San Francisco / Bangalore, July7, 2016: HAX the leading accelerator for hardware startups, has shared its take on global IoT, robotics and health tech trends -- insights derived from over 150 investments and thousands of startups evaluated around the world.
We are now far beyond automated vacuum cleaners and step counters. Robots are stepping out of factories and entering many industries, automating many tedious or dangerous tasks. The age of distributed micro-manufacturing and mass personalization is coming.
Health tech is diversifying, with devices to help manage or treat a wide variety of physical and mental conditions.
Says Cyril Ebersweiler, founder of HAX: “We see the ecosystem getting stronger at every level and in every geography, from prototyping tools to online and offline communities. Hardware is changing everything, and there is no mobile app for that. ‘Connected’ will soon be as common as ‘electric’.”
Among communities, IoT Bangalore (IoTBLR) which hosted the release of the report earlier this week, has now become the largest IoT-focused meetup group in the world, followed by similar communities in London, San Francisco, Paris and New York, where skill building, startup support and applied research projects happen. “The traction that IoT is getting in Bangalore is a function of the maturing startup environment, strong developer and hacker outreach initiatives by communities, makerspaces, industry bodies and government, MNCs choosing this city to build their IoT capability in, and the software expertise we already have that is helping us build smarter hardware. Things are coming together at the right time here but there is still some distance to go for more of our hardware startups to become globally competitive”, says Nihal Kashinath, Founder of IoTBLR .
Adds Pavan Kumar, CEO of Workbench Projects , “More and more spaces, infrastructure, and facilities are popping up across the country to support everything from tinkering to actual hardware product development.”
While the role of Shenzhen as “The Silicon Valley for Hardware” is now widely acknowledged by startups to MNCs for the speed, cost advantage, scalability and breadth of local skills, the origins of hardware startups has never been so diverse. Overseas firms represented over half of the 3,800 exhibitors at the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas in 2016.
“Innovation does not have a nationality. What matters is that founders access the best resources they can find, wherever they are. Getting to market quickly and sustainably is especially important as startup investment is not easily found.”, adds Ebersweiler.
Other highlights:
From new materials to 3D printing, the fabrics and garments industries are likely to see disruption in the near future
Fuller details of the report here