Microsoft India today announced the debut of its Garage platform in India, offering its employees an avenue to experiment in various technologies like Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, 3D printing and more, in addition to a dedicated hub for hackathons and workshops. The Garage platform was formally opened today at Microsoft’s Hyderabad campus in Telangana, India.
Speaking on the launch of Garage in India, Jeff Ramos, Partner Director, Microsoft Garage, said,
“Microsoft believes in enabling its employees to utilize their knowledge, capabilities and innovative acumen to build solutions for the rapidly changing technology landscape. The Microsoft Garage serves as a hub to engage our workforce, with facilities and programs optimized for hacking, ideation, and collaboration. Microsoft Garage’s engagement with the innovation ecosystems in our GDC locations, helps create the right kind of partnerships to accelerate experimentation and innovation in the local context”.
Also present at the launch event were Mr. KT Rama Rao, Minister for IT, Govt of Telangana, Mr. TK Rengarajan, Corporate VP, AI&R, Microsoft Global, Ms. Reena Dayal Yadav, Director, Microsoft Garage – India, among others.
Recent Microsoft Garage projects
Some of the recent Microsoft Garage products include Seeing AI, an app that helps narrate the world around for visually impaired people. Microsoft says that the Seeing AI app uses AI to describe people, objects, text, currency and color to help the visually impaired.
Additionally, Microsoft also announced that apps like SMS Organizer, Favorite Lock Screen and Kaizala were also started in Microsoft Garage. Microsoft had launched the Kaizala app in India back in July last year. Kaizala is essentially a messaging app, allowing organizations to coordinate tasks and connect with people inside and outside the organization.
