To evangelize the product design ecosystem in India, NASSCOM has partnered with Facebook to build a ‘Product Design Initiative‘ in India. This will be a flagship program of the NASSCOM Product Council and will aim to support 500+ product startups on product design and train 5,000+ product designers over a period of two years.

India is at an interesting inflection point – there is increasing focus on building technology products and solutions that enable innovation and access.  At the same time a key gap to spur innovation is the focus on design – product design that is simple, yet builds a powerful product and exemplifies customer experience. This initiative stems from the need to build design skills that will propel innovative thinking and approaches to build solutions in key sectors where technology can play  a transformational role.

Speaking on the announcement, R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM said

Design as a tool for innovation has developed rapidly in recent years. Design thinking, methodologies and tools enable solutions for complex and challenging issues and help re-imagine systems. With this initiative, NASSCOM plans to scale up the focus on product design and engage the young entrepreneurs into becoming problem solvers and solution builders.

Mr Ravi Gururaj, Chairman, NASSCOM Product Council said

India’s product landscape is rapidly maturing and innovative solutions are getting built across a spectrum of verticals and business needs. The Product Council has been running design workshops and an annual design summit to create awareness on product design and its imperatives. The Design Initiative will aim to build and diffuse a design culture across our ecosystem, link up with academia, recognize outstanding designs and overall ensure India’s software products delivery delightful customer experiences.

Julie Zhuo, VP, Product Design, Facebook said

The Product Design ecosystem is evolving swiftly and to seize this growth we need to solve a few challenges such as a growing need for skilled designers and better design tools to produce great designs more effectively. At Facebook, we are passionate about design and would like to work alongside industry to foster innovation in product design in India, a country known for great technology and engineering talent. We are pleased to join hands with NASSCOM and through this initiative support and mentor the design community in India.

This unique nationwide initiative by NASSCOM will offer focused programs to build awareness around product design, training on design tools, Design Lab, Awards, Design sprints and mentorship.

About NASSCOM

NASSCOM is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPM industry in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1800 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in India. NASSCOM’s member and associate member companies are broadly in the business of software services, software products, consulting services, BPM, e-commerce and web services, engineering services and animation and gaming. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs about 3.5 million professionals.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is investing Rs. 171 Crores in Indian eye-wear company Lenskart, to help the company expand access to high-quality and affordable eye-care products in Tier-III, Tier-IV cities. IFC was the lead investor for the Rs. 400 crores Series D investment round which also saw participation from TPG Growth, Adveq Management and IDG Ventures. In addition, Ratan TataKris Gopalakrishnan [Co-founder of Infosys)] invested in their personal capacity as part of this round. Avendus Capital was the exclusive financial advisor to this transaction.

Lenskart is into assembly, manufacturing, wholesale distribution and supply of high quality eye-wear products, such as eyeglasses, power sunglasses and contact lenses. Company plans to utilize the funds for strengthening its technology, supply chain, lens manufacturing, and expanding reach of its high-quality eye-wear products across 400 cities.

[Image Credit* – Lenskart]

Peyush Bansal, Founder and CEO of Lenskart said

IFC is a long-term partner with global knowledge and a broad network of Internet, technology and healthcare clients, including in the eye care space. We appreciate IFC for their support to our vision of ‘Lenskart glasses in every home’. We will be able to draw on IFC’s extensive global experience in the healthcare and manufacturing sectors, particularly in supply chain development and capacity building to realize its potential and develop best practices, he further added.

Pravan Malhotra, IFC’s co-lead for Global Internet Investments & lead for VC investments in South & Southeast Asia said

The Lenskart investment is a part of IFC’s Venture Capital group’s strategy to invest in innovative Internet, Healthcare and Technology companies across emerging markets. This investment will support a rapidly growing market leader in the Internet sector, while meeting a significant gap in the Indian eye care market As part of this investment, he will join Lenskart’s Board of Directors.

Lenskart has adopted a unique omni-channel approach thereby making eyewear truly accessible by making it available on desktop, mobile, hypermarkets, high streets, malls, hospitals and now even at home. The company conducts over 1,500 eye exams daily through its home eye exam service which it intends to make available for every home in urban and rural India.

Lenskart with its special focus on skill development and entrepreneurship development in India, gets people certified by National Skill Development Corporation [NSDC]. It runs skill development programs across four cities for training people on operating complex machinery required for manufacturing lenses as well as conducting accurate eye exams. It has over 100 business partners who run and operate stores and plans to partner with another 1000 entrepreneurs in the next three years. The company encourages women entrepreneurs under the Stand Up India scheme where it helps them get bank loans to become entrepreneurs.

