The Karnataka government has intensified its push to position the state as India’s leading commercial space innovation hub, with plans to strengthen infrastructure, manufacturing, testing capabilities, skilling, and data-driven applications across the spacetech ecosystem.
The Department of Electronics, IT, and BT convened a high-level consultation chaired by Priyank Kharge, Karnataka Minister for Rural Development & Panchayat Raj and IT/BT, bringing together startups, academia, industry leaders, and institutional stakeholders to deliberate on the next phase of the state’s space economy ambitions.
The discussions followed the recent launch of Karnataka’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Space Technology that focuses on building a comprehensive ecosystem spanning upstream and downstream space applications, advanced manufacturing, and innovation.
Addressing the roundtable, Kharge said, “Spacetech is a key pillar in Karnataka’s deeptech stack under our DeepTech Decade vision. Karnataka is uniquely positioned to lead the next phase of India’s commercial space growth by building deep capabilities across innovation, advanced manufacturing, data, upstream, and downstream applications.”
He further highlighted the importance of shared infrastructure for startups and MSMEs, stating, “Common testing and validation infrastructure can significantly reduce barriers for startups and MSMEs while accelerating product development cycles and commercial readiness. Equally, space data is becoming foundational to the new-space economy, with applications across agriculture, climate resilience, logistics, disaster management, and governance. Karnataka must lead not only in launches and innovation, but across the entire space value chain.”
A major focus of the consultation was the proposed establishment of a Common Assembly, Integration and Testing (AIT) facility in Karnataka, particularly to support functional and environmental testing for startups and manufacturers. According to the department, land parcels around Bengaluru are being evaluated, with work expected to begin in the coming weeks under a public-private partnership model to create advanced testing infrastructure.
Stakeholders also discussed enabling easier access to existing testing infrastructure available across government institutions, academia, and industry, while exploring the development of dedicated space manufacturing parks and cluster-based industrial ecosystems aligned with Karnataka’s Space Policy.
Dr N Manjula, Secretary, IT BT Department, said Karnataka’s early policy interventions have helped shape its leadership position in the sector. She stated Karnataka's draft Space Policy, reflecting our early commitment towards building a globally competitive commercial space ecosystem. “Our policy vision is anchored in long-term ecosystem leadership spanning infrastructure, manufacturing, research, talent development and industry collaboration,” she said.
The consultation also focused on expanding SME participation in the space supply chain and strengthening workforce development through the state’s NIPUNA skilling initiative.
Representatives from leading spacetech startups and organisations, including Pixxel, KaleidEO, Astrogate Labs, GalaxEye, Ananth Technologies, Centum Electronics, HAL, and IN-SPACe, participated in the discussions, alongside research institutions and academia.
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