T-Hub announces partnership with Digital Catapult to boost UK-India Collaborations

Hyderabad: T-Hub, which leads India’s pioneering innovation ecosystem, on Tuesday announced a partnership with Digital Catapult supported by the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office (FCDO) to boost UK-India collaborations.

The partnership aims to increase the innovation quotient between the two countries in immersive technology and towards achieving net-zero emissions targets by 2050, Hyderabad-based T-Hub said in a release here.

A range of innovative VR-AR startups, climate technology companies, corporates as well as sustainability organizations collaborated and shared ideas of how immersive technologies would help towards net-zero carbon emissions.

T-Hub scouted relevant startups, corporates and academia from India, and Digital Catapult, the UK’s national innovation centre for advanced digital technologies, shortlisted startups, and academia from the UK.

Meanwhile, UK FCDO and DIT identified corporate and sustainability organizations that were looking to tackle their net-zero challenges using these immersive technologies. The project has been funded by the UK government’s Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy.

The goal of these discussions also encouraged further R&D and commercial engagement between these corporates and the shortlisted research institutes (academia) and startups.
T-Hub CEO and Telangana Chief Innovation Officer, Ravi Narayan said “T-Hub’s partnership with Digital Catapult, UK FCDO, and DIT brings in a multi-pronged approach to benefit stakeholders of the global innovation ecosystem.

The UK-India Immersive Technology Sustainability Expert Group will focus on finding enhanced innovations for climate change that will open a gateway for startups as well as academia to collaborate across geographies and the selected sustainability organizations/corporates who could truly utilize these innovations will further evaluate it to provide growth avenues as relevant.”

Digital Catapult Chief Strategy and Policy Officer Jessica Rushworth, said “The collaboration between T-Hub, Digital Catapult on this exciting initiative will boost the development of stronger links between the UK and India in the fast-moving area of climate technology innovation.
The partnership will focus on collating all the relevant research and development factors to overcome global sustainability issues.

The R&D research will be submitted to the Department for International Trade, UK Government.
Additionally, the partnership will enable a collaborative building of an immersive demo or prototype by the expert group that can be showcased at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) scheduled to be held in Glasgow in November this year.

The partnership will also help the Indian startups and academia to explore the potential of immersive technologies in areas of — create tangible solutions for heavy long-haul travel emission; explore innovation as an enabling force in the fight against climate change; Mobilising key players in the UK and India related to innovation and the creative industries and Unlock potential growth and collaboration opportunities for both the UK and India in this area.

Over the past decade, there has been an ever-increasing focus on climate change, which requires the deployment of innovation not only in new technologies but also in new ways of implementing existing technologies, new business models, and, importantly, new policy and regulation.

T-Hub being a thriving force for the Indian startup ecosystem, will bring in innovation with its robust networks and expertise through this partnership and help in creating a climate-positive planet.

IT will actively continue to partner with international ecosystem enablers and governments to help the Indian startups scale globally during and after the pandemic.