Lenskart has been relentless about its focus on customer centricity. The company has built a strong leadership team, all of who work with the single mission of ‘creating enthusiastically satisfied customers all the time’. It has roped in professional stalwarts from retail, marketing and digital industries to head the respective divisions. The company will continue hiring great talent, particularly in technology.

About Lenskart

Founded in 2010, Lenskart is India’s largest online retailer of premium quality and stylish eye-wear, offering over 10,000 different styles to suit all pocket sizes and diverse consumer needs. With a unique click and mortar business model, Lenskart is revolutionizing the eye-wear industry by offering disruptive services like Free Home Eye check-up, 3D Try On, Free Home Trial and First Frame Free among others. Through innovative technology and a deep focus on consumer satisfaction, Lenskart has grown more than 200% year on year in the last 2 years, to be among the top 3 optical businesses in India. Lenskart has been funded by three venture capitalists till date, namely IDG Ventures ($4 million in October 2011) and Ronnie Screwvala-led Unilazer Ventures [$10 million in February 2013] and TPG Growth & TR Capital [$22 million in January 2015]. For more information, please visit LensKart

About IFC

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. IFC’s committed portfolio in India is over $5 billion as of June 30, 2015. In FY15, IFC committed $1.4 billion in new investments. In addition to strengthening local capital markets in India, IFC is focused on boosting financing in infrastructure and logistics, promoting financial inclusion, helping create conditions to attract increased private capital, and helping structure public-private partnerships.

In India, IFC’s venture capital group has supported a number of healthcare companies like Portea, EyeQ and Nephroplus. IFC is also building a portfolio of market leading internet companies that include BigBasket in India, Netshoes in Brazil, Souq in the Middle East and Hepsiburada in Turkey. For more information, please visit IFC

Couple of weeks back, while having chai [tea] at local tea shop, I noticed an interesting thing, the shopkeeper offered me tea in a paper cup that had ‘OLA Branding’ on it!! When there was further probing from my side, he informed that OLA Marketing team had given the tea cups for free and the quantity depended on the locality & density of prospective OLA customers [based on research done by the OLA team].
The cups were given out for free with the expectation that more & more people would come to know about OLA [and in turn use it’s services] i.e. converting prospective customers into customers. It looked a very interesting case of Guerrilla Marketing where they could grab more eye-balls with less spend on marketing!! After couple of days, there were Swiggy tea cups lying in his shop though the intention of this exercise was also the same !!!
Few days back, we received a Press Release of a startup named GingerCup that specializes in offline-marketing and Paper Cup advertising is one of their specialties :), lets’s look into what it can do for businesses. While online marketers are playing it hard with their tactics, GingerCup still sticks to offline marketing and busts the idea of an ad getting unnoticed.
Essentially, GingerCup optimizes two interesting offline marketing platforms. So, what do they do ?

Paper Cup Advertising

GingerCup’s marketing strategy entails bringing a brand into the limelight through exquisitely designed printed paper cups used for tea/coffee. The strategically designed quality paper cups feature the client’s logo, website address, offer code, contact details etc. upon them. After getting designed, they are then printed and distributed for free where they are likely to come in contact with targeted audience.
The expert team at GingerCup first decides the right set of people to target, the quantum of cups to be distributed, and the places where the cups are to be distributed. A purposefully designed quality tea cup gets the brand noticed and spoken about. People seem to enjoy every sip of their kick-start drink [tea/coffee] and thus spend ample to have it. So, while having it, they see an alluring ad right in their hand. It is not only welcomed but also shared further through word of mouth.

Flyers

Not all the flyers in the world are distributed with a strategy. GingerCup does it purposefully. It is beyond someone’s imagination how the booming online world can be a boon for an offline marketing campaign. Right from shopping clothes to give them for laundry, from buying books to ordering a pizza, everything is done online. We know everything which is bought has to get delivered at a customer’s place.
GingerCup prints enticingly designed flyers that speak about their clients’ brand/product/service and all the essential information the targeted audience would require knowing about them. Having tied up with the delivery providers, GingerCup gets the flyers delivered at a place along with the products being ordered online. In a fit of excitement to open a newly bought item, people notice what comes along with it. It then makes it certain for the flyer to get read and create an impact about the advertised brand on the reader’s mind.

