The Telangana government on Monday launched its 'SpaceTech Framework' to support the participation of private industry in the space tech sector and the framework's vision is to establish the state as a "globally recognised one-stop destination" in the technology. The event was held on Metaverse and the government said it was the country's first ever official event hosted on the virtual-reality space. NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, ISRO Chairman S Somanath, Telangana IT Minister K T Rama Rao and others participated in the event.

Metaverse is a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users.

Talking about the state government's initiatives to promote emerging technologies and the progress made in those areas, Rama Rao, who launched the Framework, said the government sees space technology as its next focus area.

The space tech industry - both upstream segment such as satellites and downstream segment such as Applied AI/Analytics - is at an inflection point of accelerated growth, he said.

With the national reforms supporting the increased participation of the private sector in space tech industry, Telangana shall be supporting the innovation that is bound to occur, the minister said.

In the past, several foreign private players amazed the world with technological advancements, but it was known that a majority of them are supported by Indian scientists and engineers, he said.

"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 USD 558 billion by 2026," Rama Rao said.

Hyderabad is already uniquely positioned to become a hub for space related activities owing to synergies with the existing aerospace and defence ecosystem and its global supply chain, he said.

"It is evident as Hyderabad based SMEs contributed over 30 per cent parts for ISRO's highly acclaimed Mars Orbiter Mission. We also have some of the best startups in Hyderabad," the minister said.

With the launch of the SpaceTech Framework and the initiatives to be undertaken under it, the state government would further accelerate the ecosystem and realise its vision to establish Telangana as a globally recognised one-stop destination in space technology, he said.

On the occasion, he announced the launch of the government's SpaceTech NFT (Non Fungible Token) collection. The proceeds from the NFT sales would be used to support a technology-enabled social impact project, he added.

Amitabh Kant appreciated the launch of the SpaceTech Framework. He spoke about the country's potential in the area of space and other relevant issues.

Somanath thanked the Telangana government for launching the Framework and assured support to the endeavour.