Maruti Suzuki announces accelerator program for start-ups in India

Maruti Suzuki India today launched a new program – Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL) – to promote innovation in India in the automobile and mobility space.

The initiative aims to identify innovative and cutting-edge solutions through start-ups, which are futuristic and customer oriented. The program will provide a platform to the budding talent in India to showcase their entrepreneurial capabilities at a national level. Start-ups with innovations in these fields would be offered an opportunity by Maruti Suzuki to turn their ideas into reality.

The world over automakers are incubating or leveraging start-ups to drive innovation. Recent times have seen a boom in the start-up culture in India, mainly due to their fast-paced execution, agile organisation and out-of-the-box approach towards problem solving. 

Explaining the program, Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India said, “The Indian automobile industry is constantly evolving. The need of the hour is to have a relentless approach towards promoting a culture of innovation. This initiative will help Maruti Suzuki leverage the innovation capability of start-ups to provide unique solutions in the mobility and automobile space. Through the Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab, Maruti Suzuki offers a platform for start-ups to showcase their capabilities and come up with next-generation ideas in the areas of connected cars / shared mobility / autonomous cars / electric vehicles and infrastructure. A select few start-ups would get an opportunity to do a Proof of Concept (Pilot) with Maruti Suzuki.”

For this initiative Maruti Suzuki has partnered with GHV Accelerator, an Indo-Japanese early-stage seed fund with proprietary accelerator program and industry co-creation program.

With the launch of this initiative, interested startups across India can apply for the program, by visiting the MAIL website (www.marutisuzukimail.com).