Microsoft to help start-ups transform their ideas into IP

Microsoft Corporation India on Wednesday announced a programme targetted at helping Indian software start-ups transform their ideas into intellectual property.

The programme 'India is Innovation', which is being run by the Microsoft Innovation Centre, is designed to help the Indian start-up companies build world class software products and solutions.

Dan'l Lewin, corporate vice president, strategic and emerging business development, said innovation and intellectual property were the areas which would unleash the next wave of growth in India and help India truly realise its value.

"Microsoft is committed to creating the ecosystem which will foster and fuel this growth and the 'India is Innovation' summit organised by the company in Bangalore is aimed at this," he added.

He said the summit hosted by Microsoft was the continuation of the strategy set in place with the starting of Microsoft Innovation Centre during Bill Gates' visit to India in December last year.

The aim of the summit was to create a platform where venture capitalists and start-up companies would come together and discuss their roles in catalysing the local software economy. This also provides a scope for start-up companies to present their ideas before the panel of VCs to secure funding.

According to Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India, the initiative taken up by Microsoft will provide Indian software start-ups with the impetus to create intellectual property (IP) out of great ideas and realise their true potential.

He said Microsoft had made significant investments in India in developing the local software ecosystem by emphasising on local IP.

The company works closely with developers, independent software vendors and system integrator communities, providing them with the skills and know-how required to truly compete in the global market.

Microsoft also launched an Innovation booklet, a collection of 27 unique case studies of successful products by Indian independent software vendors (ISVs) over the last few years.

Some of the featured products include InSite 2005 from Aurigo Software, Wasp'3D from Beehive Systems, Whizible EPM from Compulink and Skelta Workflow Accelerator from Skelta Software.