala | Phone 0471 270 0222 | |
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Industry Information Technology Business Park Genre Infrastructure Service Provider Founded July 1990
Dedicated to nation in November 1995 Headquarters Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India Number of locations Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam Address Park Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695581 Hours Open today · Open 24 hoursTuesdayOpen 24 hoursWednesdayOpen 24 hoursThursdayOpen 24 hoursFridayOpen 24 hoursSaturdayOpen 24 hoursSundayOpen 24 hoursMondayOpen 24 hoursSuggest an edit Profiles | ||
Technopark is a technology park in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. It is the largest Information Technology park in Asia in terms of built up area.The park is dedicated to IT ventures. Launched in 1990, Technopark as of 2015 has 9.33 million square feet of built-up area, and is home to over 350 companies, employing nearly 50,000 professionals. Technopark is currently on an expansion mode by adding another 37 hectares as part of Phase III expansion and 423 acres as Technocity—an integrated IT township near Pallippuram. The policy of economic liberalisation initiated by the government of India in 1991 and the rapid growth of the global software industry during the 1990s substantially contributed to its growth. During the global financial crisis of 2007–2010, the park saw a period of reduced growth in 2009-10, where the exports recorded was only 2.8% more than the previous year. As of 2014, Technopark accounts for about 55% of IT exports from Kerala.
Contents
- History and mission
- Workforce
- Institutions
- Infrastructure
- Buildings
- Utilities and support facilities
- Connectivity
- Technopark Business Incubation Centre T BIC
- Phase II
- Technopark Phase III
- Phase IV expansion Technocity
- Special Economic Zones in Technopark
- Technopark Club
- Technopark Adventure Club
- Tech A Break
- Socio economic impact
- References
The units in Technopark include domestic firms, joint ventures and subsidiaries of foreign companies engaged in a wide variety of activities, which include embedded software development, smart card technology, enterprise resource planning (ERP), process control software design, engineering and computer-aided design software development, IT Enabled Services (ITES), process re-engineering, animation and e-business. Technopark is owned and administered by the Government of Kerala and is headed by a chief executive officer. In addition to this, it has a Governing Council and a Project Implementation Board, both of which include top officials of the government. Administrative offices, including that of the CEO, are housed in the Park Centre building. Technopark also hosts a Technology Business Incubation Cell under Kerala Startup Mission.
History and mission
In March 1990, the Government of Kerala conceptualised Technopark as a facility to foster the development of high-technology industries in the state. Technopark was set up under the auspices of Electronics Technology Park, Kerala—an autonomous body under the Department of Information Technology of the government of Kerala.
Technopark's aim was to create infrastructure and provide support required for the development of high-technology companies. Its stated mission is to "Provide, Viably, Superior Environment and Services with Assured Quality of Service to Make Technology Businesses Intrinsically Competitive And Successful, and Promote Regional Development through Synergistic Linkages Between Industry, Government and Academia, based on Continuous Improvement and Innovation". Foundation stone for Technopark laid by Sri. E K Nayanar, Chief minister of Kerala and presided by Smt K R Gowri Amma, Minister for industries on 31 March 1991.
The foundation stone for the first building in Technopark was laid on 31 July 1991 by the then Kerala Chief Minister, K. Karunakaran. Noted industrialist K. P. P. Nambiar was Technopark's first chairman. Technopark was formally dedicated to the nation by the then Prime Minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao in November 1995.
Since then, Technopark has been growing steadily both in size and employee strength. Park Centre, Pamba and Periyar were the only buildings in the beginning. Since then, Technopark has periodically added new buildings such as Nila, Gayathri and Bhavani. With the inauguration of the 850,000 sq ft (79,000 m2). (85,000 sq m.) Thejaswini on 22 February 2007, Technopark became the largest IT Park in India. After that Leela Group has built a Facility (Leela Infopark), which hosts MNCs like Allianz, Oracle Corporation, D+H, RM Education, Zafin.
Workforce
As of now, Technopark has more than 350 companies in IT and ITES sector with around 50,000 employed in various sectors. Technopark Campus hosts some of the biggest IT names like Attinad software, Infosys, UST Global, Navigantbpm, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Allianz Cornhill, Oracle Corporation, IBS Software Services, Kerala State Data Centre, Tata Elxsi,Aegis Software, SunTec Business Solutions, RR Donnelly, QuEST Global, Toonz Animation, Ernst & Young, Netessen Technologies, Speridian Technologies to name a few.
Institutions
Technopark hosts two educational and research institutes. The Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management–Kerala (IIITM–K) is an institution of Higher Education and Research and Development in applied Information Technology and Management. Portals for Computational chemistry and agricultural information dissemination are among its focus areas. IIITM–K is located at present in Park Centre.
The Asian School of Business (ASB) used to work out of Technopark offering its flagship post graduate management programme, before moving to its own 16 Acre LEED Certified campus in 2011. The Asian School of Business is managed by a Board of Governors which includes stalwarts of the Indian IT industry like Tata Consultancy Services CEO S. Ramadorai and Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan.
Infrastructure
Technopark aims to provide all the infrastructure and support facilities needed for IT/ITES and electronics companies to function. In addition to built-up office space, it also provides all utilities as well as the connectivity. This is done either directly or through private partners. In addition, Technopark provides business incubation facilities for start-up firms as well as some social infrastructure for the personnel working in the park.
Buildings
There are currently about a dozen buildings inside the Technopark campus intended for software development. Seven of the buildings in Technopark are named after rivers in Kerala—the Pamba, the Periyar, the Nila, the Chandragiri, the Gayathri, Bhavani and the Thejaswini. The seventh building is named Thejaswini and was commissioned in February 2007, with over 600,000 sq ft (56,000 m2). (60,000 sq m.) of carpet area. There are also independent buildings of private enterprises inside the Phase I campus named Amstor house, Padmanabham and M-squared. These buildings aggregate to a total of about 3,500,000 sq ft (330,000 m2). (350,000 sq m.) of space, either complete or under construction.
