Startup Village, India's first telecom technology incubator, has become home to the first BlackBerry Innovation Zone in the Asia Pacific region.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion (RIM) launched the first-of-its-kind centre here on Thursday in an effort to showcase the latest in BlackBerry technologies to inspire future entrepreneurs.
Mr Alec Saunders, vice-president of Developer Relations and Ecosystems Development, RIM, said on the occasion that the company is hoping to launch two such centres supporting innovation zones in India this year. “India is a tremendously important country if you are a company that builds a mobile applications platform,” he said.
“Our future platform BlackBerry10 has capabilities that have not been seen previously in mobiles. By investing in start-ups, especially in incubators such as the Startup Village, the company hopes to see innovation flourish on this new platform as in the others,” he added.
Mr Sunil Dutt, managing director, RIM India, said Startup Village is an accurate reflection of how rapidly ideas can mature. It provides budding entrepreneurs with all the facilities they need – knowledge, physical infrastructure and cutting edge technology support.
BlackBerry Innovation Centre will help fire the imagination of students in about 126 engineering colleges in Kerala. The centre will create the base for a whole lot of new ideas on the mobile platform, he added.