| Type | Government owned |
|---|---|
| Industry | Information Technology Business Park |
| Genre | Infrastructure Service Provider |
| Founded | July 1990 |
| Headquarters | Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India |
| Number of locations | Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam |
| Key people | K G Girish Babu, CEO M. Vasudevan, Senior Manager |
| Owner(s) | Government of Kerala |
| Employees | 30,000 |
| Website | www.technopark.org |
Technopark is a technology park in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), Kerala, India. The park is dedicated to IT ventures. It is the first and largest technology park in India.[1] Launched in 1990, Technopark as of 2011 has 600,000 square metres of built-up space, and is home to over 250 companies, employing more than 35,000 professionals.[2] Technopark is currently on an expansion mode by adding another 37 hectares as part of Phase III expansion and 450 acres (1.8 km2) 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.[3][4] As of late 2010, Technopark accounts for about 70% of IT exports from Kerala.[3][4][5]
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 Program Implementation Board, both of which include top officials of the government.[6] Administrative offices, including that of the CEO, are housed in the Park Centre building. Technopark also hosts a Technology Business Incubation Cell and Software Competency Centre, situated in the Park Centre.
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In July 1990, the Government of Kerala conceptualized 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".[7]
The foundation stone for the first building in Technopark was laid on March 31, 1991 by the then Kerala Chief Minister, E.K. Nayanar. 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.[8]
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 February 22, 2007, Technopark became the largest IT Park in India.[9]
As of 2011, Technopark has 250 companies in IT and ITES sector with around 35,000 employed in various sectors.[10] Technopark houses major IT companies like Oracle Corporation, Infosys, TCS, ITC Infotech, HCL along with Visual Graphics India Limited, Ernst & Young Global Shared Services Center, Allianz, RR Donnelley, UST Global, Tata Elxsi, IBS Software Services, NeST Software, SunTec Business Solutions and Flytxt,[11] to name a few. The latest company to evince interest in setting up their facility in Technopark are Aegis Global [12] and Capgemini [13]
Technopark hosts two prominent educational and research institutes. The Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management–Kerala (IIITM–K) is a premier institution of Higher Education and Research and Development in applied Information Technology and Management. In addition to providing post graduate courses in Information Technology, IIITM–K is a leader in Educational Networking and in setting up web portals which benefit the community.[14] Portals for Computational chemistry and agricultural information dissemination are among its focus areas.[15] IIITM–K is located at present in Park Centre.
The Asian School of Business (ASB) is an institution of post graduate management education. ASB was started in 2005. It is currently located inside Technopark and plans to move to a nearby campus in 2007. ASB offers the full-time Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGPM).[16] 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.[17]
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.
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-square . 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.
| Name | Number of floors | Total area (in thousand sq ft) |
Number of elevators | Generator backup |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pamba | 4 | 60 | None | 50% |
| Periyar | 4 | 60 | None | 50% |
| Chandragiri | 4 | 57 | 2 | 100% |
| Gayathri | 3 | 129 | 4 | 100% |
| Nila | 7 | 400 | 6 | 50% |
| Bhavani | 6 | 480[19] | 6 | 100% |
| Thejaswini | 12 | 850[20] | 8 | 100% |
| TCS Peepul Park | 4 to 5 | 325[21] | N/A | 100% |
| IBS Campus | 4 to 10 | 450[22] | N/A | 100% |
| Leela Info Park | 12 | 460[23] | N/A | 100% |
| N/A indicates no information available | ||||
| 10 sq ft.=~1 m². | ||||
Other facilities in the campus include:
Technopark offers electricity through a 110 KV, 30 MVA dedicated internal power distribution system with built-in redundancies at all levels. Technopark is a licensee for distribution of power in the campus. Water supply is distributed by Technopark through a dedicated 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.
Thiruvananthapuram is connected to the National Internet Backbone and Technopark is serviced by a variety of bandwidth providers, including Reliance Infocomm, Bharti Airtel, Videsh Sanchar Nigam and Asianet Dataline, through fibre optic lines in the campus. There is a satellite earth station inside the Phase I campus as well.
