KOCHI:
Britain sees huge potential buyers of products from Kerala’s Maker Village which is largest electronic incubator in India, a top official from the West European country said today.
The United Kingdom is planning to bring a special team to Kochi’s Maker Village to convince that country’s industry captains about the quality of the products of pioneering governmental initiative here, according to Amo Kalar, British Commission Deputy Director, Trade, Economics & Prosperity, South Asia. The official was on a visit to the 60,000-square-feet Technology Innovation Zone at the Kinfra Hitech Park in Kalamassery, 20 km north of this city. Britain stands fourth in the world rankings on start-up companies, he pointed out.
Kalar said he was particularly impressed with the quality of Maker Village products in three segments: environment, medical technology and power-run vehicles. “Some of the healthcare products I saw here looked ideal for use for us in Britain,” he said, specially hailing an equipment that senses and gauges air pollution. The official recalled that an India-UK conclave held last year has enabled to boost the ties between the two countries in the modern technology sector. Hardware start-up is the sector that is benefiting the most from the event, he added.
Maker Village’s products, Kalar noted, are useful both from the industry point of view and given that they are of social value. “This feature makes a visit by a British delegation to the Maker Village critical,” he said. The official, during his round of the Maker Village, was accompanied by Deepthi Pasumarthy, Senior Investment Advisor, Department of International Trade, British High Commission, Chennai.
Kalar held talks with Maker Village CEO Prasad Balakrishnan Nair as well as other top functionaries of the establishment, and highlighted the need for more frequent interactions between start-up entrepreneurs of both Britain and India. CEO Nair said Kalar’s visit has given high hopes of Maker Village for increased cooperation with business relations with Britain.
Only a couple of months ago had British Deputy High Commissioner Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford visited Maker Village. The official, while hailing the Maker Village products for their quality, had said that more British companies would visit the Kochi establishment to learn more about incubating start-ups.
