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HyperCat smart city venture sets up shop in India
UK government-backed HyperCat Consortium seeks Indian startups for Hyderabad-based incubator
Flexeye has opened a branch of its HyperCat internet of things (IoT) project accelerator and incubator in Hyderabad, India, as it seeks to forge links with Indian startups working on smart city systems.
Flexeye, a Guildford-based IoT specialist, took the lead on the formation of the HyperCat consortium – members of which include BT, Cisco, KPMG and Tech Mahindra, and is backed by the UK government – back in 2014.
The Hyderabad centre will replicate the existing HyperCat model in the UK, where Innovate UK, the Mayor of London’s Office and the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation helped create an accelerator office to shape the smart city strategy for the regeneration of a heavily industrialised swathe of west London.
It was formally opened in December 2015 by British deputy high commissioner in Hyderabad Andrew McAllister. The centre will provide Indian startups with access to potential investors, additional skills and technology to develop future IoT applications for smart city environments.
Businesses working at the centre will also be able to learn about the HyperCat standard, which is a specification built on web standards such as HTTPS, REST/HATEOAS and JSON that allows IoT clients to discover what data an IoT server has available and construct apps that work across multiple servers.
Speaking at the launch, McAllister hailed the importance of the initiative. “It leverages the existing UK government funding in HyperCat, as well as supporting the agreement between the UK and Indian governments to jointly develop three Indian smart cities.”
“Delivering value through the IoT requires rapid innovation,” added Flexeye CEO and HyperCat chair Justin Anderson.
“The HyperCat centre in Hi-Tech City will help local startups to accelerate the use of IoT tech in smart cities and across industries. At the same time, Flexeye’s co-located office will deliver the platform, software and services to turn great ideas into valuable applications at speed.”
One of the first activities at the centre will be the launch of a smart city course in partnership with the University of Surrey, a founding member of HyperCat and home to the 5G Innovation Centre, which is working on the future mobile networking standards that will help to power the IoT in years to come.