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 fiber 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.[24][25]
The Technopark Business Incubation Centre (T-BIC) 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.[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.[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 almost completed acquisition of 100 acres (0.4 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 (0.15 km².) hybrid IT-and-residential park as part of Technopark Phase III.[6][36] Patni Computer Systems has already announced that it will set up a Rs 150 Crore ($US 32 Million) Development Centre in Phase III.[37]
The IInd and IIIrd phase of expansion of Technopark along with the ramping up of operations of the existing IT units are expected to see an investment of around Rs. 3000-4000 Crore ($US 0.75 Billion) and an additional employment creation of 80,000-100,000.
The Phase IV 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 km².) of land, about 5 km (3.1 mi) from the present campus. This land is currently being acquired. It will be a self contained IT township with the potential to employ a hundred thousand professionals.[38][39] The expected investment in the project is around Rs 6,000 Crores (Over US$ 1.5 Billion), as per latest estimates.[40]
Once Technocity's land acquisition is complete, Technopark will have an extent of close to 850 acres (3.5 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.[41] 204 acres (0.8 km².) out of the project area has already been acquired.[42] 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.[43]
There are three Special Economic Zones (SEZs) inside Technopark encompassing Phases I, II and III.[44] Phase IV will also become an SEZ once land acquisition is completed. This provides a range of attractive economic benefits to the companies operating within Technopark
The culture at Technopark is cosmopolitan and diverse and in keeping with its motto Harmony at Work. It has been often acclaimed as one of the greenest IT parks in the world,[45] The campus is lush green with balconies and expansive terraces on almost all buildings providing relief to professionals working here as greenery and fresh air.
Technopark houses companies and people from around the world. Indian companies have offices alongside IT and ITES companies from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy. This makes for a diverse multi cultural community, working in harmony. To promote harmony in this diversity Technopark has set up a range of facilities and annual events as technical conferences to trekking expeditions to the annual fiesta, Tech-a-break.
The club in the campus of Phase I provides diverse facilities for professionals to unwind.[46] These include a gym, a swimming pool and courts for badminton and table tennis and beach volley ball. 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.
The Club often organises multi cuisine food festivals to cater to the tastes of the diverse mix of people in Technopark besides events as discos, cultural competitions, and other events. Performers include well known rock groups, DJs and dance performers.[46]
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.
The Club aims to take advantage of the diverse environs of Thiruvananthapuram to engage in adventure activities along with enjoying their idyllic beauty and solitude. With an ideal combination of hills, backwaters, beaches and forests close to Thiruvananthapuram, employees don't have to travel too far to indulge in their favourite activities.[47]
Tech-A-Break is Technopark's annual cultural extravaganza.[48] 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.[49]
Natana is a club launched in partnership with the Group of Technology companies-a strategic grouping of IT/ITES enterprises of Kerala. Natana will serve as a platform to create an enabling environment for the IT professionals working in Technopark to nurture their artistic talents and creative aspirations. The objective of the club, Natana is to bring together professionals from the Technopark who are keen to pursue interests in culture, music, films, dance and other forms of traditional arts. The club also aims to facilitate partnerships with cultural organizations locally, nationally and internationally to facilitate cultural exchange programs and also to organize regular cultural evenings, events, film festivals and musicals for the benefit of the professionals in Technopark.[50]
Technopark has come to be the single largest source of employment in Kerala,[51][52] with over twenty thousand people working directly in the facility itself. Thus its impact on the city of Thiruvananthapuram has been very significant.
Its cosmopolitan workforce has helped bring diversity to the city's population, along with other national entities like the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Southern Command HQ of the Indian Air Force, Government of India offices and major educational institutions.
The Government has plans to set up an IT Corridor along the National Highway-47 (NH 47), starting from Technopark towards Kollam.[53]
The influx of high-income IT professionals has also resulted in the arrival of high-end apartment complexes, retail chains, top class hotels and other facilities of a modern city. Other facilities like an improved road network and a high speed transportation avenue along the alignment of the IT Corridor are also in process or being planned.[54] A massive International Convention Center is also coming up nearby, at Akkulam. Being built at a cost of Rs 150 Crores ($US 32 Million) by a joint venture of the Raheja Group and the Government of Kerala, it will further boost the supporting infrastructure of Technopark.[55][56]
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. With a potential hundred and fifty thousand IT professionals working in the four Phases of Technopark by 2012,[57] the impact on the economy of the city and its suburbs, with a population of about 2 million, will be significant. [58]