Responses pour in as Karnataka IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge opens conversation thread with tech community on LinkedIn

Several entrepreneurs jumped at the opportunity to pitch their products and services. | Photo Credit: Andrii Yalanskyi In an attempt to reach out directly to the tech community of Karnataka, IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge has started a thread on the professional networking platform LinkedIn inviting “ideas, challenges and suggestions” from the community. “I want to hear directly from the people building Karnataka’s technology ecosystem. If you are a founder, industry leader, researcher or professional, tell me what’s new, what you’re working on and what we can do together. Share a specific question, problem, suggestion or idea in the comments. If there is something we can meaningfully act on, my team and I will reach out and take the conversation forward. The best insights often come from those experiencing the opportunities and the gaps first-hand, so consider this an open thread,” the Minister wrote on LinkedIn. Pitches pour inThe invitation has received hundreds of responses within a day of posting it. Several entrepreneurs jumped at the opportunity to pitch their products and services.The responses broadly called for easier access to government grants/funding, data, research facilities, partnerships with government, transparent and time-bound government processes, usage of technology to solve civic problems, and so on.A large number of comments are also pitches for AI-based products and proposals to make Karnataka a centre for indigenous AI development.Support soughtInterestingly, despite multiple government programmes such as ELEVATE, LEAP, Government First and so on, a large number of entrepreneurs have sought easier access to grants, faster evaluation and disbursal, support for pre-revenue startups — especially in deep-tech, and simplification of application procedures and documentation.“Currently, most institutional support and incubation programmes mandate proof of revenue. For deep-tech innovations, generating early revenue is nearly impossible without extended R&D and prototyping. Further, independent innovators face extreme difficulties getting technical validation from premier institutions like IISc, as cold emails to professors rarely receive responses,” said a user, Renuka Kashi Bhatta.She asked the Ministry to consider establishing open-access labs where robotics and quantum computer founders could walk in to test their technology, a single-window channel through which early start-ups could connect with academic experts from institutions like IISc for product validation, and an expansion of existing grants to cover up to 200-300 pre-revenue start-ups simultaneously.“We along with other startups applied for Elevate 2026 with a lot of enthusiasm and expectation and submitted multiple documents at a very early stage. But we have not received any communication. The last communication we got was this and no other information. Kindly help us with this,” read a comment by another user’s comment, Suresh Natarajan. Yet another user pointed out that while government platforms have been digitised, there is no deadline for final approvals.‘Lack of space, preferential treatment’Users also pointed to the lack of space for start-up founders to experiment. A user named Avnish Vidha suggested reserving a section of public libraries for such work.Some complaints about alleged preference given to migrants over locals at IT companies were also seen among the comments.“One of the biggest challenges facing local engineers in Bengaluru is securing IT jobs, even after earning a Bachelor’s degree and acquiring the required technical skills. There is a growing concern that candidates from outside Karnataka are often preferred over local talent, partly due to the strong presence of migrant employees in IT companies and their influence within professional and hiring networks. This raises serious questions about equal employment opportunities, fair recruitment practices, and the future of qualified local engineers in Bengaluru, India’s IT hub,” said Vasu Thammaiah, another user. Published - October 31, 2026 07:19 pm IST