The India Innovation Centre for Graphene, the country’s first graphene innovation centre, will become operational by September this year. Announcing an allocation of ₹10 crore for the current year, Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal said that the Kerala Digital University has signed an MoU with institutions including Manchester University, Oxford University and Siegen University Germany for research and development activities related to the graphene ecosystem.
The institution functions under the joint auspices of the State government and Union Government with the Digital University and the Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology (C-MET), Thrissur, as the implementing agencies and Tata Steel Limited as the industrial partner. Administrative sanction has been accorded for the project with an estimated expenditure of ₹86.41 crore.
Mr. Balagopal said that the Digital Science Park, which was announced in the previous Budget, will be functional by May this year. An area of 13.65 acres of land has been identified for Digital Science Park at Technopark Phase-IV, Thiruvananthapuram. Till the completion of building construction, 10,000-sq ft space has been identified on Technopark campus for the functioning of the Digital Science Park. Digital University has signed an MoU with the University of Edinburgh for establishing the Park.
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An amount of ₹5 crore is set apart for the first phase of the project to establish Core Centre of Excellence and Nutra-Enterprises Division at Bio 360 Life Sciences Park, Thiruvananthapuram with the support and participation of Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology. The construction of an IT park in Kannur will also commence this year. The project report for the initiative, announced in the previous Budget, has now been completed, said Mr. Balagopal.
An amount of ₹10 crore has been earmarked for the Centre of Excellence in Microbiome to be established at Life Sciences Park, Thiruvananthapuram, under the aegis of Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment with the support and participation of RGCB.
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