Minister for Electronics, IT&BT Priyank Kharge.
The state government on Monday launched the Kalaburagi Center for Entrepreneurship under its five-year Local Economy Accelerator Program (LEAP), which has a fund of ₹1,000 crore, meant to boost entrepreneurship in rural areas of the state to decentralize innovation and accelerate economic growth across emerging technology clusters.
Established in collaboration with KrishiKalpa Foundation, the entrepreneurship center aims to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Kalyana Karnataka with a strong focus on agriculture, allied industries, rural innovation and emerging technologies, according to a state government release.
The center will operate under market access and access to money mentoring and will offer structured incubation, acceleration, capacity building and business development. This would also include a prototyping lab that would allow start-ups to design, build and test world-class innovations locally, significantly reducing infrastructure and barriers to market entry.
Priyank Kharge, Minister for Electronics, IT, BT and Rural Development and Panchayat Raj said, “Kalaburagi represents the huge untapped potential of rural Karnataka – a region where more than 70% of the workforce contributes to the agrarian economy.”
Under LEAP and the new Center for Enterprise, the government planned to bridge the rural-urban divide by bringing technology, innovation and opportunity to start-up communities.
“With Karnataka’s IT-BT sector exceeding ₹ 1.5 crore and LEAP expected to create 5 million jobs, this center of excellence will encourage the youth of Kalaburagi to build sustainable livelihoods through innovation in agri-tech, deep-tech and allied sectors,” the minister added.
The 15,000 square feet facility is expected to promote agricultural technology, rural innovation and youth entrepreneurship across Kalyana Karnataka, the minister further said.
Published – 25 Nov 2025 01:13 IST
