KOCHI: Kochi will host the first national hardware startup conclave, organised by electronics incubator Maker Village, on Saturday. Multinational companies such as Lockheed Martin, Siemens, Dassault, Qualcomm, Intel, ARM, Imec and Bosch will take part in the event, which will be held at Gokulam Convention Centre in Kaloor.
Maker Village CEO Prasad Balakrishnan Nair said that the event will be the first of its kind in Kerala.
"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," he said.
The event will be attended by top executives such as Lockheed Martin India CEO Phil Shaw, Bosch senior vice-president R K Shenoy, Brinc Robotics director Herberto Saldivar, among others. Electronics and IT Department secretary M Sivasankar will inaugurate the event.
The event will feature talk sessions, funding opportunities and an expo in which 60 stalls will be set up. A competition named Pitch Perfect will be organised in which participants will be given two minutes to present their products before a jury. The judges will assess them from the technical and management points of view and prizemoney will be given to the winning startups.
"Kerala was once a hub of electronics and automation. However, over the years, the situation changed and other states leapt ahead. The government has adopted a favourable policy by which Kerala can be made a hub of the electronics sector. 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," said Nair.
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.