Nasscom to set up Internet of Things Centre in IIT Gandhinagar

Gujarat will get its Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Internet of Things (IoT) at Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-G), the state government said on Saturday. The CoE will be set up in partnership with industry body, NASSCOM. The centre will give industry players and technology start-ups a major boost, say industry sources. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was announced on Saturday.

The centre, expected to be ready in a year, is envisaged to be a hub for creating IoT solutions for various sectors like automobiles, agriculture, health and energy among others. It would be jointly funded by the Centre, state government and National Association of Software Services Companies (NASSCOM). It will be among the four CoEs that are coming up in the country.

One CoE has already been inaugurated at Bengaluru, while others are underway at Vizag and Gurgaon. It will also have a dedicated start-up incubator in addition to the existing incubator at IIT, Gandhinagar.

"Close to 20 startups will start working at a special incubator at IIT-Gandhinagar. Industry will bring their problems on which startups, under guidance of academic researchers and industry will find IoT solutions. The CoE will be also accessible for local players working in IoT sector," said Sandhya Bhullar, MD of Gujarat Informatics. The CoE will also provide access to experts in patents and legal matters to the startups.

"The CoE will give a major boost for creating an ecosystem conducive for the development of IoT in Gujarat. With a diverse and a robust industrial base, Gujarat is an ideal location for setting up such a CoE," said Vivek Ogra, chairman of GESIA IT Association, which represents companies in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector in Gujarat. "There is a huge potential for the growth of IoT in Gujarat in sectors like industry, transport, utilities and others as it will enable conversion of ideas into products at a very low cost. Here in Gujarat, the developer and consumer are in the same ecosystem," said Ogra.

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The centre, expected to be ready in a year, is envisaged to be a hub for creating IoT solutions for various sectors like automobiles, agriculture, health and energy among others