Daimler India CV partners IIT Madras Incubation Cell to catalyse future mobility solutions

Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, President – IIT Madras Research Park, IITM Incubation Cell and Satyakam Arya, MD & CEO, Daimler India CV.

Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC) to set up a technology epicenter to identify mid- to long-term solutions necessary for the future of mobility. The partnership, coined DICV-IITMIC, was inaugurated today at IIT Madras Research Park situated in Chennai.

Under this MoU, DICV will partner with IITMIC to identify, mentor and provide opportunities to Indian technology start-up companies who will work towards finding futuristic solutions for the Indian Mobility Space, in the years ahead. DICV is the first and only OEM from the Indian automotive space that has partnered with an academia like IITMIC for future mobility solutions.

Satyakam Arya, Managing Director & CEO, DICV, said, “India is going through rapid industrial and economic changes and technology will be at the core of businesses and lifestyle going forward. Daimler Truck has always been at the forefront of technological development in the commercial vehicle space. We invested in India for the long term because we believe in its huge potential. DICV’s partnership with IITMIC is a watershed moment because this collaboration is based on a common belief that technology should be created and leveraged to transform the marketplace and not just product offerings. We also believe that by investing in and nurturing bright Indian technology start-up companies, we will contribute to India’s growing economy and sustainably lead the change in commercial vehicles, logistics and in the domain of mobility services.”

The DICV and IITMIC Incubator will jointly incubate Indian technology start-ups working in the areas of future mobility. The focus will be on all aspects like decarbonisation (Electric, Hydrogen), road safety (ADAS-based safety technologies), efficiency (Autonomous, connected vehicles, data analytics), ecosystem creation (Truck as a Service ‘TaaS’) and even prepare the industry for paradigm shifts in supply chain and logistics, manufacturing, product development, software driven vehicle architectures, ESG and other allied areas.

DICV-IITMIC will leverage DICV’s commercial vehicles domain expertise and IITMIC’s proficiency in academia to strengthen the innovation and startup ecosystem across India. The partnership will enable DICV to facilitate innovation in emerging technologies and advancements in order to co-create long term mobility solutions, which is the next phase of growth in India. 

Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, President – IIT Madras Research Park, IITM Incubation Cell said, “IITMIC is the leading deep-tech incubator in India. Daimler Truck is one of the foremost heavy vehicle manufacturers in the world. It designs vehicles for the world in India. As the fossil-fuel based vehicles get replaced by battery powered or hydrogen-powered EVs in near future, innovation and pursuit of deep-tech start-ups in the area will be a major task. This DICV-IITMIC joint incubator would strive to become a leading incubator, where young talent flourishes; further, it will become a think tank for fossil-fuel,free world tomorrow. IITMIC and DICV will leverage our respective strengths to jointly provide mentorship and nurture start-ups by exchanging and participating in seminars, forums, events and symposiums that will help drive solutions for future mobility.”

Situated in IIT Madras Research Park, this is India’s first University-based Research Park and Incubation Cell. It is India’s leading Deep-Tech Start-up hub with an aim to drive solutions for future mobility. DICV signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with IITMIC and has set up the Co-incubation Cell at IIT Madras Research Park.