 | |
 Aerial view of Technopark Phase I campus in June 2014 | |
| Company type | Government owned |
|---|---|
| Industry | Information Technology Business Park |
| Genre | Infrastructure Service Provider |
| Founded | July 1990 Dedicated to nation in November 1995 |
| Headquarters | , |
Number of locations | Thiruvananthapuram,Kollam |
Area served | 12.72 Million sq.ft. |
Key people | Chief Minister of Kerala,Chairman Dr. Rathan.U. Kelkar IAS, Principal Secretary (Electronics & IT) Col Sanjeev Nair (Retd), CEO |
| Owner | Department of Electronics and Information Technology,Government of Kerala |
Number of employees | 75,000 |
| Website | https://technopark.org |
Technopark is atechnology park inThiruvananthapuram in the state ofKerala,India. conceptualized in 1990 by theGovernment of Kerala, under chief ministerE K Nayanar. The largestinformation technology (IT) park in Asia in terms of area.[1]
Late Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran is considered a key architect and driving force behind the establishment and development of Technopark, India's first IT park located in Thiruvananthapuram. While the project was conceptualized during the E.K. Nayanar-led LDF government in 1990, it was Karunakaran who took initiative to make it a reality during his subsequent tenure as Chief Minister. Key details of their relationship include:Foundation Stone (1991): K. Karunakaran laid the foundation stone for the first building of Technopark on March 31, 1991.Implementation & Realization: Despite initial challenges, Karunakaran played a crucial role in building Technopark in record time.Official Launch (1994): He officially launched the park on July 28, 1994, along with then IT & Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty.Inauguration (1995): The park was formally dedicated to the nation on November 18, 1995, in the presence of then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao, with Karunakaran playing a key role in its development.Developmental Vision: Karunakaran is credited with pushing for the project to put Kerala on a developmental, high-tech trajectory.
Technopark has 12.72 million sq ft (1.182 million m2) of built-up area, and is home to over 490 companies, employing more than 75,000 professionals, and still growing.
Thepolicy of economic liberalisation initiated by thegovernment of India in 1991, and the rapid growth of the global software industry during the 1990s, substantially contributed to this growth. As a result of the2008 financial crisis and theGreat Recession, the park saw a period of reduced growth in 2009–10, when exports were only 2.8% more than the previous year.[2][3] During the 2016-17 financial year, the park recorded IT exports of Rs. 5,000 crores.[4]
Technopark is owned and administered by theGovernment 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.[5] Administrative offices, including that of the CEO, are housed in the Park Centre building. Technopark also hosts a Technology Business Incubation Cell underKerala Startup Mission.
Technopark houses domestic firms, joint ventures, and subsidiaries of foreign companies engaged in a wide variety of activities, which includeembedded software development,smart card technology,enterprise resource planning (ERP),process control software design, engineering andcomputer-aided design software development,IT Enabled Services (ITES), process re-engineering, animation, ande-business.
Then Chief Minister of Kerala,E. K. Nayanar visited theApple facility in theUnited States in 1989. This led to forming of Technopark, India's first IT park and still remains the largest in India. Nayanar laid the foundation stone on 1990 after it was registered under the Travancore Cochin Scientific and Charitable Societies Act. As of 2020, the IT park employs 70,000 people and provides indirect employment to lakhs.[6] 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 to support the development of high-technology companies.[7]On 31 March 1991, the foundation stone for Technopark was laid byE K Nayanar, Chief Minister of Kerala, at a ceremony presided over byK R Gowri Amma, Minister for Industries. Technopark was formally dedicated to the nation by the then prime minister,P.V. Narasimha Rao, in November, 1995.[8]
Since then, Technopark has been growing steadily both in size and employee strength. Park Centre, Pamba, and Periyar were the only buildings constructed in the beginning, by 1995. Since then, Technopark has periodically added new buildings, such as Nila (1997), Gayathri, and Bhavani. With the inauguration of the 850,000 sq ft (79,000 m2) "Thejaswini", on 22 February 2007, Technopark became the largest IT Park in India.[9] After that, Leela Group has built a facility, "Leela Infopark", that hostsMNCs likeAllianz,Oracle Corporation,D+H,RM Education, andZafin.
