Mercedes-Benz R&D India wins recognition as innovation factory

Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (MBRDI) has been announced as a ‘Great Place to Innovate’ at the 13th edition of Zinnov Awards 2022.

These annual awards recognise, honour, and celebrate the tech titans of the industry, focused on driving value creation from India across five key areas: organisation charter, culture, internal programs and processes, external linkages, and innovation metrics.

Since its inception, MBRDI has been committed to building impactful concepts from India by exploring and adopting new technologies, leveraging the Indian innovation ecosystem and the engineering talent, and capitalising on domain and functional insights as well as deep business understanding. The assessment criteria analysed the conduciveness of the work environment to facilitate an innovation mindset and culture, across global centres of excellence, in India.

Manu Saale, MD and CEO, MBRDI, said, “We are honoured to receive the ‘Great Place to Innovate’ award by Zinnov this year. MBRDI is committed to combining experience, and comprehensive digital capabilities, with technology at the core to cater to our global product portfolio. We remain passionately committed to our vision of fostering a culture of innovation that will serve as an inspiration to shape the future of sustainable mobility.”

Over the past 25 years, MBRDI has been instrumental in developing prolific technologies such as connected, autonomous, and electric cars. The organisation has been working on various concepts through its innovation platform, focusing on green technologies, and developing safe and superior vehicles.

With the ambition to lead in electric, software and sustainability, MBRDI envisions bringing India’s efforts closer to the Mercedes-Benz group with respect to engineering and R&D. The India team also collaborates with the global innovation ecosystem, including start-ups and ventures, academia and industry, and other relevant partners, through various initiatives that moderate in-depth and curated collaboration with startups in India.

A bit of India in every Mercedes car
In a recent interview of Autocar Professional, Manu Saale said: “There is a bit of India in every Mercedes car, today, with some aspects of the car touched, modified, developed, and supported by India.”

The company is playing a significant role in the development of MB.OS (Mercedes-Benz Operating System). The 'Hey Mercedes' feature in the MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience), demonstrated in the Mercedes-Benz GLC, was also developed by the engineers at MBRDI. For the latest Mercedes-Benz C Class, the India team has played a pivotal role in bringing paradigm change to digitalisation, including body electronics, drive train, advanced driver-assistance system (ADAS), and interactive areas such as infotainment and connected services.