The fourth season of the Developer Program & Grant has been introduced by MG Motor India and its consortium partners with "Innovation" as a brand pillar (MGDP). This programme will give participants the chance to learn, grow, and build solutions for the automotive sector.
The MG Developer Program this year will concentrate on enhancing the innovation platform for entrepreneurs, developers, and innovators in keeping with the theme "Electric Mobility Innovate for India," which is where electric vehicles are currently dominating the market. This will not only open up possibilities for innovative solutions and new perspectives in fields like charging infrastructure, fleet management, electric components, electric batteries, green energy solutions, connected car solutions, and BaaS, but it will also make it possible to create brand-new experiences and applications for the entire EV ecosystem.
Speaking to the business world regarding the biggest challenge in the EV market in India, Gaurav Gupta, CCO of MG Motor India, said ecosystem development is the main issue that needs to address on priority. MGDP aims to tackle this big problem by bringing all partners together that include recycling batteries, developing charging infrastructure, closing the gap between academia and industry, and using the Internet of Things (IoT) and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
He further added that the EV segment is new in India and no one has much experience. Therefore, the programme aims to provide vocational training to young people and customers. So they can learn to repair their EVs by themselves. MG is trying to build a community of the young generation who have a certain amount of knowledge of electric vehicles. For that purpose, MG is providing batteries and cars to universities to experiment and study, so they can learn more about EVs and their technology and chemical composition.
The automaker's innovative MGDP programme offers top-notch mentoring in an effort to motivate mobility developers to keep up with new technology. It has grown to become one of the most important mentoring programmes in the sector, inviting entrepreneurs and innovators to join MG and its consortium partners in reshaping the auto industry's future with ideas that make every experience thrilling. In order to help with the practical development of the solution, business plan and modeling, testing facilities, go-to-market strategy, etc., the programme provides specialised, high-level mentorship and networking possibilities. Pilot projects, purchase orders, or grants, the amount of which will be determined on a case-by-case basis by the jury, will also be available to winning concepts.
Over 830 auto-tech start-ups submitted entries for the program's prior three iterations. Out of these, 180 companies, including Koinearth, Electreefi, Voxomos, Redbot Technologies, and Mihup, were chosen, supported, and mentored by MG and the consortium's members to investigate and develop applications in connected automobile technology, cutting-edge technologies, and CaaP (Car-as-a-Platform). The automaker has joined forces with Startup India and Invest India as lead partners for MGDP Season 4.0, and Jiobp, Exicom, Fortum, CESL, Attero, MapmyIndia, and Bosch as technology partners.