Karnataka will build a technology and innovation museum in Bengaluru to showcase the state’s tech, startup, and innovation landscape, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai announced on Thursday.

The museum is expected to be built on a budget of around Rs 100 crore and will open to the public in stages, with the first phase expected to take place within the next 18-24 months.

The museum will be built on the lines of Bezos Centre of Innovation in Seattle, US and Peres Centre for Peace & Innovation in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The museum, which will be built on the city’s NGEF (New Government Electrical Factory) site in Baiyappanahalli, will showcase Bengaluru’s rise as India’s tech capital. The museum, which is expected to be “experiential and dynamic,” will also use interactive technologies to focus on the city’s tech, innovation, and startup ecosystem’s constant shifts.

“Globally, leading tech hubs like Tel Aviv and Seattle have highlighted their tech legacies through museums,” said Un Prashanth Prakash, founding partner of Accel and chairman of UnboxingBLR Foundation. Recent examples include the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation in Tel Aviv and the Bezos Center for Innovation in Seattle. We hope that our museum will be able to add Bengaluru to this global list.”

According to a report by market intelligence firm Tracxn, Bengaluru leads the list of Indian cities receiving the most startup funding in 2022, followed by Delhi NCR and Mumbai.

The decision to build the museum comes after the three-day annual tech expo, “Bengaluru Tech Summit,” which was held last month. It culminated in the state government envisioning the establishment of a startup park near Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, the establishment of approximately 50 research and development labs in 50 colleges across the state, and plans to establish science and technology research centres in universities, all in an effort to drive the city’s growth of technology and innovation.

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