Startups can drive hardware innovation and take advantage of the big opportunity | Daily News Byte

There have been some drastic initiatives to abolish the space for the production of initial products.

India’s first of its kind Electropreneur Park (EP) established by MEITI and IESA started in 2016 and has created 51 hardware products, 51 patents and funded 23 startups. The EP will become a hub with 20 centers aimed at promoting innovation and creating unicorns in ESDM by offering access to a holistic ecosystem to accelerate the government’s flagship schemes like Startup India and Make in India. He helped create a complete ecosystem, from idea to production.

Such support programs are also being replicated at the AIC T-Hub Foundation in Hyderabad, the Maker Village in Trivandrum, and similar programs in Bhubaneswar and Chennai, which include mentoring from idea refinement to business development, helping to create a fully successful Make-in-India Design ecosystem, with support for ESDM technical recruitment, process establishment, procurement, infrastructure testing and product commercialization assistance.

We need many more such initiatives as these alone are not enough compared to the size of India. We know how to integrate software into hardware, which makes us truly unique. The way the IIT Kanpur Ventilator Consortium helped Noccarc Robotics, a young startup, build affordable, high-quality ventilators at the height of the pandemic should be an inspiring case study in possibilities.

If the goal is to nurture students to be ESDM entrepreneurs, we need to accelerate the transition of startups from the prototype to the growth stage.

Startups can take the lead in innovation because big companies have too many commitments to take risks the way startups can.

Such ecosystems should be created early in modern educational institutions. Fishing labs set up in schools are generating a lot of interest. In medical technology, for example, we need engineering and medical institutes to work together. India’s medical device industry is growing at 28% annually and will reach $50 billion by 2030. So there is a huge need for such programs to form now at a much faster pace in medical technology, greenfield smart cities, drones used for security and entertainment, agritech, railways, telecom, and the entire infrastructure that is ready for a technology overhaul.

In terms of hardware, we need testing, prototyping facilities, plastic molding facilities, cabinets and the ability to make the highest quality product at the lowest cost and design for manufacturing, quality, sustainability and repairable products that can also be recycled or recycled. Based on the country’s requirements, we should create a design challenge and provide solid funding for it and create a VC ecosystem to fund them.

In biotechnology, the BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) Challenge calls for proposals under the challenge call for the development, validation and pre-commercialization of products/technologies.

In Defence, iDEX fosters innovation in defense and aerospace by engaging industries, including MSMEs, startups, individual innovators, research and development institutes and academia. India is the world’s largest importer of defense equipment and is expected to spend about $220 billion over the next decade to modernize its armed forces. The Defense India Start-up Challenge was launched in partnership with the Atal Innovation Mission and aims to support defense innovation startups. Those who pass such a challenge can also receive large orders for ₹20-30 crowns. You need 12 to 24 months to build a product, so minimum funding ₹50 lakh is required and then wait patiently for the product to work.

We need to encourage product development to emerge as a nation of products. I have reiterated this on many public streets and with the government so that we can see India creating world class products.

Ajay Chovdhri is the Chairman of Epic Foundation and Founder of HCL.