MG Motor India Signs Up 6 More Start-Ups Under “MG Developer Program & Grant”

MG (Morris Garages) Motor India has announced that it has signed up 6 more start-ups for its ongoing MG Developer Program & Grant. The 6 finalists include Highway Delite, Socialcore, InCabEx, CamCom, ClearQuote, and the Alexa-based project Meeseeks. The start-ups will receive a grant and mentoring from technology experts and may get an opportunity to work directly with specialized MG teams on selected projects.

Demonstrating its firm focus on encouraging innovation within the start-up community, MG Motor India has already supported over 60 start-ups since 2017 to drive innovation in the automobile space of India. Such start-ups are working in the fields of engine & emissions, technology, child in-car safety, navigation, connectivity, and electric vehicles ecosystem alongside others. The overall objective of the program is to support the local start-up community by creating a specialized grant. The brand intends to indigenously foster innovation and contribute towards the development of the start-up ecosystem in India, thereby holistically contributing to the society.

The MG Developer Program & Grant is a part of the carmaker’s focus on innovation as a core pillar of the organization. Launched in partnership with several tech giants including Adobe, Cognizant, SAP, Airtel, TomTom, Unlimit, and others, the program aims to nurture ground-breaking solutions within the Indian urban mobility space.

Speaking on the development, Rajeev Chaba, President & MD, MG Motor India said, “MG thrives on innovation and has developed a symbiotic relationship with the Indian start-up ecosystem. Our goal is to indigenously develop a comprehensive, sustainable, and smart infrastructure for urban mobility in our country. The MG Developer Program has received an overwhelming response and we welcome all teams who have been signed as a part of the initiative. We look forward to mentoring and closely working with them. MG will also explore synergies with these start-ups and may deploy their solutions in its upcoming vehicles.”

The program had received over 300 entries, out of which, 60 teams were shortlisted in the first round. These teams were provided mentorship by 25 industry experts including MG India’s leadership as well as its technology ecosystem partners, making it one of the largest mentoring programs’ in the automotive segment.

Amongst the selected candidates, Highway Delite is India’s first free travel app to make highway travel and road trips both safe and fun. Meeseeks leverages Alexa/MG’s Voice Assistant to digitally manage and improve customer’s service experience.

Socialcore uses Artificial Intelligence to enhance customer interactions with sales improvement and cost reduction, while InCabEx creates a better in-cabin experience by personalizing car profiles as per users’ preferences.

CamCom is an AI-based start-up that provides defect and damage assessment while ClearQuote generates repair estimates via images/videos of a damaged car.

The 6 start-ups will be joining the already signed companies including Voxomos, Driftly, and Innvolution under the MG Developer Program & Grant.

MG’s journey with start-ups started back in 2017 with its first MG Innovation Hunt that was launched in partnership with TiE Delhi. Since then, MG India has conducted a total of 6 start-up programs, in partnership with India’s start-up community and leading educational institutions, all coming together in the MG Developer Program & Grant. The various MG start-up programs have attracted over 750 applications from start-ups and innovators so far in auto tech across India. 

About MG Motor India

Founded in the UK in 1924, Morris Garages vehicles were world famous for their sports cars, roadsters, and cabriolet series. MG vehicles were much sought after by many celebrities, including the British Prime Ministers and even the British Royal Family, for their styling, elegance, and spirited performance. The MG Car Club, set up in 1930 at Abingdon in the UK, has thousands of loyal fans, making it by far one of the world’s largest clubs for a car brand. MG has evolved into a modern, futuristic and innovative brand over the last 96 years. MG Motor India has commenced its manufacturing operations at its car manufacturing plant at Halol in Gujarat.

IT SEZ from realty firm in Ahmedabad

A city based realty developer Calica Construction and Impex pvt Ltd laid the foundation stone for an It and ITeS Special Economic Zone here on Sunday.

The SEZ will be spread over 20 acres of land on the outskirts of the city and would house small and medium sized information technology companies.

The developers have planned to complete the first phase of the project in two years with initial investment of Rs 300 crore while total estimated cost of the project is Rs 650 crore.

Union minister of state for small and medium enterprises Dinsha Patel and Gujarat minister of state for industry and energy Saurabh Patel were among those present at the foundation stone lying ceremony.

According to Bipin Shah, one of the developers of the new venture, the company has already got the notification from the Board of Approval (BoA) for SEZ and other clearances are in the process.

He said that over 30,000 square feet space will be created for the It and ITeS companies.

He added that they are also in the process of tying up with major IT firms to set up their centres in the SEZ which would offer world class infrastructural facilities.

Agencies

Did an Indian surrender domain name to Google?

Internet search giant Google has won a cybersquatting case at the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) against an Indian who had tried to block the domain name 'googblog.com'.

According to the information available with the WIPO, Geneva-based WIPO Arbitration and Mediation Center has ordered the transfer of domain name to the US-based search giant after Herit Shah of Gujarat offered to surrender the disputed name to Google.

Google had challenged the registering of domain name 'googblog.com' by Shah at WIPO stating that it was confusingly similar to its trademark on which the company has rights.

Cybersquatting is an illegal activity of buying and officially recording an address on the internet that is the name of an existing company or a well-known person, with the intention of selling it to the owner in order to make money.

As per the information available with the WIPO, Google filed the complaint against Shah on March 26 this year. However, the disputed name has been registered by Shah since September 25, 2008.

WIPO is a specialised agency of the United Nations for developing a balanced and accessible international system in the field of intellectual property rights.

The California-headquartered firm has been using the name 'GOOG' as a NASDAQ financial stock ticker since 2004. The company has used the trademark GOOGLE since the inception of its business in 1997.

The search giant operates a blog service under the brand 'Blogger'.

As per the details available with WIPO, a pre-complaint correspondence between the parties (Google and Shah) failed to resolve the dispute.

However on May 2, after commencement of administrative proceedings, Shah stated before the panel that the registration of domain name was in bad faith and was an infringement of intellectual property.

"I was in a bad faith that I can legally keep the domain googblog.com ... I really did very unfair to Google. I sincerely apologise to Google for infringement, misuse of their intellectual property (GOOGBLOG.COM)," Shah stated.

The WIPO panel found in this case the consent-to-transfer request replaces the need to assess the matter under the elements of its Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy and ordered the transfer of the domain name to Google.

Agencies