Carrying a distinctive strategic approach, these marketing methods are easy on the pocket and fertile enough to breed the desired level of brand recognition for an advertiser. Therefore, when there is every possibility of an online ad getting scrolled down, GingerCup’s potential ad weapons are hard to ignore. Indeed, it is something here to stay.
Though Paper Cup Advertising looks very targeted, it would have been better if they could have also added QR Code on the cup which when scanned would take you to the Play Store to download Client’s App. This would have resulted in better ‘Call To Action’
How can Paper cup marketing be used in more engaging manner, please leave your suggestions in the comments section.

Zuver [earlier coverage here], a Mumbai-based start-up, co-founded by Sidhanth Mally and Sovin Hegde, have raised Rs. 1.2 crore [USD 180,000] in early stage funding from Shruth & Smith Group, Bangalore and Hermes Group, Mumbai.

The Zuver app offers customers great flexibility as they can book a driver in advance or real time for an hour, or for a whole day through an app. The technology that powers Zuver allows them to locate and dispatch the driver who is positioned closest to the customer, within 40 minutes. All these services are offered at a highly competitive price. Zuver is available on Android as well as on iOS and at http://zuver.in or you can connect with them at 022-43686868.

If you are a regular traveller, you can upgrade your Zuver App with a monthly subscription where you can avail the driver for an entire month at a discounted rate and unlike other driver services, you can even book a driver for an outstation trip. The Package deal for 8 hours which only costs you 650 rupees, pay per minute and flexi-plans make Zuver a highly economical choice.

With almost 60 drivers on board, Zuver is currently seeking Pre-Series A funding to expand to Pune and Bangalore. They are also planning to increase the number of drivers to 150 in Mumbai by May.

Commenting on the funding,  Sidhanth Mally, Co-Founder of Zuver said

The term Zuver means reliable. Our idea was to launch an app that offers a reliable, cost-effective and flexible driver on demand service. What would make us one of a kind is the credibility. We ensure that our drivers have gone through multiple screening processes and tests before they are Zuver Drivers. The first round funding was used to kickstart our operations in Mumbai. We will soon be seeking Pre-Series A funding to expand to other metros. Currently, our focus is to ensure that Zuver is launched and functioning immaculately

Sovin Hegde, Co-Founder of Zuver said

The concept of a driver on demand is underserved. An integrated app that would let you book, track and pay for premium driver services which not just offers any driver, but a sophisticated, well-spoken and well-mannered one at your doorstep is certainly a novel concept. We are empowered by a technology that would let us dispatch a driver within 40 minutes of your booking. Zuver will transform the way many commutes

Zuver for Android and iOS is available here & here respectively.

About Zuver – Driver on Demand
Zuver is a start-up with a unique selling proposition –a service that promises reliable, skilled, well-trained ‘driver on demand’ at your doorstep. They aim to make their drivers the gold standard for industry drivers and create a new benchmark. This mobile-first company that offers the best in class service is on its course to expand its presence in other metros. Zuver, Your driver on demand is available on Android and iOS or at 022-43686868. For more information, please refer Zuver

Swiss Re has announced the launch of its first-ever corporate InsurTech accelerator to help startups develop business solutions that could revolutionize the way (re)insurance conducts business. The accelerator is a program managed by Kyron.

A number of themes identified for the program include the Internet of things [home, industrial, health and motor], Systems of engagement [innovative distribution channels and models, digital assistants/Robo advisors etc.] & Smart analytics [across insurance value chain].

[Image Source - InsurTech]
[Image Source* – InsurTech]

Jason Richards, Head P&C Business Management and Technology , Reinsurance, Swiss Re said

Fintech is already disrupting the wider financial services world and is now starting to make its mark on insurance. We are seeing Fintech being used to engage with customers in novel ways: new methods of delivery, new products and new data sources will all have an impact on underwriting and our understanding of risk. Swiss Re aims to be at the heart of these changes, helping to make the world more resilient to shocks.

Jason Richards added

The Accelerator program provides a great opportunity for innovative startups to develop their products and business case. And it allows Swiss Re to connect with innovative, new companies to share ideas and learning. For the first program, up to five startups in India will be selected. Managing risk may have been our core business for more than 150 years but we have never stood still. We want to continue to collaborate and learn so that we can create smarter solutions for our clients, helping the world rebuild, renew and move forward.

Speaking at the occassion, Alok Kumar, Managing Director, Swiss Re Bangalore said

The world, today, is constantly changing and to keep pace with the risk landscape, we need to continually innovate around how we offer risk protection products. Through this program, we are creating an innovation platform that reinforces our long-standing commitment to bring out new and improved solutions that directly addresses real-world business challenges for the insurance industry.

