THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An 8.5 lakh square feet building titled ‘Saraswathy’ has been proposed for the Technopark main campus to house Technopark-Technology Business Incubator (T-TBI), besides other learning facilities, including the Fablab and ICT Academy.
The building being planned in 4.5 acres of land between Bhavani and Thejaswani buildings will be the biggest in Technopark phase-I area. It is the last available piece of land in the phase-I area too. At present, Thejaswani is the largest building on Technopark campus with about six lakh square feet built-up areas.
“We have submitted a Rs. 160- crore project and are awaiting administrative sanction. The name Saraswathy has been identified as we plan to house learning and startup facilities in it,” said Technopark chief executive officer K.G. Girish Babu.
At a meeting with the IT leader organised by the Group of Technology Companies here on Thursday, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the government would consider allotting funds for Saraswathy.
T-TBI, which is one of the best and foremost incubation centres that received many national and international honours, has been working mainly on the basement floor of the park centre.
There has been a long-pending demand for a much ideal space for T-TBI. The ICT Academy, the public-private-partnership initiative to impart ICT skills to the youths, is now housed in Thejaswani building.
Also an Electronic Fabrication Laboratory (Fablab) to be set up in association with US-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will be shifted to Saraswathy once it is built, said Mr. Girish Babu.
