Bengaluru to build its own tech and innovation Museum

Bengaluru is set to build a Tech and Innovation Museum in the city. According to a note shared with YourStory, the museum will be experiential and interactive, built on the lines of Bezos Centre of Innovation in Seattle and Peres Centre for Peace and Innovation in Tel Aviv.

This will be India’s first innovation museum built to international standards. The plan to build the museum was announced by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai while during the inauguration of BLR Design Week on Thursday at Hotel Lalit Ashok in Bengaluru.

“I want to announce another project which will motivate our present and future generation. I want to tell the story of all ignited minds of Karnataka, the history and journey of innovation. It will showcase what Bangalore is today and people who are responsible and their achievements,” he said.

What will the museum contain?

It will showcase Bengaluru’s tech, startup and innovation landscape, serving as a one-point resource to explore and understand Bengaluru’s journey to become India’s tech capital - capturing its past, present and future. This museum will actively document the rapid and constant shifts in the city’s tech, innovation and startup ecosystem.

Wanting it to match the greenery of the city and an upcoming tree park, the chief minister said it will come up at the New Government Electrical Factory (NGEF) site located at Baiyappanahalli.

“Globally, leading tech hubs like Tel Aviv and Seattle have underlined their tech legacies through museums. Peres Centre for Peace and Innovation in Tel Aviv and Bezos Centre of Innovation in Seattle are great recent examples. We hope our museum will add Bengaluru to this global list,” said Prashanth Prakash, Chairman, UnboxingBLR Foundation and founding partner of Accel India, in a conversation with YourStory.

Prasanth will also be spearheading the efforts to get the museum up and running. "Whether it was in terms of the first space organisation or the first startup like Flipkart, the journey always starts in Bengaluru. We have always been a hub for innovation. This wouldn't have been possible without Ashwath Narayan, Karnataka, IT&BT mInister, and Vandita Sharma, Karnataka's Chief Secretary," he said.

The idea of this museum has been in works for close to four years now. Prashanth, who will be spearheading the efforts said, "While the feeling is exciting, I would say the real work begins now." He added, Bengaluru has always been a city of new beginnings.

Having been in the works for nearly four years now, the tech museum is also aligned with month-long BLR Design Festival which will organise over 700 events and witness a gathering of over 50,000 design professionals, creative minds, architects, thought leaders, policy makers, government officials, general public and students.