India opened its doors to its first SAP AppHaus Network in Pune. It is also considered to be the second SAP collab space in Asia after the establishment of the first SAP AppHaus Network in the hub of ICT Valley, Pangyo, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea in 2016.

Extentia Information Technology, one of the leading software development services company in India with an office located in the same city as the newly established hub. They have joined SAP AppHaus as a member and launched their experience design centre called XEN LAB PNQ.

The lab is conceptualised with the “Bauhaus” style, which features geometric designs, sustainability, genuine materials, unifying art, and tech—the perfect characteristic of functional and social space.

The SAP AppHaus Network consists of collaborative workspaces that are owned by SAP or its partners. These workspaces encourage human-centered innovation approach that is aimed towards achieving business transformation.

Umeed Kothavala, CEO of Extentia, shared:

“We’re excited about being a member of the SAP AppHaus Network and look forward to plenty of new opportunities to work with SAP customers that this certification will bring to us. This has strengthened Extentia’s bond with SAP even further as we are all set to work closely with SAP’s clients in India and neighbouring regions to help them with their digital transformation journeys.”

The collab space is designed and built to encourage creative thinking, critical insights, innovation, and transformational outcomes. It will also serve as a conducive space for organising client workshops that will require processes such as brainstorming, business processes, customer experience, digital transformation, ideation, and strategy building.

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MG Motor India’s technology partners participated in the initiative, which offered technology via its maiden model, the MG Hector SUV. This was also an opportunity for the partners to mentor and support young innovators’ ideas financially. 

The following are the key partners of MG Motor India and their respective roles in the initiative:

• Adobe will provide its Adobe Enterprise, which will help strengthen the core operating functions of a company. They also intend to offer Adobe APIs and mentorship for digital marketing, online marketing, and retail space. Programme participants will also receive an entry to Adobe’s symposiums and learning forums held yearly across the globe.
• Airtel has been thriving in the connectivity space and has been utilising 2G, 3G, and 5G connectivity technologies to drive innovation. The telecom company will also provide engineering aid in the area of gateways for future payment ecosystem for the automotive sector.
• Cognizant will offer its AI platform called “Big Decision.” This will be used to write algorithms and code for autonomous driving as well as its connected car IoT platform for the development of applications and product suites.
• Unlimit is an IoT solutions provider that will offer knowledge resources. Startup teams will have the opportunity to join Unlimit’s employees in its own office and co-develop solutions with its internal team.
• SAP will make its Business API Hub available for developers. They also have the ‘Partner Edge’ programme that will aid development teams to learn and get themselves acquainted with the SAP ecosystem. SAP Labs, which is known for breeding entrepreneurs, will also provide architectural and technology support.
• TomTom is a company that specialises in navigation systems. They will incorporate charging stations into maps to address problems related to electric vehicles (EV) and help EV owners plan their routes.

Rajeev Chaba, the president and MD of MG Motor India said:

“Together with our partners, we are going to mentor and support startups in the automotive space, be it in the area of shared mobility or connected cars. While each idea could see grants between Rs 500,000 to a maximum of Rs 25 lakh the whole idea is to make resources accessible to young entrepreneurs and innovators who are seeking help at every juncture of their startup journey.”

The shortlist of the winning entries will be revealed in November. The demo day will be held in December, and the final list of winners will be announced on May 2020 at the TiE summit.

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First SAP.iO Foundry Singapore Applicants

The first SAP.iO Foundry Singapore will comprise 8 to 10 start-ups in the 13 weeks accelerator programme commencing July 2019. The SAP.iO Foundries programme is a global network for top-tier startups, including accelerators that help them build innovative software and deliver high value for customers. The seven other SAP.iO Foundries are in major startup hubs, including Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, Munich, Tel Aviv, New York City and San Francisco. SAP.iO Foundries have accelerated the growth of over 100 startups.

“As the most innovative country in Asia, Singapore was selected as our first SAP.iO Foundry location in South East Asia to deliver high value to our customers,” said Ram Jambunathan, Managing Director of SAP.iO. “We are excited to work with and help South East Asian startup ecosystem with our value proposition of curated mentorship, exposure to SAP data and technologies, and opportunities to meet and collaborate with SAP unparalleled, global base of enterprise customers.”

