FirstBuild India is set to bring the country to the forefront of the industrial revolution by building a culture of creation
FirstBuild, a global co-creating community, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Telangana to establish its India wing in Hyderabad. Backed by GE appliances, it also signed the MoU with T-Works, a prototyping centre.
The India hub is set to bring aspiring creators together under one space to innovate appliances and transform places. Melanie Cook, CEO, GE Appliances, considers T-works as the ideal location for FirstBuild India to start the journey. The community centre aims to bring smart products and appliances to market through open product innovation.
FirstBuild at T-Works
Inside the T Works unit, the new centre is set to have a fabrication space of 8,000 square feet that will be solely for making appliances for the local consumers. Sujai Karampuri, chief executive officer, T-Works said that to accomplish the Make-in India vision and to bring India to the forefront of the industrial revolution, promoting a culture of creation is important. He added that T-Works’ infrastructure will aid in the vision by combining ideas and execution. The association with FirstBuild is aimed to boost innovation in the manufacturing sector.
The centre will have associates working together with designers, programmers, students, craftsmen and other creators to design, build and sell appliances. FirstBuild, with the support of its online community members, targets appliance ideas, takes up the most popular ones and makes products in small batches.
FirstBuild has contacted makers online as well as offline to fulfil its purpose of innovation in the appliances’ world. Apart from India, it has centres in Louisville, Kentucky and Shanghai. Currently, T-Works has a makeshift office in Begumpet and is set to build its 50,000 sq. ft unit at the Hyderabad Knowledge City. While the Begumpet one has already started dealing with prototypes, the Hyderabad one is expected to start its operations by November.
The MoU was signed after T-Works’ CEO and Chandramouli Vijjhala, Chief Information Officer for GE Appliances India made an agreement in December 2017.