Vidhya Shankar, Head – Partnerships, NASSCOM 10000 startups said

We are excited about our partnership with Swiss Re to discover, mentor and accelerate high potential startups in the larger fintech space. Given NIPP’s [NASSCOM Industry Partnership Program] endeavor to bridge disruptive startups with global enterprises keen to adopt Open Innovation we enable collaboration at multiple levels – M&A, Go to Market, Domain specific Mentorship, Acquihire. The InsurTech accelerator program by Swiss Re is pioneering and will go a long way in bringing Indian innovation to the global business community.

During the program, startups will have access to global expertise and insights from the Swiss Re team, strong mentoring support from global thought leaders and technical enablement to work effectively from the Swiss Re, Bengaluru office. At the end of 16 weeks, the selected startups will present their learnings and achievements to Swiss Re’s ecosystem partners, potential investors and panel of judges.

Additional program benefits

  • Engagement with global reinsurance leader
  • Opportunity to work for global markets/business topics
  • State of the art facility located in Bangalore
  • 3+1 months of office space
  • Invitation to participate in industry related events

This initiative is the first-ever initiative by a reinsurance company to foster technology innovation amongst startups in the insurance tech area in India.

Program will commence in July 2016 and interested startups can apply for the program here

Entire 2015 had revolved around startups in the Hyper-Local segment that aimed at bringing more convenience to the customers by delivering daily chores at the doorstep. This was all done at the click of a Button i.e. through an app. Be it Peppertap (that recently shut down it’s Grocery Business), Grofers etc., each one of them wanted a share of the pie.

With the Hyper-local segment getting over-crowded with many players & customer-acquisition costs rising, it gave rise to the next wave of commerce namely ‘Conversational Commerce‘. Here the consumer has the privilege to locate nearby businesses, chat with the business-owners and place order on the App. Once the order has been confirmed, logistics team delivers the order at your doorstep (free of cost). This is termed as O2O (Online to Offline) commerce. The startups that pre-dominantly operate in this market segment are GoodBoxLook UpMagicX etc. Some of them use AI to reduce manual intervention when answering questions from customer over the chat (thus resulting in reduction of overall operational costs).

The core of all these ‘Conversational Commerce’ startups is to leverage medium of chat so that customers can order anything (food, grocery etc.) on the app. For curiosity purpose, we happened to give a shot to GoodBox and the experience was overall satisfactory (right from Items Search-> Adding them to cart-> Placing the order and doing the payment). In this article, we review GoodBox App from features, reliability, UX, payment etc. point of view; so let’s get started.

[Image Credit* – GoodBox]

GoodBox : What’s in the Box

GoodBox is a conversational m-commerce startup that has is co-founded by Abey Zachariah [ex-RedBus core team], Anand Kelaginamani [IIM-B], Charan Raj [ex-Accenture], Mahesh Herle [ex-National Instruments], Mayank Bidawatka [ex-RedBus core team & co-founder The Media Ant], Mohit Maheshwari [IIM-B] and Nithin Chandra [NIT-K & IIM-B].

It aims to bring neighbourhood Kirana stores, saloons, spas, restaurants etc. online and helps them create a store-front [using the GoodBox Seller App] within minutes. Just like traditional e-commerce companies, there is a customer facing app and the other is Seller app [that seller can use to manage his inventory]. It provides the seller Seamless Discovery, Ordering and Payment. It was recently in news when they acquired SmartPocket for an un-disclosed amount. It had earlier raised $2.5 Million in Series-A funding from Nexus Venture Partners.

GoodBox : Key Features

As mentioned earlier, GoodBox wants customers to connect, chat and buy (the final transaction) from your local businesses without any compromise on the privacy. On launch of the app, it shows the registration page where user needs to enter his/her mobile number and email. An OTP is then received to complete the verification. We found the registration process very simple and less time-consuming (since un-necessary fields were not required to be filled at the registration time).

The App only requires access to GPS and the number is kept private (since the entire transaction occurs over chat)!! Some of the key features of GoodBox are:

Discover : Find businesses around you which might otherwise might take time to locate.

WhatsApp like easy chat interface : Since virtually every mobile user in India is present on WhatsApp, hence it was primarily important that their chat interface did not have many deviations in it’s UX. The customer facing GoodBox app is very well designed and is easy to use (since we are all familiar with WhatsApp)!!