Technopark has become the single largest source of employment in Kerala,[10][11] with over seventy thousand people directly working in the facility.
Technopark hosts about 470 companies, and a workforce that numbers more than 70,000 personnel, in the IT and ITES sectors: companies such asAllianz,Ernst & Young, Speridian Technologies,Infosys, Guidehouse India,Oracle Corporation, Quest Global, SunTec Business Solutions,Tata Consultancy Services (TCS),Tata Elxsi, Toonz Media Group, andUST Global,[1] as well asFinastra,H&R Block,IBS Software Services,Nissan Digital,RM Education,Envestnet,Tech Mahindra andRR Donnelly.
Technopark hosts two educational and research institutes. TheIndian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala, (IIITM–K) is an institution of higher education andresearch and development in applied Information Technology and Management.[12] Portals forcomputational chemistry and agricultural information dissemination are among its areas of focus.[13] IIITM–K is located at present in Park Centre.
TheAsian School of Business (ASB) used to have its flagship post-graduate management programme in Technopark, before moving it to its own 16 AcreLEED-certified campus in 2011.[14] The Asian School of Business is managed by a board of governors, which includes Tata Consultancy Services CEOS. Ramadorai and Infosys CEOKris Gopalakrishnan.[15]
Technopark aims to provide the infrastructure and support facilities needed for IT/ITES and electronics companies to function. In addition to office space, it provides utilities and connectivity, which is done either directly or through private partners. Besides, Technopark providesbusiness incubation facilities for start-up firms as well as some social infrastructure for thepersonnel working in the park.
There are currently about a dozen buildings on the Technopark campus intended forsoftware development. Seven of the buildings are named after rivers in Kerala—thePamba, thePeriyar, theNila, theChandragiri, theGayathri,Bhavani, and the Thejaswini, the seventh building, which was commissioned in February 2007, with over 600,000 sq ft (56,000 m2) and 60,000 square metres (650,000 sq ft) of carpet area. There are also independent buildings of private enterprises inside the Phase I campus: Amstor House, Padmanabham, and M-squared. These buildings have an aggregate floor area of about 3,500,000 sq ft (330,000 m2)[citation needed].
| Name | Number of floors | Total area (in thousand sq ft) | Number of elevators | Generator backup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pamba | 4 | 60 | 1 | 50% |
| Periyar | 4 | 60[citation needed] | None | 50% |
| Chandragiri | 4 | 57[citation needed] | 2 | 100% |
| Gayathri | 3 | 129[citation needed] | 4 | 100% |
| Nila | 7 | 400[citation needed] | 6 | 50% |
| Amstor | 5 | 350[citation needed] | 4 | 100% |
| Bhavani | 6 | 480[17] | 6 | 100% |
| Thejaswini | 12 | 850[18] | 8 | 100% |
| M-Squared Building | 4 | 45[19] | 2 | 100% |
| TCS Peepul Park | 4 to 5 | 325[20] | N/A | 100% |
| Tata Elxsi Neyyar | 4 | 100[citation needed] | 4 | 100% |
| IBS Campus | 4 to 10 | 450[21] | 2 | 100% |
| Leela Info Park / Carnival Technopark | 14 | 460[22] | 6 | 100% |
| Quest Global Towers | 7 | 400[citation needed] | 6 | 100% |
| IIITM Kerala | 4 | 4 | 100% | |
| N/A indicates no information available | ||||
| 10 sq ft.=~1 m2. | ||||
Other facilities in the campus include:
Technopark infrastructure facilities include power backup, uninterrupted water supply, and ambient air conditioning;[clarification needed] for all buildings. 100% of electric power is available from theKerala State Electricity Board Limited (KSEBL) and the diesel generators operate with less than 5% annual downtime (with at least 95% uptime, generating electricity). Technopark has its own 110kV electric transformer substation and a 25 megavolt-ampere dedicated internal power distribution system with built-in redundancies at all levels. The water supply is maintained through a dedicated water distribution system.
