A 25,000 sq ft state-of-the-art Maker Village at the Kerala Technology Innovation Zone at Kalamassery here will offer electronic entrepreneurs innovative space to make Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable devices from June end.
To begin with, seven companies will occupy the facility and develop products focussing on consumer electronics in general, but specifically on three technology areas that include IoT, robotics, and wearable.
“The main objective of the incubator is to promote consumer electronics-based innovation and set up labs and innovation centres that focus on the current trend and emerging technologies of disruptive nature,” said C. Jayasankar Prasad, Chief Executive Officer, Kerala Start-up Mission (KSUM).
Maker Village is a public-private partnership (PPP) venture led by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Kerala government, and the KSUM.
The Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Kerala (IIITM-K) is the nodal agency. Startup Village, Kochi, is the knowledge partner.
“The electronics incubator at Kalmassery houses electronics workbenches and incubation spaces for entrepreneurs, a do-it-yourself laboratory for experimentation and research and development, a full-fledged medium-volume manufacturing line for building prototypes and finished products,” said Rajasree M.S., Director, IIITM-K.
S. Rajeev, consultant at Maker Village, said that the state-of-the-art surface-mount technology manufacturing line was a major highlight.
Up to 12 months
Rohan Kalani, Director-Operations, said a company being incubated could spend nearly six to 12 months in the incubation phase. “They will go through an acceleration phase, where they will be introduced to potential inventors and experts that can help them in going to the market with their products,” he said. The start-ups will be eligible for getting venture capital fund through the daughter funds of the electronic development fund of DeitY. Companies will also receive financial support for patenting.
