India, Slovakia partner to nurture start-up ecosystems

The Hub aims to be a platform to facilitate learning and development, networking, mentorship, and funding the start-ups. The idea behind the platform is to aggregate different offerings of the ecosystem and enable discovery by the right audience. The Indian Chamber of Commerce has set the goal of supporting the development activities of mutual Slovak-Indian relations and trade between India and the Slovak Republic as well as technical and economic cooperation between entrepreneurs of the two countries and provide information and assistance to all who choose them and their shareholders. The Slovakian Republic has around 90 start-ups and has received $48,042,274 of total funding in the last 12 months.

Ivan Lancaric, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Slovakia Republic to India said, “We are happy to collaborate with Indian Chamber of Commerce for the Slovakia Hub Innovation Summit 2018. This Slovakian start-up hub will aim to bring in new, unique and innovative ideas which help in addressing the challenges we face in an emerging economy like India. We are encouraging investments into India and also contributing to the nation’s GDP. Rakesh Taurani, President of Indian Chamber of Commerce said, “This summit is an example of how we are working together to advance the promise of an increasingly digital world.”

Swedish carmaker Volvo Cars on Thursday said it would assemble plug-in hybrid cars in India from the end of 2019. Volvo would be the first car maker to assemble plug-in hybrid cars in the country. “Volvo XC90 is going to be the first model from Volvo’s portfolio whose plug-in hybrid variant will be assembled locally at the Bengaluru plant by end of 2019,” the company said in a statement. Apart from the XC90, a range of plug-in hybrid models are slated for launch in the next three years. The company further said that the announcement places electrification at the core of Volvo’s future business and paves way for the complete phase-out of combustion-engine-only models. Commenting on the development, Charles Frump, Managing Director, Volvo Car India said: “The localisation of plug-in hybrids marks the future of electrification for us.” Reiterating its commitment for electrification, the company said that it plans to phase out conventional powertrains and focus only on electrification. “Volvo is committed to a goal of featuring some form of electric propulsion in its models from 2019 onwards. Every new Volvo from 2019 onwards will be electrified,” the statement said.