Mumbai, Sep 16 (IANS) Over 25,000 scientific experts from around 100 countries will work at a state-of-the-art innovation park which will be set up near Mumbai, the state government announced Thursday.

The innovation park would be set up by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) following a green signal from Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

The complex, expected to cover a 5,000-acre land near Panvel in Raigad district, would have a research and development centre for the private sector.

The park would have health, pharmaceutical, nano-technology, bio-technology, functional food, bio-polymer micro electronics, embedded systems, water technology, clean technology, energy, defence, internal security, fuel cell and digital media sectors.

An international convention centre, an international research centre, a business incubator, design institute and a learning centre within the park would make the state an important global destination for scientific conventions.

This would help enhance the country’s gross domestic production besides creating around 100,000 jobs within the next three to five years.

The MMRDA will get technical collaboration from the Science & Technology Park, University of Pune, and Sophia Antipolis, France, will be one of the project partners.

The proposal for the innovation park was announced a year ago following which major companies, including Reliance Infra, Bharati Group, ILFS Infrastructure, IndiaBulls and others, evinced keen interest in the project.