Mr Sabeer Bhatia, the founder of Hotmail -- the world's first free online email service --  signed an agreement with the Haryana government on 1 November 2006 to jointly set up Nano City, a knowledge hub proposed on the lines of the Silicon Valley in US.

The Rs.1,850 crore knowledge city will deal in future technologies like nano-technology, biosciences, software product development, next generation Internet products, materials research and energy.

Nano Works Developers (promoted by Bhatia) and Haryana State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corp (HSIIDC) will set up the project spreading over 11,000 acres in Panchkula district, about 45 km from state capital Chandigarh.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.

Background: Mr Sabeer Bhatia worked at Silicon Valley in the 1990s where he developed Hotmail that was later sold to Microsoft for a reported $400 million.