THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala's capital city is included in the global list of 24 tech cities that are showing impressive growth. IT experts say that the climate and high standard of living are the reasons why Thiruvananthapuram was featured in a survey conducted by BCI Global, a consulting firm based in the Netherlands. The aim was to find cities favorable for software development and other investments. Last month, Thiruvananthapuram was also included in a study conducted by Nasscom, a conglomerate of IT companies, and Deloitte, which is based in the UK. Entrepreneur-friendly environment and infrastructure development led to this achievement. In addition to the health and education sectors, there has been an increase in startups in the fields of cloud computing, machine learning, big data, blockchain technology and artificial intelligence. The boom has also been fueled by the arrival of a startup hub in Technopark's fourth phase at Pallipuram, Technocity, which will house 1,000 startups.

Foreign companies are an added advantage

• The presence of Japan's Nissan and America's Taurus helped Thiruvananthapuram's IT potential gain global attention.
• In the last five years, more than 100 companies have moved to the capital from other cities
• Apart from Thiruvananthapuram, only Kolkata is in the list from India
• International airport, presence of digital hubs and software companies, highways etc. are the criteria for cities to be selected for the study.
• Kolkata made it to the list due to English speaking ability and attractive rates