The Hindu Business Line : MS kicks off innovation programme in Pune

Microsoft will hand-hold select firms in the Start up Accelerator Programme, connecting them to venture capitalists, providing access to software licences and technical support.

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Bangalore, Oct. 8 Microsoft India announced a co-funded activity to foster innovation in Pune. The company also launched the Start up Accelerator Programme.

Involving multiple private and public sector partnerships, the Innovation Triangle Park will bring institutions together to promote innovation in the country. The centre will be operational by the first quarter of next year, said Mr Tarun Gulati, General Manager, Developer and Platform Evangelism, Microsoft India, speaking at the commencement of a two-day summit on ‘India is Innovation’ in the city on Monday.

Microsoft will also hand-hold select firms in the Start up Accelerator Programme, connecting them to venture capitalists, providing access to software licences and technical support.

Tech focus

This year, the firm’s Innovation Accelerator initiative for students will focus on technology for saving the environment. The Business Model Innovation programme for SMEs will ride on the software as a service wave in the country.

“SMEs are the engines of job creation in the country. Only 25 per cent of the 2 million SMEs in India have a PC. Their survival in the face of a global, more competitive marketplace is challenged by the lack of solutions that tackle opportunities,” said Mr Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India.

The software as a service model is the biggest trend in the computing paradigm, he said, stating the example of how it helped textile export firms in Tirupur cut down their sub-contracting processes from 90 to 20 days and save in IT costs.

Mobile projects

The company is also focusing on mobility, with both the Microsoft Research India (MSRI) and the India development centre teams at Bangalore and Hyderabad, respectively working on projects.

Researchers are working on a co-operative, opportunistic computing product called Combine that will help in faster downloading over a mobile connection. It partitions a download across a group of mobile users and combines it at the receiving end, said the MSRI Managing Director, Mr P. Anandan.

The company’s planned brotherhood will combat the challenge of inclusive growth in the country. It will develop the building blocks of an innovative ecosystem – talent, particularly vocational skills; venture capital funding; intellectual property rights to secure innovators and information access, said Mr Venkatesan.

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