“We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another.” wrote Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum when he first introduced the world to the term Fourth Industrial Revolution in his 2015 article in Foreign Affairs. The article touched upon how the fourth industrial revolution will be characterized by a fusion of emerging technologies that will blur the lines between physical, digital, and biological spheres.
The IoT Innovation Accelerator program springs from the shared vision of CIIE-IIMA and Cisco to bring about change through disruptive connectivity start-ups in India. Nasscom Centre of Excellence for IoT, one of the largest deep tech innovation ecosystems, has been on-boarded as the technology partner for this program. The program looks to target India’s seemingly intractable challenges in industry 4.0, agri-tech, clean-tech, civic-tech, and health-tech.
The program is designed to accelerate the journey of the selected start-ups towards growth, scalability, and commercialization. The startups went through the screening process, internal evaluations (consisting of CIIE experts), and external evaluations (consisting of Industry experts). The shortlisted startups were invited for an in-person selection pitch to a jury comprising experts from Cisco, CIIE, and NASSCOM.
The seven startups that we selected for the program were:
StaTwig — A Hyderabad-based startup that provides data-driven intelligent solutions such as Chain of Custody tracking, Cold-Chain Management, and Serialization for the vaccines to reduce inefficiencies in the supply chain process of delivering vaccines.
Sonant Technologies Private Limited — A Jaipur-based startup that offers assistive technology solutions to aid people with speech and hearing disabilities to communicate effectively.
Farms2Fork Technologies Pvt. Ltd. — A Bengaluru-based startup that integrates IoT sensors, crop models, and artificial intelligence to deliver significantly higher crop yield and quality.
Radiate Healthcare Innovations Private Limited — A Bengaluru-based startup that provides ophthalmology-as-a-service to health centres focused on diabetes and geriatric care.
Optify Industrial Solutions Private Limited — A Pune-based startup that offers an AI-based control system package to make manufacturing smarter, save costs, increase productivity, and maintain high-quality consistently.
Sustainable Reference Analytics Private Limited — A Mumbai-based startup that offers end-users with mobile-based apps that provide real-time data on electricity consumption and forecasts future billings.
Synersense Private Limited — An Ahmedabad-based company that has created i-Sens, a portable and smart wearable device that provides lower limb balance and walking analysis for people with orthopaedic and neurological disorders.
These startups will be provided INR 17.5 Lakh catalytic capital support, access to Cisco’s & NASSCOM’s technology mentorship as well as startup ecosystem network of CIIE-IIMA.
The mentoring support will span over a period of the next six months for each of the startups and is aimed at accelerating the startups’ growth and solving their challenges. Post this period; the startups will be invited to pitch to potential investors at an event that will be jointly conducted by CIIE-IIMA, Cisco & Nasscom COE-IoT.
Harish Krishnan. Managing Director, Public Affairs & Strategic Engagements, Cisco India & SAARC said, “We live in exciting times. Every day we see examples of innovators and entrepreneurs who thoroughly understand the impact that connected technologies have on economies and societies. Their ability to positively change lives and create livelihoods is unparalleled. Supporting innovation is a long-standing commitment for Cisco, and we look forward to supporting this cohort along with CIIE and NASSCOM”.