Stakeholders aim to position M’luru as next global data centre

Mangaluru: The high-level CEO Roundtable, as part of Mangaluru Technovanza-2025, discussed the theme ‘Building Mangaluru as a Global Data Center Hub' on Wednesday. The stakeholders said they aim to position Mangaluru as a premier coastal destination for next-generation data centres, leveraging its strategic location, proximity to major ports, emerging digital infrastructure, and abundant renewable energy. It is designed to complement Bengaluru as India's resilient ‘Bengaluru+1' hub for data centre clusters, addressing the growing demands of global capability centres (GCCs) and hyperscalers.The roundtable featured prominent industry leaders, including Mohandas Pai (chairman, Aarin Capital), BV Naidu, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), and others. Aligned with the govt of India's vision for a sustainable and robust digital infrastructure, the roundtable explored key priorities such as attracting technology companies and data centres, establishing centres of excellence (CoEs) in emerging technologies, inviting GCCs, and strengthening research and development through industry-academia collaboration.The session captured actionable insights to chart Mangaluru's roadmap, assessing the current landscape, identifying strategic priorities, and outlining the next steps to solidify its position as a global tech and innovation hub.Startup pitch Beyond Bengaluru Blue – Mangaluru Edition programme, held earlier in the day, engaged 42 startups selected from over 50 applications, primarily pre-revenue ventures, with some already generating early revenue. The participants spanned sectors including AI/DeepTech, Healthcare/MedTech, CleanTech/ClimateTech, Consumer/Retail, FinTech, Mobility/Industrial Robotics, and PropTech, reflecting the diversity of Karnataka's emerging clusters.To date, Beyond Bengaluru Blue engaged over 400 startups, identified 36 fundable startups, and unlocked more than Rs 1.5 crore in early-stage funding, reinforcing Mangaluru's position as a growing technology and innovation hub.Key takeaways of roundtable #Expand presence to 225+ satellite offices by 2034.#Focus on BFSI, petroleum, healthcare, logistics.#Position Mangaluru as a cost-effective spoke-shore hub complementing Bengaluru.#Strengthen presence of global IT majors and homegrown firms.#Create world-class IT parks, SEZs, data centres, and collaborative hubs.#Achieve Rs 40,000 crore+ tech exports by 2034.#Scale from 200+ startups today to 4,000+ by 2034.#Build vibrant ecosystem of incubators, accelerators, CoEs, and domain-specific events.#Expand workforce to 2 lakh professionals by 2034.#Deepen industry–academia collaboration and multilingual skilling (AI, BFSI, healthcare, logistics, petroleum).#Foster inclusive, future-ready workforce development.