No Middleman :  There is one to one chat between the customer and seller that results in lesser delay (in responding to chats).

Business Profile : You can check the Business Profile, Business Timings, Last online status of the seller, location etc. What we liked about this feature is that there was a specific mention about the seller’s average response time (on chat) and that coupled with Last Online might result in customer-stickiness i.e. if Seller response time is fast, than there are high chances that customer might not look for similar seller in his/her vicinity.

Payment : Payment can be done either via Card or Cash. Surely, the team at GoodBox would be working with the SmartPocket team for their in-house wallet integration that would result in better margins on every per-transaction.

Online Catalogue & Prompt Delivery : 100+ categories (Groceries, Restaurants, Chemists, Laundry etc) are present on the app. It has tied-up with major super-markets and local grocery stores in Bangalore (for the areas where GoodBox is currently operational). There are 10000+ grocery products and browsing (and comparing them with similar products) is very easy.

BESCOM Bill Payment : You can pay your BESCOM bill on GoodBox without any hassles. You need to just enter your Account ID to make the payment.

GoodBox : Detailed review

Once the user logs-in to GoodBox, it takes you to the home screen. You can now search for Businesses who are present on GoodBox (and available in your vicinity) via the ‘Explore’ button. What we really liked is that the Seller rating is also displayed along with the search, this results in making informed decisions since user does not have to go to ‘Seller Profile’ to check the rating!!

Once you have short-listed the seller, you can start chatting with them. In case if the seller does not respond in stipulated time (which is the average response time), the Reminder feature is turned ON. Once the user selects Remind, GoodBox would ping the seller once they are online. It is a very good approach so that the seller does not loose a prospective customer (which might result in customer retention).

The Seller Business Timings are also mentioned in the address bar that is necessary so that it is clear to customer whether any response from seller is expected (at that very moment).

For the review, we ordered cake from nearby Cake Shop (that is listed on GoodBox) and the entire process was seamless. Payment was done using Mobikwik and delivery was prompt (within 30 minutes) & was fulfilled by the Cake Shop itself. Similar to Hyper-local businesses, GoodBox relies on Seller’s logistics capabilities (if they have it) or might have tied-up with logistics providers that provide last-mile delivery (which is useful for sellers who do not want to own logistics).

GoodBox : Scope for improvement

Last online : When we searched for sellers, we noticed that there are many sellers who were ‘last online on GoodBox’ 2~3 months back. For the purpose of the review, we pinged them but there was no response from them (even after 30 minutes). On the other hand, some sellers did not respond even after having read the message!!

This might result in bad-customer experience and hence, it becomes primary for the GoodBox team to educate sellers about timely communication.

Pin Code suggestion : GoodBox is currently present in selected areas of Bengaluru. Hence, in order to target their next ‘area of expansion’; it would have been better if a text-box was provided where customer could enter his/her pin-code. Once GoodBox is present in that locality, customer can than be notified about it thereby resulting in better customer stickiness.

Bar Code support : Similar to Amazon Dash, where user scans bar-code of the product and is prompted to add the product to the cart;  GoodBox can add support for bar-code scanner (in it’s app) so that user can scan the bar-code and continue with the next step for completing the purchase.

Once product is searched, it can then list down the ‘Sellers in customer’s vicinity’ making the entire cycle of ‘Product Discovery and Purchase’ more friction-less !!

GoodBox : Closing Thoughts

We liked the overall look and feel of the GoodBox app. The customer-facing app is very well-designed (we could not look into the seller-side app). The entire concept of interacting directly with business owners is very unique and saves lot of time in communication (which might not have been the case if an agent was involved).

As mentioned in their mantra, GoodBox is definitely taking “Buying from local businesses” a notch higher!! GoodBox for Android is available here, GoodBox for iOS is available hereIf you have used the GoodBox App, please leave your experience in the comments section.

The UAE’s economic record has been impressive and has outperformed all other MENA countries in most global rankings. The UAE is amongst the top 30 countries worldwide in global competitiveness, entrepreneurship, global opportunity and prosperity.

India and the UAE enjoy improving G2G [Government to Government] and B2B relations, resulting in bilateral trade of USD 59.16 billion during 2014-15. India is ranked as UAE’s largest trading partner, whereas the UAE is India’s 4th largest export destination.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the UAE during August 2015, where both the nations agreed to identify bottlenecks to boost trade by 60 per cent in five years. Giving impetus to build stronger trade relations, and to build a comprehensive strategic partnership between the UAE & India, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit to India in February 2016 resulted in four agreements covering cyber security, infrastructure investment, renewable energy and currency swap arrangements.

