The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) unveiled India’s first Centre of Excellence focused on Internet of Things (CoE- IoT) at its Startup Warehouse in Bengaluru. The center was inaugurated by Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Law, Government of India. The centre was launched in a bid to encourage start-ups to come up with tech solutions centred on Internet of Things (IoT).

Nasscom reveals that IoT Market has witnessed growth of 28% from FY2015 – FY2016. Nearly 120 firms offering IoT solutions in India; around 60% IoT startups emerging post 2010. Indian IoT firms received around USD 60 mn funding in last 3 years.

Some points about centre :

• The CoE will focus on leveraging IT strengths and creating a new age industry with the support of IoT based ideas.
• The centre is a joint initiative between the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeITY), Education and Research Network (ERNET) and NASSCOM.
• It is also supported by Accenture, Cisco, Intel, HCL Technologies, Qualcomm, TCS and L&T Technology Services, among others.
• The CoE laboratory along with the Nasscom 10,000 Startups Warehouse has the capacity to incubate up to 40 start ups and can accommodate around 10 emerging companies per shift for prototype/ design and usage of lab facilities.

Industry estimates point out that there are 120 IoT focused companies, addressing an expected market opportunity of 15 billion US dollars by 2020. NASSCOM Chairman : C. P. Gurnani