India’s first national hardware startup conclave to be held at Kochi

India’s first national hardware startup conclave will be held at Kochi. The event is being organised by electronics incubator Maker Village and will include multinational companies like Lockheed Martin, Siemens, Dassault, Qualcomm, Intel, ARM, Imec and Bosch.

Maker Village is a joint initiative between the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Kerala – the nodal agency of the project – Kerala Startup Mission and the state government to promote consumer electronics based innovation. The programme was started after the Central government provided funds to start electronic incubators in New Delhi, Patna and Kochi.

Top executives such as Lockheed Martin India CEO, Phil Shaw, Bosch senior vice-president R K Shenoy, Brinc Robotics director Herberto Saldivar and more. In addition, the electronics and IT Department secretary M Sivasankar will inaugurate the event.

Calling the initiative a ‘first of its kind’, Prasad Balakrishnan Nair, CEO of Maker Village said, “Around 1,200 hardware startups from across the country as well as several popular companies, of which 30 will be from abroad, will take part. The event will certainly boost the electronics and automation industry in Kerala. Similarly, it will be a window for young startups to showcase their products to the world.”

The national hardware startup conclave will host talk sessions, funding opportunities and an expo in which 60 stalls will be set up. Participants will also get a two-minute window of opportunity to present their products before a jury, as part of a competition called Pitch Perfect. Basis a technical and management criteria, participants will be assessed and awarded with prize money.

Nair further added that Kerela was once a hub of electronics and automation, however, over the years, other states leapt ahead. Adding that the government adopted favourable policies by which the state can be a hub of the electronics sector, he said, “We have a highly educated manpower and favourable climate in Kerala. Once the opportunities are created, Keralites working abroad in the electronics sector will return to the state.”