KOCHI:
Startups in India must spruce up to meet international standards by weathering rising challenges that the government is fighting in its effort to create a smoother growth profile, a two-day milestone conference exhorted today.
Such tenacity is essential in the present era marked by greater penetration of digital services into social and economic activities in the country, according to speakers at the National Deeptech Startup Conclave, Hardtech ’19. The situation warrants India to adopt and adapt technologies at a speed that is faster than any other country, they said at the opening day of the April 5-6 event being organised here by Maker Village, India’s largest electronic hardware incubator. The second day will be devoted to the sessions of successful entrepreneurs and fund managers.
Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary, Telecom, Government of India, while addressing the inaugural session of Hardtech ’19 at Kinfra Hi-Tech Park in Kalamassery, said the role of the administration was critical in building a favourable startup milieu in the country. “Maintaining global yardsticks will be a key challenge startups will face in future. They won’t be able to achieve the desired results without the governments creating ideal ecosystems,” she noted at the event at the Technology Innovation Zone of the Park. The top bureaucrat also called for a system that ensured integrated implementation of factors like talent, market, entrepreneurship, industry relations and investment possibilities. “The Maker Village is doing a laudable service in this area,” she added.
“India has the greatest pool of startups; the general outlook is optimistic. Entrepreneurs are coming up by overcoming difficult life situations,” Sundararajan said. On the occasion, she formally launched an automated ‘Neera’ tapping machine, developed by NAVA Design and Innovation Pvt Ltd. The idea to product journey was conceptualised, designed and realised at Maker Village.
M Sivasankar, Secretary, IT, Government of Kerala, said the hardware sector needs to overcome its problems regarding materials and design. “Marker Village, in this respect, can utilise the backbone projects in the startup sector such as Kerala Fibre Optic Network, space startup project by ISRO and VSSC, and Intel laptop manufacturing project,” he added.
Madhavan Nambiar, Chairman of Maker Village, said in his presidential address that funding is the “oxygen” that finally drives startups. “It is an urgent area where all have to work together,” he noted. Earlier, welcoming the gathering, Dr Saji Gopinath, CEO of the Kerala Startup Mission under which the Maker Village functions, said the aim of Hardtech ’19 was to showcase the talent of the innovative firms in the sector. The sessions will also address the challenges before moving to the next level of growth, pointed out the speaker, who is also director of IIITM-K.
The other speakers at the session were Gopalakrishnan S, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT, Govt. of India; and Santhosh Kumar, Managing Director, Texas Instruments India. Maker Village CEO Prasad Balakrishnan Nair proposed thanks.
The two-day event features addresses by 50 speakers who included senior government officials, leaders from global technology firms, entrepreneurs from across the country and the world, besides academicians from top universities around the world. Hardtech ’19 showcases live products by matured startups with cutting-edge technologies.
They include ones from Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. The event also features a technology expo displaying products of technology firms, service providers, vendors and products from SMEs and MSMEs from the technology space apart from those by startups. The conclave coincides with the setting up of advanced/scaled-up prototyping and productisation facilities, commencement of Center of Excellence (CoE) on Engineering Design and Simulation and the initiation of the operation of International Hardware Accelerator.
