Rohit Bhat (left), Convenor of Silicon Beach Programme, welcomes Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, Chief Executive Officer of Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), to the ‘Silicon Beach Dialogue Series’ programme in Mangaluru on Friday. | Photo Credit: H S Manjunath

Mangaluru technology cluster needs to change its approach to innovation if it wants the region’s technology ecosystem to grow, according to Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, Chief Executive Officer of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM).

Delivering a talk on ‘How talent migration is reshaping India’s TECHADE?’ at the ‘Silicon Beach Dialogue Series’ programme in Mangaluru on Friday, he said the Mangaluru cluster of KDEM has an amazing quantity of talent supply, and a significant portion of the experienced talent is coming back to the region to work from Mangaluru.

Urging the need for the Mangaluru cluster to start thinking very differently, with an innovation layer on top of the talent it has, he said this layer comes from academia and industry. “If we are not able to bring this together, this innovation layer will never come, and we will miss this bus,” he said, adding, Mangaluru cluster will have to bring this partnership of academic and industry together in a big way.

Industry-academia partnership key to future growth

Stressing the need to properly design an industry-academia adoption programme, he said the Government is trying to enable a detailed version of this programme.

Proper focus on the innovation layer by the region’s technology ecosystem would help develop Mangaluru into the second-largest technology cluster in Karnataka, he said.

‘Home Coming’ initiative attracts experienced tech professionals

Prashanth Shenoy, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of UniCourt in Mangaluru, said that technology companies in coastal Karnataka have one of the lowest attrition rates. Referring to the ‘Home Coming’ initiative launched under the ‘Silicon Beach Programme’ of coastal Karnataka’s technology ecosystem, he said this platform provides an opportunity for the experienced tech professionals to come back to their region to work in the technology sector. Nearly 630 professionals with more than 10 years of experience in the technology sector have shown interest in returning to coastal Karnataka to work under this initiative. Of them, more than 300 have 15 or more years of experience, he said.

The Coastal Karnataka region now has more than 300 technology companies, with 35,000 professionals working there.

Published on July 10, 2026