Bangalore – Fostering the culture of innovation

Bangalore undoubtedly, is the IT hub of India. The city is also known as the Silicon Valley of India and is the 4th largest technological cluster in the world after Silicon Valley, Boston and London. Ever since India’s first IT park was built here, the city has had a huge influx of skilled migrants from around the globe. Nearly 40% of India’s IT industry is based here. The Karnataka government has always had an IT friendly policy and now, the city can boast on the presence of the Special Economic Zones(SEZs).

The city’s development has been indeed symbiotic with the IT industry. As one can imagine, the IT industry doesn’t draw in IT professionals alone, but also manpower and capital across all realms. The city has undergone many upgradations in the past, in terms of communications, infrastructure and connectivity-very much at par with the needs of the hour. The establishment of SEZs, which serve as good nurturing ground for startups has further boosted the inflow of migrants and investors.

The influx, further triggered the arrival of investors across the commercial spectrum. This led to more and better roads, elevated highways for IT parks, more number of schools, specialized hospitals, more choices of housing and many more, to list just a few, and so effectively this created more choices and options for all. The city caters to all lifestyles and has a Metro Railway system in place, which can be described as an innovation in terms to reducing road traffic to a great extent. The International Aiport has also been moved to a convenient location for better connectivity.

Two main roads in Bangalore-the outer ring road and inner ring road were primarily designed to facilitate quick transport which was much needed for the IT population. The elevated highway to Electronics city is also a good example of symbiotic growth. The law allows Duty free import/domestic procurement of goods for setting up of SEZ units and this creates a lot of business for local companies. Yet another example of symbiotic growth.

It would be very safe to say that Bangalore as a city has changed over the years to accommodate the IT needs and interests that arose. The culture of innovation has been deeply fostered over the years and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that almost every other business has set up venture in Bangalore, directly or indirectly because of the IT industry.