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Chandigarh: Hotmail founder Sabeer Bhatia on Wednesday signed an agreement with the Haryana government to jointly set up Nano City, a knowledge hub modelled on the Silicon Valley of the US.

To be built at a cost of Rs.18.5 billion (over 0 million), the knowledge city will deal in future technologies like nano-technology, biosciences, software product development, next generation Internet products, materials research and energy.

Bhatia's Nano Works Developers and the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corp (HSIIDC) will set up the project that will be spread over 11,000 acres in Panchkula district, about 45 km from state capital Chandigarh.

Bhatia said he wanted to set up the city on the lines of the Silicon Valley in the US - where he worked in the 1990s and founded Hotmail, the first free e-mail service.

Bhatia, 37, sold off Hotmail to global software giant Microsoft for a reported 0 million.

He said India had provided people for the world's software industry and it was now time for the country to develop products and technologies for the world market itself.

"We foresee research establishments such as US universities, research and development centres of companies, which have been the centres of innovation, to carry out multi-disciplinary research and collective research with Indian centres of excellence in this Nano City," Bhatia said.

The new knowledge park will have fully developed infrastructure, including connectivity to airports, railway stations and highways. It will be implemented in two phases with the first phase comprising 5,000 acres.

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