Wednesday, February 5, 2025

JLR Open Innovation Hub Kicks-Off India Startups Engagement With Bangalore Event


Co-hosted with the new Plug and Play Mobility platform, 300 invitees came together to celebrate the launch of JLR’s Open Innovation Hub in India

The day included some of the country’s disruptive startups, as well as speakers and panellists from across the mobility and technology sectors

The event was a key milestone in JLR’s Open Innovation program, which has already engaged with over 2,500 startups globally, resulting in 33 formal collaborations

Bangalore, India, 5 February 2025: JLR’s Open Innovation Hub in India has begun engagement with the country’s startups at an event in Bangalore, urging them to join its new “globally connected community in India”. 

Co-hosted with the Plug and Play Mobility platform, the event saw 300 invitees across startups, industry, government, investors, academia, and more meet on 30 January 2025 at the Sheraton Grand Bangalore Hotel. They celebrated the launch of the Open Innovation Hub, heard from industry speakers, and met a range of innovative startups focused on technologies across mobility. 

The event was a key milestone in JLR’s Open Innovation program, which has already engaged with over 2,500 startups globally, resulting in 33 formal collaborations. The day included some of India’s disruptive startups – including Oorja Energy, Swapp Design, HYD-GENRC LABs, Compredict, RabBan Control Solutions – and highlighted three in particular:

e-TRNL Energy, which is building next-gen Lithium-ion battery systems with a novel cell architecture that allows higher efficiency, better storage, faster charging, and a longer cycle life.

Cynlr, a visual object intelligence platform that enables industrial robotic arms to see, understand and manipulate any object in random unstructured environments.

Swaayatt Robots, which is developing autonomous driving technology that works in dynamic traffic situations, and in both structured and unstructured environmental conditions.

Meanwhile, speakers on subjects like automotive innovation, corporate and startup collaboration, and venture capital included Ravi Arora, Senior Vice President, Group Innovation at Tata Sons; Thomas Mueller, Executive Director, Product Engineering at JLR; Sobhan Khani, Partner at Plug and Play; and Michael Smeed, Managing Director at InMotion Ventures, JLR’s Corporate Venture Capital arm. They appeared alongside panellists from a range of automotive sector businesses and innovation leaders.

Keynote speaker, JLR’s Thomas Mueller, said: “With a wealth of talent and skills in deep-tech solutions, India is a breeding ground for disruptive ideas in sustainability, electrification and connected technologies. That is why our Open Innovation program is here, and I was hugely inspired by the ideas and engagement in the room.”

Lalitha Indrakanti, CEO at JLR Technology & Business Services India (TBSI), who led the event and a panel discussion, added: “We want to tap into India’s deep ecosystem for new mobility and sustainability solutions that help us deliver our next generation vehicles. This event was the perfect way to announce our intentions and meet a host of Indian startups to begin collaboration. 

“Alongside Plug and Play, we are building a globally connected community in India, and we intend the relationships from this event to continue in the coming years. I am excited to see what we’ll create together in the future.”

Sobhan Khani, Partner at Plug and Play, said: “India’s dynamic startup ecosystem is a powerhouse of innovation, and this collaboration between Plug and Play and JLR’s Open Innovation Hub marks an exciting step forward. By connecting disruptive startups with global mobility leaders, we aim to accelerate groundbreaking solutions that will shape the future of mobility and sustainability.” 

Building on the success of the JLR’s existing innovation hubs in the UK, US, Israel, and Brazil, the India Hub is focused on deep tech including artificial intelligence (AI), big data and analytics, internet of things (IoT), ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance System) and sensors and devices. 

About Reimagine

JLR’s Reimagine strategy aims to deliver a sustainability-rich vision of modern luxury by design.

We are transforming our business with the aim to become carbon net zero across our supply chain, products, and operations by 2039.

Electrification is central to our strategy and before the end of the decade our brands will each have a pure electric model, while Jaguar will be entirely electric. 

The flexibility of our world-leading powertrain technologies means we can continue to offer hybrid and ICE vehicles in our ranges as we begin to roll out full BEV options, to match demand in the global transition to electric. 

At heart we are a British company, with two design and engineering sites, two vehicle manufacturing facilities, a components and finishing facility, an electric propulsion manufacturing centre, and a battery assembly centre in the UK. We also have vehicle plants in China (joint venture), Slovakia, India, and Brazil, as well as seven technology hubs across the globe.  

JLR is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Motors Limited, part of Tata Sons.

About Plug and Play

Plug and Play is the leading innovation platform, connecting startups, corporations, venture capital firms, universities, and government agencies. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we're present in 60+ locations across five continents. 

We offer corporate innovation programs and help our corporate partners in every stage of their innovation journey, from education to execution. 

We also organize startup acceleration programs and have built an in-house VC to drive innovation across multiple industries where we've invested in hundreds of successful companies including Dropbox, Guardant Health, Honey, Lending Club, N26, PayPal, and Rappi. 

For more information, visit https://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/ 

No comments:

Total Pageviews