At an event held in Bengaluru on Wednesday, Tech Mahindra was conferred with the 2021 Volvo India Innovation Award in the open category, while Zypp Electric was given the award under the SME category. In addition, a special recognition award was given to the Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT), Karnataka, for its project on improving quality of life.
This is the first edition of the Volvo India Innovation Award, instituted by Volvo Group, to recognise exemplary innovations in mobility, transportation, & infrastructure arenas, which positively impact society. The annual award is open to individuals and organisations in India.
The awardees were selected from over 30 registrations by an eminent and independent jury constituted by Volvo Group India, which include Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman, Axilor Ventures and Co-founder of Infosys, Vijayak Chatterjee, Infrastructure expert, Zarin Daruwala, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank, India, Lennart Borjesson, SVP, Volvo Group and Helene Niklasson, VP, Volvo Group.
Tech Mahindra bagged the award for its innovative energy and fleet management solutions developed specifically for the Indian market, which can play a crucial role in reducing the CO2 footprint in the country. Its eNetra is a frugal non-intrusive IoT device that offers the ability to turn millions of regular energy meters in the country into smart and intelligent ones without replacing them. The system connects these standard meters to the internet, captures the consumption metrics and sends data to the cloud, enabling individuals and enterprises to manage and monitor their energy consumption in real-time for data analytics and insights.
Zypp Electric won the award for its last-mile connectivity solutions aimed to uberise the same day delivery in the B2B segment using EV fleet, eventually promoting sustainability.
The jury chose DULT for the special recognition award for its initiative in turning Church Street in Bengaluru into a testbed for future solutions in pedestrianisation, clean air and electric micro-mobility.
Kamal Bali, President & MD, Volvo Group India, said, “The world is pulled apart by two engines such as challenges and boundless opportunities and the bridge that will help connect both are innovation, collaboration and purpose.” Therefore, accelerated innovation with amplified collaboration is the need of the hour, he said, adding that humans should collaborate before systems do. Innovation fuelled by the cross-fertilisation of ideas will help address the changing landscape of mobility that is witnessing EVs & clean fuels, automation, new transport concepts, connectivity & digitalisation, new business models, data and future regulations. The past was obsessed with competition while the future banks on collaboration, he added.
There was a panel discussion on ‘Successful partnerships for innovation and co-creation,’ moderated by Kris Gopalakrishnan and participated by Sanjeev Sharma, MD & CEO, ABB India, Ramesh Ramadurai, CEO, 3M India, K R Sekar, Partner, Deloitte Haskins and Sells LLP & President, BCIC and Dimitrov Krishnan, VP & Head Volvo Construction Equipment, India.
Delivering his address on Technology & Engineering for Innovation, Lennart Borjesson said that the development of new technologies cannot be done by one company alone. “We see more and more partnerships with suppliers and competitors as well. If we get to work better, why not team up,” he asked, recalling the association Volvo has established with several companies, including Samsung SDI, Aurora, SSAB, Designwerk Technologies, Nvidia, Isuzu, Daimler, Ovako and Traton.
He further said that the recently inaugurated CampX in India is the second of its kind and first outside Sweden. Volvo will be setting up similar facilities in France and the US. “Not only bad things are contagious. I strongly believe innovation and creativity are something that grow,' and spread like ripples on the water when shared, Borjesson concluded.