DST, Intel India and SINE-IIT Bombay announce the second edition of Plugin

Continuing their commitment to foster entrepreneurship in the domain of emerging technologies, the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, Intel India, and Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SINE)-IIT Bombay have announced the second edition of Plugin (“Program”).

Through a unique program wherein the industry, academia and government come together to support hardware and systems-based startups in the country, Plugin will provide mentoring, training, and international visits with networking opportunities. The collaborative accelerator program will also facilitate infrastructure & technical support, prototyping, product development and manufacturing connect, business services and funding, etc.

The second edition of Plugin will include hardware and systems startups in the areas of Artificial Intelligence-Machine Learning (AI-ML), Blockchain and Internet of Things (IoT), catering to the healthcare, manufacturing, retail, and transportation industries. It also includes collaborations with corporates such as TCS, ABB, Posiflex, Valeo, and BOSCH; several manufacturing and design trade associations, and prominent investors are also a part of the initiative. To participate in the Program, startups can nominate their entries till July 18, 2018.

Nivruti Rai, country head of Intel India and Vice President of the Data Center Group, Intel Corporation, said, “Intel India remains committed to accelerating hardware and systems based entrepreneurship through collaboration with the country’s technology ecosystem. The first edition of Plugin was truly enriching and led to a number of startups developing exciting products, with some of them already generating revenues. This year, Plugin will focus on data-centric startups catering to the retail, manufacturing, healthcare, and transportation industries. The technology support that will be provided across AI, blockchain, and IoT are Intel’s core strengths, and we want to make that accessible to the Indian start-ups.”

H K Mittal, Advisor and Head, NSTEDB (National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board), DST, Government of India, said,“Department of Science & Technology (DST) has partnered with Intel and SINE to launch the second edition of Plugin, a collaborative accelerator program based on the positive outcomes in the first edition. DST has been working with both Intel and SINE in the areas of innovation and entrepreneurship for over a decade. We believe this program will not only help startups to accelerate their product journey and scale their business, but also provide them with a platform to establish themselves through opportunities that arise from local and international connections.”