The Telangana government on Monday, April 19, launched its first apace-tech Framework, with a vision to establish the state as a “globally recognised one-stop destination for space technology”. The framework aims to encourage private participation in the space industry in line with the recent reforms by the Union government. The event was hosted on metaverse, making it the first such official event in India.
Noting that space technology is the state's next focus area, KT Rama Rao, Telangana's Minister for IT and Industries, said that with the national reforms supporting the increased participation of the private sector in the spacetech industry, Telangana shall be "supporting the innovation that is bound to occur".
"In the past, we have seen several foreign private players amaze the world with technological advancements, but we know that the majority of them are supported by brilliant Indian scientists and engineers. But now, it is time that the technology developed by Indians is built in the country and then exported globally. It's time that we occupy a larger share of the space industry that is expected to grow to $558 billion by 2026," the minister said.
A space-themed metaverse environment was custom-developed along with custom avatars of the key dignitaries for the launch event. Attendees joined the event using standard avatars on the platform and interacted with nearby participants while parallelly observing the event's proceedings — just like in a physical event. For the event, blockchain technology was created by Hyderabad-based tech company Gamitronics, and the metaverse platform was launched by teh firm PartyNite.
Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Somanath S, Chairman, ISRO, and Dr. Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe participated in the event. An NFT collection was launched at the end of the event, with the proceeds from its sale earmarked for support of one of the state government's technology-enabled social impact projects.