India – October 2022 – Qualcomm India Private Limited announced the first batch of its new Qualcomm® Semiconductor Mentorship Program (Qualcomm SMP) participants for 2022. Announced in April this year, in collaboration with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the first cohort will be kicked off with four startups that will start receiving mentorship, technical training, and industry outreach support from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Registrations for the program will remain open and new applicants will be evaluated periodically for inclusion in the mentorship program.
The program is the latest addition to the company’s initiatives aimed at encouraging technical advancements, intellectual-property-driven innovation, and product development for semiconductor design in India. Under this program, the selected startups will gain access to domain experts, VCs, accelerators, incubators, industry associations, and other companies that can help them scale up their businesses.
The startups will be mentored by Qualcomm Technologies leaders on product planning and development. The Qualcomm SMP will also facilitate masterclass workshops on technical aspects such as semiconductor design, testing, verification, and packaging, as well as non-technical aspects such as pitches, intellectual property rights, marketing, government incentives, opportunities, and scaling up teams. C-DAC and the Qualcomm SMP will also help these startups gain exposure to government stakeholders through meetings, webinars, seminars, and trade shows.
Speaking about the program, Rajen Vagadia, Vice President, Qualcomm India Private Limited and President, Qualcomm India, said, “As the 5G ecosystem and use-cases for consumers and industries evolve, semiconductors remain crucial for ensuring sustained growth and innovation in the technology sector. There is an immense opportunity within India’s vibrant startup ecosystem, backed by recent government policies and programs. The Qualcomm Semiconductor Mentorship Program is yet another step in supporting India’s progression as a strong design startup hub. Each startup selected for this program has the potential to bring about a large-scale positive change in semiconductor technology, and we are proud to help them along in their journey.”
- Magesh, Director General of C-DAC, said, “Startups have helped in putting India at the very forefront of technology innovation for the world. The government, cognizant of its potential, supports its growth with well-directed policies and strategies and a newfound focus on the semiconductor space. We look forward to working with Qualcomm to give semiconductor startups the kind of technical support, mentoring, and industry exposure they need.”
The cohort of Qualcomm® Semiconductor Mentorship Program 2022 and their respective products are as follows:
- FermionIC Design Pvt Ltd – A fabless semiconductor company specializing in SERDES IP, PLL and Analog IP Design.
- Powency Circuit Private Limited – A company focused on semiconductor products for small-scale power-related applications with better efficiency.
- Pantherun Technologies Pvt Ltd– A cybersecurity innovator with a patent pending data protection approach, that encrypts in real-time, making breaches 10X harder.
- Simyog Technology Private Limited– A company focused on providing EMI/EMC simulation software for front-loading at the early design stage. Its flagship product ‘Compliance-scope’ (CompScope) is a “Virtual EMI/EMC laboratory” for predicting Radiated Emissions (RE), Conducted Emissions (CE), Radiated Susceptibility (RS), and Conducted Susceptibility (CS) compliance tests.
Click here for more information on the Qualcomm Semiconductor Mentorship Program
About Qualcomm
Qualcomm is the world’s leading wireless technology innovator and the driving force behind the development, launch, and expansion of 5G. The mobile revolution was born when we connected the phone to the internet. Today, our foundational technologies enable the mobile ecosystem and are found in every 3G, 4G, and 5G smartphone. We bring the benefits of mobile to new industries, including automotive, the internet of things, and computing, and are leading the way to a world where everything and everyone can communicate and interact seamlessly.
Qualcomm Incorporated includes our licensing business, QTL, and the vast majority of our patent portfolio. Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, operates, along with its subsidiaries, substantially all of our engineering, research, and development functions, and substantially all of our products and services businesses, including our QCT semiconductor business.
About C-DAC
C-DAC is a premier Research and Development organization of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), engaged in cutting-edge technology areas for the design, development, and deployment of products and solutions in the area of Electronics and Information Technology. C-DAC has been at the forefront of the Information Technology (IT) revolution, constantly building capacities in emerging/enabling technologies and innovating and leveraging its expertise, caliber, and skill sets to develop and deploy IT products and solutions for different sectors of the economy, as directed by the Government.
CDAC has been entrusted with the responsibility to execute the Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme notified by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India to help offset the disabilities in the domestic industry involved in semiconductor design in order to strengthen the semiconductor chip design ecosystem in the country and to facilitate access to semiconductor design infrastructure for the start-ups and MSMEs.
Qualcomm is a trademark or registered trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated.