Minister for Electronics, IT&BT Priyank Kharge.
The State government on Monday launched Centre for Entrepreneurship in Kalaburagi under its Local Economy Accelerator Programme (LEAP), five-year initiative, which has a fund pool of ₹1,000 crore, designed to boost entrepreneurship in rural areas of the State to decentralise innovation, and accelerate economic growth across emerging tech clusters.
The Centre for Entrepreneurship — being set up in partnership with the KrishiKalpa Foundation — aims to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Kalyana Karnataka with a strong focus on agriculture, allied sectors,rural innovation, and emerging technologies, as per a State government communique.
The centre will operate on a framework of Mentorship for Market Access and Money Access, and would offer structured incubation, acceleration, capacity building, and entrepreneurial development. This would also comprise a Prototyping Lab to enable start-ups to design, build, and test world-class innovations locally—significantly reducing infrastructure and market-entry barriers.
Priyank Kharge, Minister for Electronics, IT, BT and Rural Development & Panchayat Raj, said: “Kalaburagi represents the immense untapped potential of rural Karnataka — a region where over 70% of the workforce contributes to the agrarian economy.”
Under LEAP and at the new Centre for Entrepreneurship, the government was planning to bridge the rural–urban divide by bringing technology, innovation and opportunity to start-up communities.
“With Karnataka’s IT-BT sector crossing ₹1.5 lakh crore and LEAP projected to create 5 lakh jobs, this Centre of Excellence will energize Kalaburagi’s youth to build sustainable livelihoods through agri-tech, deep-tech and allied-sector innovation,’’ the Minister added.
The 15,000 sq ft. facility was expected to boost agri-tech, rural innovation, and youth entrepreneurship across Kalyana Karnataka, the Minister further said.
Published – November 25, 2025 01:13 am IST
