Posted by New Delhi: Underlining its focus on driving innovation across the communities, MG Motor India has shortlisted 12 startups under its ongoing ‘MG Innovation Grand Challenge’ programme in an event held at IIT Delhi.
MG Motor India received 71 applications from across the country for the ‘MG Innovation Grand Challenge’. Of this vast talent pool, 12 promising teams were shortlisted for the final round comprising presentation and mentoring. The solutions aim at addressing the challenges in the EV ecosystem and the auto tech space. These startups will get mentoring and assistance with market access for their domain-transforming ideas.
“Young India has tremendous potential and it can not only transform automotive technology, but also make automobiles safer, comfortable, eco-friendly, and well-connected. Our event was aimed at providing a stage to the next wave of automotive innovators and nurturing their disruptive ideas. We also created an All Women Team category to encourage female entrepreneurs to showcase their talent and support their involvement in the traditionally male-dominated automotive space,” said Rajeev Chaba, President & MD – MG Motor India.
This was followed by the announcement of the three winning teams by the jury comprising stalwarts such as Pradeep Gupta – Founder and Chairman, Cybermedia Group, Dr. Anil Wali – Managing Director, FITT, IIT Delhi, Gaurav Gupta – Chief Commercial Officer, MG Motor India, Digbijoy Shukla – Head Startup Ecosystem, Amazon Web Services, and Sandro Stephen – Regional Head, Indian Angel Network.
The short-listed startups were:
Grand Prize Winner – Rs.2,00,000
Vecmocon Technologies for their Smart Electric Mobility Solutions for 2 wheelers
Best Prototype Award – Rs.1,00,000
Zyme Technologies for their Telematics solution for connected car ecosystem
Best Concept Award – Rs.1,00,000
Team Vijayanat from Oriental Institute of Science and Technology, Bhopal for their Auto Typer Pressure Inflation System
Popular Choice Award
AutoSync Technologies for their Plug n play Smart car speakers, Carpod
MG Motor India has been consistently supporting innovation in the automotive space and aims to leverage India’s vast talent pool of innovators by encouraging them to develop cutting-edge technologies for the future of automobiles. Kick-started in the month of September, the grand challenge emphasized engineering solutions and new technologies to transform the EV ecosystem, telematics, and automotive engineering.
Much before its first product hits the market in Q2 2019, MG Motor India has already taken various initiatives to promote innovation amongst students and startups in India. As part of the “MG Innovation Program”, launched in 2017 to foster a culture of innovation, the company in association with TiE Delhi had shortlisted 5-startups in the auto-tech space for using their solutions in its future cars. MG Motor India has also conducted a hackathon on how to make transportation safer and cleaner with students from Navrachna University in Vadodara, Gujarat, where its manufacturing facility is located, earlier this year.