Kerala Government and United Nation’s Office of Information and Communication Technology will join hands to set up India’s first UN Technology Innovation Lab in Thiruvananthapuram. The lab will help the state government design programs to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set by the UN.
Water and Sanitation, Mobility and Agriculture are the areas the Government of Kerala has identified as areas best suited for this Innovation lab, as it would not only address the need for the State but also can be a collaboration lever with other member States of UN experiencing similar issues.
Also, read NASSCOM plans to set up a CoE for IoT in Hyderabad.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, “The establishment of UN Technology Innovation Lab in the State is a big recognition for the startup ecosystem here. I am really happy that focus of the innovation lab in Kerala is going to be on water resources, sanitation, and sustainable agriculture, the three major intervention areas of Haritha Keralam Mission, which are critical to our State.”
To take this forward, an ideation workshop was jointly organized by Kerala Startup Mission and United Nations Technology Innovations Labs (UNTIL) on Wednesday in which top officials of the state government and the UN took part.
The CM also addressed: “The other innovation lab is focusing on electric mobility, which is a futuristic concept as on today. The fact that Kerala is hosting the UNTIL in India is a big opportunity and a major boost to our efforts to ensure sustainable and equitable development in a balanced manner.”
Kerala Startup Mission will be spearheading this initiative on behalf of the government along with the Office of ICT, United Nations. The startups in the state will be working closely with the Innovation lab to build products addressing issues in focus areas.
Kerala Startup Mission CEO Saji Gopinath opined: “This initiative is a great opportunity for the Startups in Kerala to involve in creating path-breaking technologies that can address and resolve real-life concerns of common people.”
With this initiative, UN aims the member-states to promote innovation by creating a permanent place where experts from the UN, academia, private sector and representatives of member states come together to share knowledge, determine best practices and solve problems. Read more about Indian Startup Ecosystem.
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