Indian smart city lab announces corporate founding partner

Silicon Labs has been announced as the corporate founding partner of India’s Smart City Living Lab in Hyderabad.

The private, public and academia venture aims to enable 100 smart cities across the country over the next five years.

Smart city mission

The Smart City Living Lab is part of the International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad’s (IIITH) Smart City Research Centre. It is supported by the Government of India’s Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), Smart Cities Mission, the Government of Telangana, European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC), and Amsterdam Innovation Arena. 

The lab’s mission is to provide a research and development ecosystem for next-generation technologies designed to improve safety, sustainability, energy efficiency, sanitation, and overall quality of life in densifying cities.

Silicon Labs designs silicon, software and solutions to help make cities more connected. Hyderabad is the home of its newest and fastest-growing wireless development centre which it aims to establish as the region’s top design centre for wireless connectivity.

 “Collaboration between industry and academia is key to fuel innovation and growth in technology” 

“Our mission is to make the world a better place leveraging the power of IoT,” said Dr Manish Kothari, vice president, Silicon Labs India.

While private companies like Silicon Labs focus on solutions that address market needs, academia aims to build knowledge through research and imparting education to accelerate the development of breakthrough solutions and technologies.

“Collaboration between industry and academia is key to fuel innovation and growth in technology,” said Ramesh Loganathan, professor of co-innovation and head research/innovation outreach, IIITH. “Silicon Labs’ expertise in designing compelling wireless devices will enhance our efforts of building an innovation ecosystem for smart cities.”

The Smart City Living Lab is playing a key part in the Government of India’s Smart Cities Mission, an initiative to drive economic growth and improve quality of life of citizens by enabling local technological development. As part of the programme, 100 cities are being covered for the duration of five years with budget of Rs100 crore per city per year.

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