IAI’s NeuSPHERE Innovation Acceleration Program focuses on the Indian technology startup community, in particular inventive deep-tech startups focusing on big data, signal and image processing, advanced navigation systems, AI and autonomy, XR-maintenance and training, green energy, advanced production, quantum, edge computing, Human Machine Interfaces and wearable technology. It will provide the participating Indian startups access to advanced resources and technologies, including global mentorship and guidance, networking and funding, to accelerate their market-ready solutions.

Dr. Avital Schrift, VP Core Tech at IAI, speaks with Vishal Kashyap, Managing Editor, Aviation World on this big announcements and explains on all points that makes this product important.

I would like to know more about the product and how it is going to be part of the Indian market?

A: IAI has launched its Innovation Acceleration Program in India called as ‘NuSphere’ aiming to enhance IAI’s collaboration with the Indian local technological community.

Specifically aiming at technological startups, innovative deep tech technological startups and trying together with them to scale up their capability and bring them to the next level of products.

How soon this product will be into the Indian market? What’s the timeline that you have set?

A: The program is already launched and the applications are open for all the Indian startups to apply. By February we are going to close the applications. We are going to have a selection committee that will select out of all the applications the three first startups to participate in our program. And those startups together with us will develop their proof of concept and later on be able to develop it and demonstrate it.

So like you said, it is going to do for the startups. Who are your customers, the startups into the drone or the defense? Or, can you please focus upon the sectors that you are targeting?

A: We are focusing on 10 specific technological areas. The main of which are image processing, AI, big data, autonomous navigation. There are 10 quantum computing, edge computing. Those are two important areas. Essentially, we are looking on those really deep tech technologies that can make an impact on our products. So we want to take the technology that was born in India and integrate it into our products to be sold again to India and across the globe. IAI is a very good partner for the Ministry of Defense and there are many avenues that both the countries are exploring in India.

Is this program or software is also a part of making India concept or something like that?

A: This is another step in the making India concept taking it to the next level because making India can be interpreted as just taking our own design and doing it in India. Here we are looking for an Indian invention. Something that was already created from the first in India, taking the Indian knowledge and capabilities and integrating it into our products.

As far as the incubation center is concerned, where is it located?

A: It’s a virtual concept. So right now we have Greenhouse Ventures company that will help us in running the program. They are located here in Delhi. The meetings when we need to will be made either virtually or in Delhi. The demo day, the pitch events, all the events will be in Delhi but the program as a whole will be run virtually.So the startups can remain where they are. They don’t need to come to Delhi. India is very big and we are reaching everywhere in India.So we didn’t want to force the startups to come to Delhi. They can remain wherever they are.

So it is also going to add some employment opportunity into India with this program?

A: Once those startups will create their concept together with us and be selected to move to the next step of doing a POC, yes, of course, we want to translate their idea into a product that will be sold worldwide.

So, of course, those startups will be able to grow. In fact, during the presentation, you are going to hear our first example of an Indian startup named BosonQ dealing with quantum computing that we have already started to work with. And for the time being, we were able to secure to this startup almost five million US dollars of investments, foreign investments.So it’s a big deal and they can sort of testify to the benefits that they had from cooperating with IAI.

In the long term, how is it going to synergize the IAI presence into the Indian market with this product?

A: That’s an amazing idea. We are going to take Indian-made technology and translate it into IAI products that will be sold worldwide. So we are going to take the ideas, scale them up, and take them to the next level of being able to translate an idea to a product and to a system. This is what IAI does. We specialize in systems of systems. So we are going to take this very small idea and help it grow, develop, and essentially it’s going to remain an Indian idea.

Any specific point that you want to highlight as a USP of this particular product?

A: We believe very much in working with the Indian startup community.We chose specifically India to be the second country to which we will go globally. The first was USA, India is the second because we believe in the Indian technological community.We want to contribute to it, and we are going to benefit from it as well.