India's Largest Hardware Prototyping Centre (Makerspace) to Launch in April'19

After giving the country its biggest incubation and accelerator centre T-Hub, Telangana government is now gearing up to unveil country’s largest Makerspace a.k.a hardware prototyping centre -- 'T-Works'. T-Works will be open its doors for electronics, electromechanical and mechanical startups and individuals by April, 2019.

The first phase of T-Works will be spread across 70,000 sq. ft. and will house about 500-plus people. Going forward, the second phase of T-Works will be spread across 2.5 lakh sq ft. and can house almost 1,500-2,000 people at any given point of time and it is set to be unveiled in another two years.

In T-Works anyone will get an access to consumable, prototyping equipment and a community of designers, engineers, artists, contract manufacturers, corporates all in one location. Telangana government is committed to continue adding sections to T-Works' prototyping facility to cater to hobbyists, artists, and entrepreneurs.

The hardware prototyping facility, which is set to come up closer to T-Hub phase-II, will be set up with an overall investment of Rs 60 crore out of which Rs 40 crore will be spend on the building and the rest Rs 20 crore will be spent on equipment – purchased both by the government and also by the partnering companies.

Also Read - 20 Best Makerspaces In India To Build and Innovate

The phase-2 of T-Hub, the accelerator & incubator, has been postponed to June next year as there were some defects in the construction, according to the state government officials. The completion T-Hub Pahse-2 is expected by June-July next year.

With the first phase-2, T-Works will be among the top 3 prototyping facility in the world, according to Sujai Karampuri, CEO, T-Works.

More than 30 companies will collaborate with the T-Works and unlike T-hub there will be non-discriminatory access to everyone. The makerspace has partnered with GE First Build, Dassault, Microsoft and Qualcomm for the facility.

The makerspace is actively looking for corporate, academia, non-profits, skilling agencies and others to actively work with it and create an enabling culture for makers and entrepreneurs alike.

Meet 4 Unique Startups from T-Hub That bagged Global Awards

Four startups from one of India's largest start-up ecosystem builders, T-Hub, have brought global laurels to the country by winning prestigious awards and recognitions in competitions held exclusively to identify emerging startups in the country.

The four startups that are currently the toast of the country's startup ecosystem are: Hug Innovations, Loop Reality, AuthBase and Kheyti. While Hug Innovations and Loop Reality are all set to represent the country at the Innovation and Entrepreneurship International Competition to be held in China, AuthBase has been conferred with the Hot 1OO: Race to Grace 2017 award and Kheyti has won the Acumen Global Award 2017.

Hyderabad-based T-Hub, which has over 2,000 start-ups in its database, claims to be emerging as the first choice of top Indian startups.

Here's brief overview of the aforementioned four Indian startups that are currently enjoying international stardom:

Hug Innovations: The startup's gesture-control Hug Smartwatch has won many hearts and accolades at the same time. The smartwatch is capable of navigating smart televisions, flying drones and controlling virtual reality-based applications via just hand gestures.

Among the 1500 odd startups that participated in the Global Mobile Challenge, the startup walked away with the best in India title and was in Top 3 in the APAC. It also walked away with the winners title of The India Region Round of the 1st China (Shenzhen) Innovation & Entrepreneurship International Competition held at Bengaluru and was among the Top 10 finalists in the Mobile World Congress held in Barcelona.

Loop Reality: The Telangana-based startup aims to build the best immersive and interactive Virtual Reality solutions. It's product, LoopFit, is an an amalgamation of various in-trend technologies such as VR, IoT, and analytics, which promises to be the future of indoor fitness training. While you’re at the game, it also tracks your heart rate, calories burnt, pedaling speed, power and keeps a tab on your health and fitness. Its’ hardware and virtual environment provides you the best of both – digital and real worlds. The product has garnered an impressive pre-launch interest and is expected to hit the markets end of May this year.

While Hug Innovations won the title of The India Region Round of the 1st China (Shenzhen) Innovation & Entrepreneurship International Competition held at Bengaluru and received received a cash prize of RMB 100,000, Loop Reality, was declared 2nd Runner-up and walked away with a cash prize of RMB 30,000. Both of the startups have qualified for the global finals of the competition, which are scheduled to be held in China in April.

Authbase: A CyberSecurity Company, Authbase provides frameworks to help developers secure their applications. The startup is run by a group of people passionate and conscious about security primarily focused on bridging the gap in security among startups and MSMES.

It is both a product and services company. The startup is currently developing a scanner that would be able to detect and monitor and alert any web solution across different levels for threats, vulnerabilities and exploits.

Kheyti: Kheyti, which means farming in Hindi, aims to turn India’s class of small-scale farmers into ‘smart’ farmers. The startup designs, adapts and implements low-cost farming solutions that helps small farmers in the country to increase the yield and predictability of their produce. The startup has developed a “Greenhouse-in-a-box” – an affordable, modular greenhouse bundled with full stack services that grows 7 times more food and uses 90% less water.

President To Launch T-Works, A Startup Incubator for Hardware Industry

The Telangana Government has decided to send a formal request to President Pranab Mukherjee to grace the launch of the state's startup incubator for hardware industry called T-Works. The event is scheduled to take place next month in the recently christened 29th state of the country.

T-Works is a startup incubator created on the same lines as T-Hub, but for the hardware industry. The whole setup is being built on a large in Telangana's much-famous university, Osmania University.

According to a statement given by Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary of IT, "T-Works on the lines of T-Hub for Hardware, a large setup will come up in Osmania University and we are requesting the President Pranab Mukherjee to launch it during the Centenary Celebrations of the University next month."

He further added, that the large setup will work as a prototyping centre for electronics, semiconductors and hardware startups and provide young talents a platform to succeed.

The incubator will boost of machinery and equipment that will be able to cater the needs of different types of hardware requirements, especially Internet of Thing (IoT) hardware and electronic hardware. It will also come stocked with sophisticated machinery, testing labs and the startups will be able to use them as a common facility.

According to Ranjan, a startup will be able to book the equipment and use it for a specific period of time. They will be required to pay a user fee for the time the equipment is used.

The state Government has plans of investing a whopping Rs. 35-40 crores for all the equipment needs of T-Works.

Speaking at the National Conference on 'Inno Vision in Packaging' organised by Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), Ranjan shared that the idea of T-Works came to him and his team when they paid a visit to iHub, which is the innovation hub in United States' California. T-Works will be adopting a similar model to iHub in Hyderabad.

T-Works functioning will be on the similar lines as T-Hub and will have a professional CEO and COO. A board will also be constituted to oversee the working of T-Works and will have both industry representatives and government representatives on it.