DPIIT, Voltas Partner to Support Cooling Tech Startups

• DPIIT partners Voltas to support cooling tech startups.
• Initiative runs under Startup India innovation programme.
• Startups get mentorship, testing access and PoC trials.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Interior Trade (DPIIT) along with Voltas have drawn up a partnership to propel startups operating in the cooling and smart appliance technology ecosystem. Besides strengthening industry-startup engagements, the collaboration also intends to promote innovation in advanced cooling technologies and connected appliances.

The tie-up will come under the umbrella of the governments Startup India programme, a scheme aimed at creating a robust startup ecosystem and nurturing innovation-driven entrepreneurship in India. As a result of this, DPIIT and Voltas will jointly scout startups developing solutions related to the cooling and appliance sector.

Startups chosen under the scheme could get mentorship, technical support, access to testing facilities and opportunities for market linkage helping them speed up product development. Besides, they might work with Voltas engineering teams on Proof-of-Concept (PoC) projects which would allow them to validate their technologies and even have the chance to see how they work in a real-world application environment.

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The partnership will be centred on technologies that focus on environmental control such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, power electronics; diagnostics based on AI and machine learning; smart appliances connected with IoT; and digitalization of manufacturing and services.

To find solutions in line with industry requirements, innovation contests and hackathons could also be held through the Bharat Startup Grand Challenge platform. Main innovation areas include cooling systems that are efficient in energy usage, technologies for monitoring air quality and filtration, advanced inverter controls, predictive maintenance solutions, refrigerant safety systems and digital tools for installation and servicing.

Besides, the partnership will provide startups an opportunity to utilize Voltass service network for field trials to test and improve their products. DPIIT officials pointed out that such partnerships are instrumental in closing the gap between startups and mature manufacturing companies. This initiative by bringing together expert knowledge of the industry with emerging technologies, aims to speed up the process of innovation and make the ecosystem of cooling and smart appliances in India more robust.