Suzuki R&D Center India Private Limited (hereinafter “SRDI”), a subsidiary of Suzuki Motor Corporation, has established the “Suzuki e-Micromobility Innovation Lab for Ecosystem” (hereinafter “SMILE”) a co-create lab for Versatile micro e-Mobility (hereinafter “VmeM”*), within the International Automobile Center of Excellence (hereinafter “iACE”) in Gujarat, India. SMILE serves as a “co-create platform” that connects Japanese electric mobility with Indian ideas, aiming to strengthen co-creation with Indian startups and component manufacturers and create new mobility solutions from the customer’s perspective.
At the “Vibrant Gujarat” event held in Rajkot, Gujarat on 11-12 January, SRDI announced the establishment of SMILE and showcased the VmeM platform. On 13 January, an opening ceremony for SMILE was held at iACE in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. The ceremony was attended by Mr. Katsuhiro Kato, Director and Executive Vice President of Suzuki Motor Corporation, Mr. Masahiro Ikuma, Managing Director of SRDI, and Mr. Maheswar Sahu, Independent Director of Maruti Suzuki India Limited.
iACE was established in 2015 jointly by the Government of Gujarat and Maruti Suzuki India Limited. Based in Gujarat, it promotes training and skill development for students and industry professionals as an educational and innovation institution. Its purpose is to nurture the next generation of experts in the automotive industry. To date, it has provided education and training to over 10,000 individuals from more than 500 companies and organizations in fields such as production technology, mobility systems, and automotive engineering. (....)