Over the next three years, the department of information technology, electronics and communication (DITE&C) aims to create an ecosystem to encourage innovators and startups to design tech services or products in Goa, said IT minister Rohan Khaunte on Wednesday.
The GOA (Global Opportunities Aggregator) roadmap, which was briefly outlined at a media event at Divar, aims to attract digital nomads to the state while also creating job opportunities for skilled youth.
“If someone wants to build a product out of Goa, they can come here where they have the ability to source the talent because there will be a lot of freelancers working around. This is what we are thinking through the design in Goa concept,” said D S Prashant, chief executive officer of the Startup and IT Promotion Cell.
The GOA roadmap includes the development of 100 villages into digital villages and creation of digital hubs along the beach belt for digital nomads and creative innovators.
“We want to create the right ecosystem in Goa so that anyone who wants to build something, they feel satisfied and pride in coming to build in Goa,” said Prashant.
More than IT manufacturing, the department wants to encourage research, innovation and development of intellectual property in Goa. One way to do this would be to fund higher research and PhD studies of women in Goa. “We are trying to get companies that can build intellectual property in Goa. If intellectual people can come and build IPs, that will add value to the ecosystem than the actual manufacturing process,” he said.
Prashant admitted that Goa cannot compete with larger tech hubs such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Pune and Chennai. Instead, Goa is looking to collaborate with the startup ecosystems in these hubs, he said.
“We want to build an ecosystem and it has to be through collaboration with all the major ecosystems in the country and outside the country as well,” said Prashant.
Earlier, Khaunte had outlined his plans to create 12 co-working spaces called ‘Sea Hubs’ near beaches to offer a healthy work-life balance to digital nomads and developers.