Microsoft Garage opens in Hyderabad

​Hyderabad: Microsoft on Monday announced the formal opening of the Microsoft Garage in the city. The facility inaugurated at the Microsoft India Development Center in Hyderabad will be a resource to Microsoft employees to support them in experimentation and problem solving in new and innovative ways.

Saying that Hyderabad is transforming into a hub for ideas, KT Rama Rao, Minister for IT, Government of TS after inaugurating the centre, said: “Telangana is evolving as the hot bed for innovation. We are glad that Microsoft has chosen Hyderabad as the location for this centre”.

The Minister also mentioned that such initiatives would make the city an integral part of the nation’s drive towards industrial revolution. “Along with our recently announced collaborative platform T-Works and platforms like Microsoft Garage, Hyderabad will transform into a hub for prototype development and ideation, making the city a crucial centre in India’s drive towards the industrial revolution 4.0.

We hope to see some amazing design technologies and prototypes being developed in collaboration between these platforms,” added KTR. The Garage has been formed as a platform for Microsoft employees for their various projects, and to encourage experimentation work across technology and build prototypes along with adding value to existing products.

Anil Bhansali, Corporate V-P, Cloud & Enterprise, MD, Microsoft India (R&D), said: “The Garage enables employees to bring to life innovative ideas and solutions. The Garage program in India will be a connector to bring together people across roles, skills, and experience to lend their passion to create solutions unique to this market.”

The Garage equipped with modern facilities is spread across 8000 square feet. The centre has three dedicated lab sections like, a Hub for Hackathons and workshops, a Makerspace and Advanced Makerspace with electronic workbench, 3D printers, laser cutter, PCB milling machine for creating prototypes and a Reality Room which is dedicated towards working in the space of augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality applications along with dedicated space and equipment for works on deep learning.

“Microsoft enables its employees to utilize their knowledge, capabilities and innovative acumen to build solutions for the rapidly changing technology landscape. The Garage serves as a hub to engage our workforce, with facilities and programmes optimized for hacking, ideation, and collaboration.

The Garage’s engagement with innovation ecosystems in our GDC location will help create the right kind of partnerships to accelerate experimentation and innovation in the local context,” said Jeff Ramos, Partner Director, Microsoft Garage.

The centre already has an output of four projects like Seeing AI an app for visually impaired, SMS Organizer, Favourite Lock Screen and Kaizala an app for large group communication.