City start-up FlytBase Inc chosen for global round of NTT Data Open Innovation Contest

Pune, 11 January 2019: City based start up business FlytBase which develops smart and scalable commercial drone technology on world’s first Internet of Drones platform will represent India in the Open Innovation Contest (OIC) 9.0 hosted by Japanese major NTT Data in Tokyo, in March this year.

NTT Data, part of Japanese telecom giant NTT, holds the OIC every year at international level.

FlytBase was selected in the India final of the contest which took place in the city on Thursday when 11 finalists from Pune, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolhapur and couple from Gurugram made their pitch.

Pune Chapter of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs) facilitated the selection of finalists from 91 contestants coming from the these cities. Globally 401 start up businesses from 18 countries have participated in Open Innovation Contest 9.0 this year.

NTT DATA, a global systems services and technology company has started the initiative to select start-ups that will be earmarked for potential partnerships to augment its portfolio of solutions.

“Start-ups bring in focus, speed and innovation in their offering that often misses an established business. But NTT Data has proven that an established global Corporation can create a win win partnership with Start-ups. TiE Pune is very happy to help both NTT Data and start-ups from India foster such partnerships.” Kiran Deshpande, Co-Founder – Mojo Networks and President of TiE Pune, told mediapersons on the sidelines of the event.

“To ensure maximum success, we partner with the most successful and reliable organizations in each country that we host our contests in.  I am very excited to have partnered with TiE and look forward to meeting the finest startups who have won regional series and earned a finalist position in the Indian final.”  Kotaro Zamma, Head – Open Innovation and Business Incubation, added.

Amid a fast maturing start-up ecosystem in India, the entrepreneurs in the country are proving to be on par with start-ups anywhere in the world in finding technology based solutions and have been holding high promise to attract investors both in India and from overseas, said Pramod Kumar, managing director and head of banking at Barclays India on Thursday. Mr Kumar delivered the keynote address at the Open Innovation Contest jointly organised by TiE and NTT Data.”