Digital Science Park
IGNITING DIGITAL RENAISSANCE
Kerala which took many pioneering steps in the modern education sector, kept its promise intact of becoming a knowledge economy when Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the country’s first digital science park on April 25.
Giving impetus to scientific discoveries, and applied research while bridging the gap between the industry and various government initiatives, the Digital Science Park coming up close to Digital University Kerala at Technopark Phase IV will further strengthen Kerala’s commitment towards making India a Knowledge hub.
Triple Helix Model of Convergence
Proximity many often means success. If once internet-connected people and smartphones made communication easier, now in the age of Artificial Intelligence when industry 4.0 is bringing in unforeseen changes, the new philosophy is deep connect.
Coming up adjacent to a University like DUK, which focuses mainly on niche areas of emerging technologies, the Digital Science Park will create a new ecosystem. It will ensure that academia -research -industry can make seamless convergence possible with government support to create the much-needed futuristic development model instead of relying on just the conventional pattern of the hub and spoke model.
Digital Industry, Digital Applications, Digital Deeptech, and Digital Entrepreneurship – the four thematic pillars of Digital Science Park will act as a catalyst of growth to meet the ever-growing demands of the tech industry.
Rather than companies coming in and just investing in a space allotted by the government, the new development model will ensure industry needs are met by academia like Kerala Digital University which is already equipping students with the right skilling to be industry ready. At the same time, industries can collaborate with the upcoming Digital Science Park for research and innovation needs. They can meet global compliance and industry standards through a variety of international academic collaborations.
Not only nurturing talents in high-tech innovations and commercialization for making Indian products with global market acceptance, the convergence of research, innovation, industry and education will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of India where currently Digital transformation is being given a big push by both state and central governments.
Four thematic pillars of the Digital Science Park
Digital Industry with a focus on industry 4.0, electronics, semiconductors and VLSI, and 5G communications, smart materials, medical materials etc
Digital Applications with a focus on e-mobility and digital health.
Digital Deeptech with a focus on AI, Block chain and security, Geo-and sustainable informatics.
Digital Entrepreneurship with a focus on creating new products, capacity and jobs.
These thematic pillars will translate to highend research labs and facilities which will include, clean rooms, material characterisation facilities, integrated sensor labs, energy labs, motor and drives labs, RF and wireless testing labs, unconventional computing centres, high-end data centres, robotics labs, electronic design centre, software development labs, informatics and computing labs, and block chain and cyber security labs.
The digital science park will become operational with its first centre on electronics system design focusing on analogue and mixed-signal systems, VLSI, AI processors etc. ARM has signed an agreement with Digital University Kerala on the academic, research and start up-related activities as part of this upcoming centre. Similarly, the center for AI will focus on both the hardware and software aspects of responsible AI, where NVIDIA will join as a partner to the centre.
Among international engagements, the University of Manchester, the University of Oxford and the University of Edinburgh have signed MoUs with Digital University Kerala to officially engage in the development of the Digital Science Park.