Hyderabad, April 19 : The Telangana government on Monday launched its SpaceTech Framework, with a vision to establish the state as a globally recognized one-stop destination for space technology. The framework aims to encourage private participation in the space industry in line with the recent reforms by the Union government. Noting that space technology is the state's next focus area, K.T. Rama Rao, Telangana's Minister for IT, Industries, and MAUD, said that with the national reforms supporting the increased participation of the private sector in the spacetech industry, the Telangana shall be "supporting the innovation that is bound to occur". "In the past, we have seen several foreign private players amaze the world with technological advancements, but we know that majority of them are supported by brilliant Indian scientists and engineers. 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 $558 billion by 2026," the minister said. The event was hosted on metaverse, making it the first such official event in India. A space-themed metaverse environment was custom-developed along with custom avatars of the key dignitaries for the launch event. Attendees joined the event using standard avatars on the platform and interacted with the nearby participants while parallelly observing the event's proceedings - just like in a physical event. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Somanath S, Chairman, ISRO, and Dr. Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe participated in the even. An NFT collection was launched at the end of the event, with the proceeds from its sale earmarked for support one of the state government's technology enabled social impact projects. /IANS