GITEX Technology Week 2016, now in its 36th edition is organized by Dubai World Trade Centre to promote the UAE as a Global ICT hub. The coming event will be held from 16-20 October 2016 at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre.

GITEX Technology Week is the world’s 3rd largest technology showcase, and the fastest growing industry focused expo. It is an excellent gateway to the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. This year there will be more than 4,000 ICT companies participating with 145,000+ trade visitors expected.

UAE’s entrepreneurship ecosystem has grown during the last five years. With new markets, new consumers and the rise of Internet technology, the UAE is recognized as a destination for global startups. For the first time, the 36th GITEX Technology Week 2016 brings together, the new tech companies from across the globe at Dubai. ‘Gitex Startups‘ is a worldwide movement that is set to redefine technology for businesses.

To encourage the startup movement, ‘Gitex Startups’ has announced total prizes of US$ 1 million to the best innovative startups along with a 3 year mentorship program.

This expo invites the world’s most exciting startups to participate from various sectors namely Augmented, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security, Drones and Robotics, Education, Energy, Fintech, Healthcare, IoT, Media & Marketing, Retail, Travel & Hospitality, Transport & Logistics, etc. to showcase their cutting-edge products and services.

To share the experiences and to answer queries, the expo will host Startup Talks and Mentor Clinic sessions. This 5-day long expo will feature an exciting and innovative series of competitions under the following categories such as, Startup Champion, Best Youth Startup, Best Women Startup and Best Category Champion.

Gitex Startups is the only international event in the world to network and build relationships with global Angel Investors, VCs, eminent industry leaders etc. These Startups will have an opportunity to be featured on a global platform to network with the audience to accelerate their business to the next level in the presence of 100 mentors, 50 incubators and accelerator clinics, 10 industry champions, 450+ tech startups and to meet over 200 investors and VCs to jump start their business.

For information on how to be a part of the Gitex Startups at the GITEX Technology Week 2016, please visit Gitex Startups 2016

About GITEX Technology Week
Launched in 1981, GITEX is the ICT business gateway to the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia Region. Focused on providing exhibitors with high ROI through direct business opportunities with decision makers, GITEX has maintained its position as the industry’s trend setting authority. For more information, visit Gitex

National Instruments [NI] India has launched the NI India Business Incubator Program and announced the expansion of their R&D Center in India. Both these initiatives aim to support the government’s Make in India program and enable Indian engineers to become global knowledge partners in driving innovation and development across industries and domains.

The expansion of the India R&D Center ensures that NI has access to the top talent instrumental in building a platform that meets the needs of all engineers and scientists today. NI works with leading universities to hire the best and brightest talent within the region and provides world-class, formal and on-the-job training to create a long-term and sustained career progression.

Scott Rust, senior vice president of Global R&D at NI said

We strongly believe we can help the Indian startup ecosystem overcome technological hurdles and succeed faster. Our platform provides the fastest way for engineers and scientist to access new technology and accelerate productivity, innovation and discovery. By providing access to NI’s platform and technologies, we are investing in future innovators and contributing towards sustainable development in all markets that we serve.

Through NI India’s Business Incubator Program, NI will provide increased access to NI technology, technical training and support to shared local communities like domestic Small and Medium-sized Enterprises [SMEs], academic incubation centers and startups.

Jayaram Pillai, Managing Director, NI India added

For Make in India to succeed and sustain, manufacturing in India should bring more benefits to the table than just cost of labor. Companies can differentiate themselves by adopting smart technologies to reduce defects and improve quality. NI’s technology provides a flexible and powerful platform to build these intelligent systems that power the factory of the future. Startups are an integral part of building the future and we believe that the NI India Business Incubator Program will contribute to the Make in India initiative.

To extend its reach and maximize the impact of the Business Incubator Program, NI is partnering with mission-aligned local organizations, as well as experienced technology and business consultants, to provide world-class support and assistance to the applicants. It is also aligned with the flagship initiative of the Government of India, Start-up India, which strives to build a solid eco-system to support innovation, promote domestic startups and generate viable economic growth by generating large-scale employment opportunities.

These forward-looking actions of the Indian Government and the abundance of engineering talent will significantly contribute to Bangalore’s transformation into the home of some of the best technology companies in India and abroad.

For more information on the NI India Business Incubator Program, please visit NI India Business Incubator details page.