Microsoft has launched an initiative to help local startups working on solutions for smart cities, for which it will provide $120,000 worth of Azure credits, CEO Satya Nadella announced at the American technology company’s ‘Future Unleashed’ event in Mumbai. Azure is Microsoft’s public cloud platform.
“Working with startup accelerators, these startups can now apply for individual access to up to $120,000 worth of Azure computing to help India’s smart cities explore options and run smart city digital pilots,” Microsoft said in a statement. “Cities can also apply for access to these services and solutions through a new portal which connects startups with cities and their needs.”
Microsoft has also created an umbrella framework to help groups of startups market their niche products as an integrated solution for the Smart Cities project envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“We will work together with startups, each will provide the building blocks of the solution and we will provide the cloud framework. It helps in the process that governments see us as providing the glue. So we help startups access a large market where we have relationships,” Ravi Narayan, director at Microsoft Ventures, said.
The company is already working with India’s newest state Telangana on one such project. Last month, a number of startups, Telangana government officials and Microsoft experts took part in a ‘Smart City Startups Conclave’ to map smart solutions for cities in Telangana. The conclave was run under Microsoft’s City-Next programme.
Narayan said that this effort will help bridge the gap between governments and startups. “If you look at it, they are two ends of the spectrum. But working together there is scope to provide solutions, especially in new government initiatives like Smart Cities and Digital India,” he said.
Image Curtsey: The Hindu
