India : T-Hub, which pioneers India’s leading innovation ecosystem, today announced its partnership with Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India (RNTBCI), a global technical and development centre for the Open Innovation Challenge. Through this partnership, RNTBCI will partner with some of the most innovative automotive startups scouted by T-Hub. With an aim to bolster the growing automotive ecosystem, the winning startups will get an opportunity to pitch in front of RNTBCI leadership and access their global mentorship network.
The program offers the startups an opportunity to participate under four themes – First and Last Mile Connectivity, Digitisation, Mobility as a Service with social impact (MaaS) and Circular economy. Six to eight startups will be shortlisted for each theme out of which four startups will win INR 1 million grant each and receive co-working opportunities with RNTBCI.
MSR, CEO, T-Hub said, “T-Hub with our corporate partnerships aims to help startups incorporate domain expertise to deliver cutting-edge solutions to the market. We are excited to partner with RNTBCI (Renault Nissan Technology and Business Centre India) as they bring incredible expertise in their sector and a clear focus that will help startups create breakthrough solutions for the global automotive market. Together we look forward to creating an impact for our startup community.”
The program will focus on automotive space including AI, IoT, blockchain, robotic process automation (RPA), electrification, big data, AR/VR, application development, cloud-based, materials, alternative fuel etc. Growth stage startups with Minimum Viable Product (MVP) ready, in Electric vehicle (EV), Automated vehicle (AV) and Assistive technology (AT) technology, bio-based materials, internet of waste, re-use, upcycle anywhere from India, can apply for the program here.
Debashis Neogi, Managing Director, RNTBCI said,“We are glad to announce the maiden Renault Nissan Open Innovation Challenge in India in association with T-Hub. Innovation should be the topmost priority of India, as a country with lots of young talents and booming start-ups. We want to trigger the thinking! I see a great potential to create out-of-the-box and business viable solutions through this challenge.”
The shortlisted startups will be able to derive diverse benefits from the program such as mentoring and learning from leaders in the automotive giants, and co-working space at T-Hub with exclusive access to state-of-art design and product development resources. They will also receive an opportunity to co-create a paid Proof of Concept (PoC) and find a new use case for their existing solutions. T-Hub will be facilitating the program through hybrid mode and provide support to the participating startups by refining pitch decks and displaying demonstrations. Furthermore, T-Hub will bring world-class industry experts, mentors, and business scaling opportunities for shortlisted startups. The program will conclude with T-Hub and RNTBCI disbursing grants to the final four startups for the development of their Proof of Concepts (PoCs).
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