Lumos Labs, an innovation management company, in collaboration with Microsoft India, announced the launch of the Century Program, an enterprise Blockchain Startup Program to evangelize, curate, and unearth 100 best enterprise-ready Blockchain solutions for industry-specific use cases. ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab India and Tech Mahindra have partnered as the first original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and System Integrator (SI) respectively for the Discrete Manufacturing track of the Century Program. ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab India, a division of ŠKODA AUTO Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd aims to use its development expertise and knowledge in digitization to identify the problem statements for the start-ups to work on innovative Blockchain-based solutions. Platform partner Tezos India will guide and advise participants to the developer tooling to build their decentralized applications on Tezos, a secure, open-source, and self-amending blockchain protocol.
The Century Program spans over 18 months and will provide the selected startups with opportunities to regularly engage with industry experts and leverage the partner networks of Microsoft, Tech Mahindra, and ŠKODA AUTO Digilab India for business growth. Microsoft will help accelerate their startup journeys through mentorship, streamlined go-to-market (GTM) activities, and access to world-class technical resources. The program intends to identify and solve real-time business challenges and blockchain use cases faced across seven industry verticals including Media and Entertainment, Oil and Natural Gas, Trade Finance, Healthcare, Public Sector, Discrete Manufacturing, and Telecom sector using blockchain technologies.
Mr. Pranav Kulkarni, CIO, ŠKODA AUTO Volkswagen India Private Limited commented, “As the Automotive Industry continues to evolve, the onset of Blockchain technology will be a defining transformation in the development and manufacturing of the next generation of cars. Through the Century Program, ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab India will foster this ecosystem of innovation among startups and identify implementable solutions in the space of digital tools and mobility platforms”
Rajesh Dhuddu, Blockchain and Cybersecurity Practice Leader, Tech Mahindra, said, “As part of our TechMNxT charter, we are constantly looking to expand our partner ecosystem by connecting with industry-leading companies. Being one of the founding members of the Century Program, we are committed to the success of this program and look forward to collaborating with Microsoft and Lumos Labs to pave the roadmap for ‘next-gen’ blockchain solutions that will solve complex business problems in the real world. Our deep domain and technical expertise combined with extensive industry networks will help innovators become enterprise-ready and scale their operations globally.”
Sanjay Anand, General Manager, Azure Commercial Industry, Microsoft said, “The Century Program will accelerate possibilities to create great enterprise solutions for blockchain in India by scaling existing competencies, surmounting awareness bias, and making blockchain more mainstream across various sectors. Partners like Tech Mahindra, ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab India, and Tezos India will further help strengthen the blockchain adoption immensely by highlighting the secured, interoperable, and scalable environment that this technology provides. Microsoft is delighted to be able to provide the right platform to make this happen.”
Commenting on the Launch, Om Malviya, President, Tezos India added, “As an organization dedicated to supporting the Tezos ecosystem in India, we believe in partnering with innovators in the ecosystem to drive the industry forward. This collaboration with Microsoft, Tech Mahindra, ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab India, and Lumos Labs for the Century Program is a step forward in this direction. The next 18 months will be an exciting time for the Indian blockchain ecosystem - startups, developers, and enterprises alike; as they set the course in this journey of identifying implementable, enterprise-grade blockchain solutions. We are excited to be a part of this journey with them in extending the Tezos network and our in-house expertise to mentor and train the participating startups. ”
According to the Nasscom Avasant India Blockchain Report 2019, the emergence of Blockchain 3.0 with its increased security, interoperability and scalability is set to accelerate enterprise adoption. However, there is a need for Indian service providers to expand their capabilities by implementing a diverse set of blockchain use cases across all major sectors. Century Program aims to address this need by defining the problem statements in each sector, identifying enterprises exploring solutions for these problem statements, and connecting them to relevant start-ups with an enterprise-ready use case solution.
To know more and apply for the Century Program, head over to the event registration website. Registrations for the program are open from today.
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