Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 16 (IANS): Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the state capital will soon be developed into a major digital hub and a premier destination for start-ups.

He was inaugurating the country's biggest beachside startup conclave Huddle Global 2023, a three-day event organised by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM), here.

The event also saw KSUM exchanging Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Belgium and Australia to set up its Startup Infinity Centres in the two countries, opening up immense opportunities for enterprises from Kerala's ecosystem to scale up operations and expand the market.

"The state government's pro-active initiatives, including Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centres (IEDC) for colleges, Young Entrepreneurship Programme (YIP), incubation and acceleration programmes and corporate innovation efforts have collectively helped Kerala's startup ecosystem to flourish and grow," said Vijayan.

Belgium's Ambassador to India, Didier Vanderhasselt, who exchanged MOU with KSUM CEO, noted the agreement will lead to KSUM setting up its Startup Infinity Centre in Brussels, opening up vast opportunities for start-ups from Kerala.

"The pact will facilitate Kerala start-ups to collaborate with the European tech hub in areas like digital technology and life sciences to scale up their product range and expand the market," said Vanderhasselt.

Catherine Gallagher, Minister Commercial and Head of Austrade South Asia, said it is significant to note that the MoU with KSUM comes at a time when the ties between India and Australia are marked by a strong and comprehensive strategic partnership.

Now into its fifth edition, Huddle Global 2023 has convergence of around 15,000 delegates from within the country and abroad, besides showcasing cutting-edge products from emerging sectors such as robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality, virtual reality, life sciences, space tech, blockchain, IoT, e-governance, fintech, healthtech, agritech, edutech and SaS from across the country's ecosystem.