Other facilities in the campus include:
Utilities and support facilities
Technopark offers 100% power backup, uninterrupted water supply and ambient air conditioning for all buildings Technopark offers state of the art infrastructure facilities. 100% power is availed through Kerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEBL) and the annual Diesel Generator operations are at < 5% time. (95% uptime on electricity). Technopark offers electricity Transformers capacity ie, 110kV substation, 25 MVA dedicated internal power distribution system with built-in redundancies at all levels. Technopark is a licensee for distribution of power in the campus. The water supply is maintained by Technopark through a dedicated distribution system (dedicated power & water distribution system).
Technopark has support facilities such as a satellite earth station, a 200-seater convention centre, a club and guest house, a shopping complex (Techno-Mall), banks, ATMs, restaurants and conference rooms on campus. Furthermore, setting up of new units is accelerated by exemption from State level clearances as well as through ready-to-use incubation facilities.
Connectivity
Technopark offers as many as 8 Internet Service Providers - BSNL, Reliance Infratel, TATA Communication, Bharti Airtel, Asianet Satellite Communication, KELNET, Railtel Corporation, City cables offer their services in Technopark. Leased line in Fiber connectivity available in all buildings on the campus guarantees that connection breaks are a thing of the past. FLAG Telecom—a subsidiary of Reliance Infocomm—has landed its FALCON global cable system at Thiruvananthapuram, providing direct connectivity to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Technopark is connected through fibre link, in self-healing redundant ring architecture to Reliance Internet Data Center and Gateway at Mumbai, directly connecting to FLAG, the undersea cable system backbone that connects 134 countries including U.S, U.K, Middle East and Asia Pacific. This provides connectivity with the Middle East, South East Asia, Far East, Europe and North America.
Technopark Business Incubation Centre (T-BIC)
The Technopark Business Incubation Centre (T-BIC) now Kerala Startup Mission aims to provide economically plug and play facilities to start-ups in the IT/ITES fields. This facility has given rise to over 47 successful ventures, many of whom have expanded by taking up space elsewhere in Technopark. T-BIC currently has 8,000 sq ft (740 m2). (800 sq m.) at Park Centre, and this is being expanded with another 10,000 sq ft (930 m2). (1000 sq m.) in the newest Technopark building, Thejaswini. One of the latest companies started at T-BIC is Entiresoft Technologies Private Limited.
Phase II
Technopark has acquired 86 acres (0.35 km2) of land, for its Phase II expansion.
Technopark Phase III
Technopark has almost completed acquisition of 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land for Phase III expansion. Firms like Larsen & Toubro and the Rahejas are planning major developments within and around Technopark as well. L&T has already announced its plans to set up a 35-acre (0.14 km2) hybrid IT-and-residential park as part of Technopark Phase III. iGate (formerly Patni Computer Systems) has already announced that it will set up a Rs 150 crore ($US 32 million) development centre in Phase III.
The second and third phases of expansion of Technopark along with the ramping up of operations of the existing IT units are expected to see an investment of around Rs. 3000–4000 crore (US$ 0.75 billion) and an additional employment creation of 80,000–100,000.
Phase IV expansion – Technocity
The fourth phase of Technopark is also referred to as the Technocity project. It involves a mixed use—IT, biotechnology, nanotechnology, commercial and residential development—spread over 500 acres (2.0 km2) of land, about 5 km (3.1 mi) from the present campus. This land is being acquired. It will be a self-contained IT township with the potential to employ a hundred thousand people. The expected investment in the project is around Rs 60 billion (over US$1.5 billion), according to 2007 estimates.
Once Technocity's land acquisition is complete, Technopark will have an extent of close to 850 acres (3.4 km2), making it one of India's largest IT satellite townships, in geographic area, comparable to that of projects like the Mahindra World City in Chennai.
The government of Kerala has decided to partner with multiple private developers for Technocity and has formed a special company – Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited (KSITIL) – to take up the work. 204 acres (0.83 km2) of the project area has already been acquired. A Request for Qualification was issued on 1 June 2008 and nine major developers including international majors Emaar and Forest City Enterprises have applied for qualification.
Special Economic Zones in Technopark
There are three Special Economic Zones (SEZs) inside Technopark encompassing Phases I, II and III. Phase IV will also become an SEZ once land acquisition is completed, which provides a range of attractive economic benefits to the companies operating within Technopark.
Technopark Club
The club in the campus of Phase I provides diverse facilities for professionals to unwind. These include a gym, a swimming pool and courts for badminton and table tennis and beach volleyball. The Club also has a massage parlour, Vaisakha—a multi cuisine restaurant and provides tour operators for organising recreational travel of employees and their families.
Technopark Adventure Club
The Technopark Adventure Club provides adventure activities to employees of Technopark and their families. It holds activities like parasailing, rock climbing, rappelling, trekking and camping, paragliding camps at Munnar and corporate training camps.
Tech-A-Break
Tech-A-Break is Technopark's annual cultural extravaganza. Typically held over the course of a week, it kicks off with a Carnival parade and ends with performance by top-notch professional bands, dance groups and musicians.
Socio-economic impact
Technopark has come to be the single largest source of employment in Kerala, with over thirty thousand people working directly in the facility itself. Thus its impact on the city of Thiruvananthapuram has been very significant.
Flight connectivity with IT hubs like Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad is available from Trivandrum International Airport. The combined disposable income of Technopark employees has brought an infusion of wealth into the entire region through secondary service activities like retail, hospitality, transportation, financial services and so on.