Britain to tap Kerala's Maker Village to set up start-up companies

Britain finds huge potential buyers of products from Kerala's 'Maker Village' which is one of the largest electronic incubators in India, a top official said Friday. The United Kingdom plans to bring a special team to the Maker Village to convince the country's industry captains about the quality of the products of the pioneering governmental initiative here, British Commission deputy director (trade, economics & prosperity-South Asia) Amo Kalar was quoted as saying in a press release here.

It said the official was on a visit to the 60,000-square-feet technology innovation zone at the Kinfra Hitech Park in Kalamassery, 20 km from here. Britain stands fourth in the world rankings on start-up companies, he said.

Kalar said he was impressed with the quality of Maker Village products in three segments: environment, medical technology and power-run vehicles. "Some of the healthcare products I saw here looked ideal for use by us in Britain," he said hailing equipment that senses and gauges air pollution.

The official recalled that an India-UK conclave held last year had boosted the ties between the two countries in the modern technology sector. Hardware start-up is the sector that is benefiting the most from the event, he added.

Maker Villages products, Kalar noted, are useful from the industry point of view given that they are of social value. This feature makes a visit by a British delegation to the Maker Village crucial, he said.

The official, during his round of the Maker Village, was accompanied by a senior investment advisor, Department of International Trade, British High Commission, Chennai, Deepthi Pasumarthy. Kalar held talks with Maker Village CEO Prasad Balakrishnan Nair as well as other top functionaries of the establishment and highlighted the need for more frequent interactions between start-up entrepreneurs of both Britain and India.

Nair said Kalars visit has given high hopes of Maker Village for increased cooperation with business relations with Britain. Only a couple of months ago, British Deputy High Commissioner Jeremy Pilmore-Bedford visited Maker Village.

The official, while hailing the Maker Village products for their quality, had said more British companies would visit the Kochi establishment to learn more about incubating start-ups, the release added.

(With inputs from agencies.)