Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest carmaker has begun accepting applications from startups for the third cohort of its Mobility & Automobile Innovation Lab (MAIL) program. The carmaker had started the program in January 2019, to promote innovation in the automobile mobility space in India.

The program aims to identify and bring together startups with innovative and cutting-edge solutions, and to collaborate with them for open innovation. The winners get an opportunity to undertake a paid Proof of Concept (PoC) with Maruti Suzuki for live use case and a possibility of real time implementation of the solutions offered. The applications for the third cohort will be accepted till November 30, 2019.

The MAIL program is supported by GHV Accelerator, which caters to early stage startups with innovative and customer-oriented solutions. Analysing the potential of the applicants, necessary support and guidance is provided for their growth as a part of a 3-month acceleration period. The selected startups are mentored by domain experts at Maruti Suzuki, in addition to the guidance provided by experts from the Indian as well as the Global startup ecosystem.

Furthermore, the projects get a firm footing in a conducive environment to test feasibility across the vast test beds of Maruti Suzuki showrooms, workshops, logistics, engineering to name a few.

Speaking on the initiative, Kenichi Ayukawa, MD and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India said, “The ever-evolving automobile industry comes across fresh challenges every day and the industry needs innovative ideas and pragmatic solutions to address these disruptions. As a key stakeholder, we are committed to nurture and promote a culture of innovation. MAIL program acts as a catalyst and provides the selected startups with a platform to translate their ideas into implementable solutions.”

 “With the success of the previous cohorts, we are confident of co-creating cutting edge solutions which will disrupt the automobile and mobility space,” added Ayukawa.

The winners of the first cohort were announced on October 14, 2019, and the selected startups will collaborate with Maruti Suzuki for PoC of the solutions offered. Simultaneously, the second cohort is underway.