Similar to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM), Samsung and others, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) is starting an accelerator program in Israel. It’s termed the Intel Ingenuity Partner Program (IPP).
Roy Ramon, Director of the program, termed the IPP more of a partnership Initiative than an accelerator. Intel is associating with capable companies to assist them to scale-up their technology.
The goal of their program is to strengthen ties with start-ups and help them grow. Rather than inviting applicants as will happen in the future editions of IPP, Intel Israel selected nine companies that it thought aligned with the program’s goals.
Ramon commented that Intel was already associated with these start-ups. The six-month program provides free space and resources to build ideas, lot of face time with mentors and chances to meet with investors such as corporate division heads, Venture Capitalists (VCs) and so on. Each company will be allocated a master mentor from within Intel that will assist the start up make its way around Intel to obtain resources, meetings and commercial opportunities.
The companies selected for the program need not be early stage startups. However, they are organizations with ideas or projects likely to attain technological or commercial success but require further development. Towards the end of the program, the companies will demonstrate their work to top Intel executives and investors.
There has been a current boom in accelerators and start-up nurturing programs funded directly by big technology companies. This is just an indication how big an impact IoT (Internet of Things) will have on the Information Technology industry.
Tech firms have realized that they cannot do anything independently. However, by partnering with other companies they can boost their value much more than by attempting to develop everything independently.
In the future of IoT, software and hardware will combine into a single product. To do well, companies will require the assistance of the startups that can build user interfaces, services, engineering and other things to make interconnectivity function well.
Sources: zdnet.com
