Telangana inks pact with Google for ''Safety Engineering Centre'' in Hyderabad

Telangana government on Wednesday said it has entered into a strategically-crucial and broad ranging partnership with Google under which the latter is committed to establishing India’s first Google Safety Engineering Centre (GSEC) here.

GSEC in Hyderabad would be the second-of-its-kind in the Asia-PAcific region, after Tokyo, and only the fifth in the world, with similar facilities in Dublin, Munich and Malaga.

This GSEC is a specialized international cybersecurity hub that will play a vital role in developing advanced security and online safety products for the Indian context, a press release from the state government said.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Industries and IT minister D. Sridhar Babu held crucial meetings to convince Google leadership on their visit to the IT giant’s global headquarters in August 2024.

"We are very proud that Google has chosen Hyderabad for setting up the GSEC. This partnership is a testament to Hyderabad’s standing as a leading IT and innovation hub in the country, and world," Revanth Reddy said after the partnership was inked.

Telangana has always been at the forefront of digital skill development and Hyderabad which is already home to five of the most valuable tech companies in the world—Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Meta (Facebook) has been the epicenter of IT / ITES development globally, he further said.

Royal Hansen, Vice President, Engineering, Google - Privacy, Safety, Security said, "We are super excited that Google is establishing the GSEC in Hyderabad, a city that is wonderfully positioned to become the global capital and hub for safety engineering, including cyber and digital security. Hyderabad, with this partnership, can become a global centre for this huge area and cater to needs of the world in security."

The common alignment of vision of excellence between Google and CM Revanth Reddy to make Hyderabad a global centre promises scope for more partnerships ahead, he further said. Google may also explore an agreement to partner with the Telangana government to set up India’s first Google-powered Intelligent Traffic Management System, among other initiatives, the release added.