Technopark has other support facilities such as a satellite earth station, a 200-seaterconvention centre, a club, a 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.
Technopark Express service is a public transport system for Technopark employees. It was inaugurated on 17 April 2017 by Hrishikesh R Nair, the then CEO of Technopark, Infopark, andCyberpark.
Technopark offers multipleInternet service providers, includingReliance Infocomm,STPI,BSNL,Bhari, andVSNL.[23] Leased-line fiber connectivity is available to all buildings on the campus, guaranteeing that connection breaks are a thing of the past.
Global Cloud Xchange—a subsidiary of3i Infrastructure—has itsFLAG global cable system at Thiruvananthapuram, providing direct connectivity to theMaldives andSri Lanka. Technopark is connected through fibre link, with a self-healing redundant ring architecture, toGlobal Cloud Xchange's data center and gateway at Mumbai, directly connecting toFLAG, the undersea cable system backbone that connects 134 countries including theU.S.,U.K., and other countries, in North America,Europe, theMiddle East,South East Asia, andAsia Pacific.[23][24]
TheKerala Startup Mission, formerly known as the TechnoparkBusiness Incubation Centre (T-BIC), aims to provide economical plug-and-play facilities to start-ups in the IT/ITES fields.[25] This facility has given rise to over 47 successful ventures, many of whom have expanded by taking up space elsewhere in Technopark.[26] 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.[clarification needed][27]One of the latest companies started at T-BIC is Entiresoft Technologies Private Limited.[26]
Technopark has acquired 86 acres (0.35 km2) of land, for its Phase II expansion.
Technopark has completed acquisition of 100 acres (0.40 km2) of land for Phase III expansion. Firms likeLarsen & Toubro andthe 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.[36][37]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.[38]
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 creation of 80,000–100,000 jobs.[citation needed]
Taurus Investment Holdings, along with its partners Embassy Group and Asset Homes, is building a mixed-use project that is to build 5,500,000 square feet (510,000 m2) of floor space on 20 acres (8.1 ha) of land, as a part of Phase 3.[citation needed]
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. It will be a self-contained IT township with the potential to employ 100,000 people.[39][40] The expected investment in the project is around Rs 60 billion (over US$1.5 billion), according to 2007 estimates.[41]
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 ITsatellite townships in terms of geographic area, comparable to that of projects likeMahindra 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.[42] 204 acres (0.83 km2) of the project area has already been acquired.[43] A Request for Qualification was issued on 1 June 2008, and nine major developers, including international majorsEmaar andForest City Enterprises, have applied for qualification.[44]
There are threeSpecial Economic Zones (SEZs) inside Technopark. Each economic zone encompasses one of Phases I, II, or III.[45] Phase IV will also become an SEZ once land acquisition is completed and will provide a range of economic benefits to the companies operating within Technopark.
A sports and recreation club on the campus of Phase I provides diverse facilities for professionals to unwind.[46] These include a gym; a swimming pool; and courts for basketball, badminton, table tennis, and beach volleyball. The club supports tour operators in organising recreational travel of employees and their families; it also has a massage parlour, Vaisakha, and a multi-cuisine restaurant.
The Technopark Adventure Club provides adventure activities to employees of Technopark and their families. It organises activities such asparasailing,rock climbing,rappelling, trekking andcamping,paragliding.[47] It administers a camp atMunnar, as well as corporate training camps.[citation needed]
Tech-A-Break is Technopark's annual cultural extravaganza.[48] Typically held over the course of a week, it kicks off with aCarnivalparade and ends with performance by professional bands, dance groups, and musicians.[49]
The climactic scenes of the 1997 Malayalam filmSuperman were filmed in Technopark's Travancore Hall.
The 2009 Malayalam filmRitu was extensively shot on the Technopark campus.
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