In a bid to fuel India’s startup ecosystem, Cisco has launched an initiative to accelerate startups and support growth among Indian developers.
The Launchpad initiative will help startups, their authorized channel partners and developers scale solutions, tackle new markets and build digital businesses in the country.
"We have an unprecedented opportunity to digitize the next three billion people in one-third the time it took to connect the first three billion. Through LaunchPad, we want to unleash the next generation of disruptive ideas and help turn the entrepreneurs of today into the business leaders of tomorrow," said Amit Phadnis, president, engineering and India site leader for Cisco at a press conference in Bengaluru.
Through Launchpad, Cisco teams will mentor startups and developers on how to help create digital solutions to enable enterprise customers, service providers and other enablers in the public and private domain.
The company is looking at connecting people and 50 billion devices through digitization, matching appealing ideas with business expertise and connecting engineering talent with investors and customers.
"Innovation and investment are the key drivers of the Indian economy, leading to jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. India is a hotbed of entrepreneurial talent and Cisco's LaunchPad will be a tremendous accelerator for startups to develop digital solutions that reach a global market," added KS Vishwanathan, Vice President, Nasscom, a trade body for IT industries in India.
The initiative will initially focus on manufacturing, retail, transportation, education and the healthcare sector.