Platform created to connect Chinese hardware with Indian software

NASSCOM, in association with the Dalian government, has set up the initiative

A new wave of Indian software developers will soon be able to plug into China’s next wave of industrialisation, based on Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things (IOT).

“Indian software developers face an existential threat if they don’t shift to high-value domains such as Artificial Intelligence and IOT. Chinese companies specialising in hardware can be their perfect partners in moving up the value chain,” said Gagan Sabharwal, senior director, National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), in a conversation with a group of visiting Indian journalists.

Mr. Sabharwal pointed out that China’s shift to Industry 4.0 will generate an explosive demand for IT-based automation. In turn, this would provide a major opportunity, especially for small and medium-sized Indian software companies, which possess cutting-edge technology, but are looking for suitable overseas partners for scaling up their product line.

“In our effort to connect India’s strength in software and China’s heft in hardware, we felt we need a hand-holding bridge. After considerable hard work, we seem to have achieved a breakthrough,” he observed.

Consequently, NASSCOM and the local government in Dalian have set up the Sino-Indian Digital Collaboration Plaza (SIDCOP) — a “match-making” platform that will connect small and medium-sized Indian software developers, with Chinese companies specialising in hardware.

Zeta-V Technology Solutions — a start-up with a local presence in Dalian — will operate the SIDCOP platform. “We have created a user-friendly interface that will harness the enormous power of Artificial Intelligence,” says Sujit Chatterjee, Co-Founder and Director at Zeta-V Technology.

He adds: “Our software will allow Indian companies listed on our platform to automatically find possible local partners in China. The language barrier has also been broken. Chinese companies can feed their requirements in mandarin, which will be automatically translated into English. Indian companies can do the reverse.”

SIDCOP will be located in the brand new NASSCOM IT corridor within Dalian BEST City — a dedicated business park on the outskirts of Dalian city, in northeast China.

Mr. Sabharwal highlighted that the NASSCOM IT corridor can become the nucleus where Indian and Chinese companies that were “fragmented” so far, can rise to serve the global market. “We are creating a platform where companies from India and China can come forward and co-develop for the global markets leveraging their respective strengths in hardware and software. This is indeed an exciting journey,” he observed.