Startup Challenges

One of the biggest challenges faced by business managers is the need for continuous innovation to stay relevant. The launch of SAP.iO Foundry Singapore will support early-stage companies with a B2B enterprise focus and deliver incremental value to SAP customers. Selected startups will be provided with curated mentorship, access to SAP data and technologies, and opportunities to meet and collaborate with SAP customers. Building on the success, SAP is delighted to welcome its upcoming cohort of founders.

Startups interested in participating in SAP.iO Foundry Singapore should apply between 12 March and 15 May 2019 here.

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“SAP.iO will create a new ecosystem to help accelerate digital transformation for our 350,000 customers,” said Bill McDermott, CEO, SAP. “We have a message for entrepreneurs: if you have a bold dream to solve one of the world’s most significant challenges, join us and let’s chase your dream together,” he said.

Seeded with an initial US$35 million, the SAP.iO Fund will provide strategic early-stage investments in software startups that can leverage the power of SAP data, APIs and platform technologies to enhance the SAP ecosystem and drive customer value.

Incubating software startups that embrace technologies such as machine learning and blockchain, the global SAP.iO Foundry program locations are in San Francisco and Berlin, with the latter managed by entrepreneur network, Techstars. The Foundry locations are expected to complement existing SAP.iO startup incubation partnerships with Techstars IoT in New York City and the Junction in Tel Aviv.

“In addition to empowering our employee innovators, SAP.iO will use its fund and foundries to invest in entrepreneurs that develop industry-changing software,” said Deepak Krishnamurthy, chief strategy officer, SAP.

The first startup to receive seed funding through SAP.iO is Silicon Valley-based Big Data analytics firm Paradata, which uses machine learning to increase supply chain transparency, complementing SAP Ariba’s direct material sourcing and supply chain visibility capabilities. Paradata will also receive mentorship, customer introductions and access to platform integrations and APIs from SAP.iO and SAP.

Promoting an overall culture of innovation, SAP’s existing innovation programs include SAP Labs Network, with 19 labs in 16 countries and SAP Innovation Centre Network, with 10 locations worldwide providing a startup-like environment focusing on new ideas.

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The initiative includes the opening of an SAP Innovation Centre on the IITB campus, and the launch of the SAP-IITB Startup Accelerator Program – a cohort-based ‘boot camp’ to nurture the growth of 10 social enterprises or investible startups over the course of a year.

The SAP Innovation Centre will host research projects in collaboration with the computer science department of IITB, as well as provide an opportunity for students to participate in SAP Mile, a university crowdsourcing platform which allows students to participate in virtual internships to learn and experiment on SAP products and solutions.

“We want to be a significant accelerator of growth for emerging social entrepreneurs and startups in India,” said Bernd Leukert, member of the Executive Board, Products and Innovation, SAP SE.

“SAP is committed to propelling the entrepreneurship ecosystem in India by providing youth and emerging entrepreneurs with access to technologies they need to succeed in the digital economy.”

Earlier this year, during SAP CEO Bill McDermott’s visit to India, SAP announced a partnership with IITB to contribute to its Entrepreneurship Development Initiative and the ‘Train 10,000 Teachers’ Programme, being undertaken by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

“The partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, will further our existing efforts on strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem,” said Dilipkumar Khandelwal, managing director, SAP Labs India and executive vice president, Enterprise Cloud Services, SAP SE.

“So far, SAP impacted over 250 startups; accelerated and mentored 20 startups and social enterprises to make them investible and enable their next stage of growth.”

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Originally launched in the Gujarat region, the program now aims to expand to Rajasthan and Pune, and develop depth in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, clean tech, water, and enterprise technology.

“The program seeks to help entrepreneurs from tier II and tier III towns drive sustainable economic growth and innovation, and make Digital India real,” said Adaire Fox-Martin, president, SAP Asia Pacific Japan.

The program will identify investable regional start-ups and bring them together with domain experts, angel investors and academics.

“SAP believes in fostering a sustainable economic environment by strengthening the entrepreneurship ecosystem and in this context through our partnership with CIIE, we are creating and mentoring a pipeline of investable startups,” said Dilipkumar Khandelwal, managing director, SAP Labs India.

SAP and CIIE also announced other initiatives to encourage over 200 up-and-coming youth entrepreneurs, and identify three entrepreneurs to become ‘Innovation Fellows’ at CIIE.

Last year’s accelerator program assisted eight start-ups.

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