Maker Village

Hardware incubator dedicated to electronics

Maker Village, Kerala Technology Innovation Zone, Kinfra Hi-Tech Park, Kalamassery, Kochi, Kerala 683503, India,

Incubateur Makerspace Espace de coworking

Superficie 2300 m²

Ouvert en Juin 2016

Type de structure Non-profit organization

Exploré en Juin 2017


Maker Village is a hardware incubator dedicated to IOT, wearables and robotics. Created by the Kerala Startup Mission, its purpose is to provide the best space, tools and mentoring to entrepreneurs willing to start in Kerala state.

Thématiques principales

Mode & textile Vêtements & accessoires Robotique Electronique Education Entrepreneuriat Communauté Industrie & innovation Design Drones & aéronautique Eau & océans Santé & bien-être

Cet atelier est fait pour les :

Entrepreneur.es Etudiant.es Petites & moyennes entreprises Makers professionnels

Interview & visite guidée

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Notre atelier en détails

Découvrez en plus sur notre espace, nos membres, nos machines & services !

Maker’s Village idea started with 4 start-ups from Kerala which had launched their crowdfunding campaign but couldn’t launch their project as no facility nor resources were available.

Created in June 2016 by the Government of India, Kerala Start-up Mission and the Indian Institute of Information & technology and management in Kerala (IIITM), Maker’s village aims to enable innovators from India to come and build their products in the 3 areas: wearables, Internet of Things and robotics. The gigantic space of 15000 square feet can host up to 180 people willing to access the DIY space to work with wi-fi access and use the machines, to develop their prototype thanks to the pre-incubation program or to create their start-up via the incubation program. Cutting edge machines and devices, assembly line, coach and mentors are there to help startups in their development from idea to market.

Nine projects were incubated in June 2017, such as an underwater drone or a safety garnment for women.

Globally, 70% of Maker’s Village’s users are professionals incubated, the rest of them are students. Professionals participate to the pre-incubation program which lasts 3 months and the incubation program which lasts from 18 to 20 months. The DIY space is free of access to students.

Since the beginning, 100 users and 14 start-ups stepped in the space including 50 current makers and 9 start-ups.

As a lot of makerspaces and hardware incubators, the rate of women is very low: 10%. Most the users discovered Maker’s Village through press, hackathons or other challenges co-organized with companies such as Bosch or Microsoft.

The community of the hardware incubator can communicate thanks to a whatsapp group: questions on their projects, events etc. Moreover, to animate that community, every 3rd Saturday of the month, meet-ups for hardware enthusiasts are organized in the space.

An excel sheet open to all the members enable them to fill their needs in terms of resources (hardware, software, equipment …). If complicated to get it, Maker’s Village’s team maps those resources on their database the resources detained by other institutes and make partnerships so that startups can access it.

Maker’s Village got a 4-million-dollar funding for its 1st four years of development by IIITM, the Indian government and Kerala Start Up Mission: 30% for equipment, 20% for operational expenses, 35% for start-up funding and 15% for the 15 000 square feet building.

The space isn’t a legal organization but a project owned by its 3 creators.

Currently, 99% of its revenues come from the government of Kerala but in the future, it will come from pre-incubation and incubation fees, the assembly line and the machines booking, equity from start-ups as well as workshops and challenges organized for big companies.

Maker’s Village aims to become the largest and best equipped hardware incubator in the country. To do so, the team has already planned to get 2 or 3 more floors to host 30 more start-ups. One of its next steps is also to integrate start-ups directly into the incubation program.

5 individuals compose Maker’s Village’s team: 1 CEO, 1 in charge of operations, 1 of the PCB assembly line and 2 are the technical associates.

Maker’s Village has set up 3 main programs:

• Normal membership: free for students and on selection for others, normal members can access the “DIY zone”: the co-working space with free Internet and basic tools (opensource boards, 3D printer, …). But they’ll have to pay to use cutting-edge tools, machines and the assembly line and book those latter through the space’s booking platform.

• A 3-month-pre-incubation program: after the online selection by Maker’s Village according to the nature of the idea (IOT, robotics and wearables), the business plan and the team, the members will have to pay 30€/month/seat to access all the facilities and get mentorship.

• An 18-month-incubation program: this latter is accessible to start-ups from the pre-incubation program which developed a working prototype as a basic financial and marketing plan. By paying 45€/month/seat, the team will access facilities, funding and mentors.

Besides, Maker’s village organizes monthly workshops on prototyping boards, analytics etc., most of them in partnership with a company.

The space also sponsors hackathons and challenges with companies. The most emblematic example is the DNA electronics challenge. During this 18-month-online challenge, started in November 2016, 45 teams compete to find a smart-city solution which will be incubated by Maker’s Village and funded by Bosch.

Every week, each start-up must fill a tracking sheet on its technical, business challenges and status of advancement. This review is usually made with the technical officers.

Every 3 months occurs expert committees to review the start-up in greater depth: business updates, global status of advancement, … According to that committee, the start-up will keep on the program or might leave. All this documentation is for internal purpose. In the future, they aim to develop a full documentation portal drawn from their Bosch Challenge platform, and the start-up village website.

Maker’s Village idea started with 4 start-ups from Kerala which had launched their crowdfunding campaign but couldn’t launch their project as no facility nor resources were available.

Created in June 2016 by the Government of India, Kerala Start-up Mission and the Indian Institute of Information & technology and management in Kerala (IIITM), Maker’s village aims to enable innovators from India to come and build their products in the 3 areas: wearables, Internet of Things and robotics. The gigantic space of 15000 square feet can host up to 180 people willing to access the DIY space to work with wi-fi access and use the machines, to develop their prototype thanks to the pre-incubation program or to create their start-up via the incubation program. Cutting edge machines and devices, assembly line, coach and mentors are there to help startups in their development from idea to market.

Nine projects were incubated in June 2017, such as an underwater drone or a safety garnment for women.

Globally, 70% of Maker’s Village’s users are professionals incubated, the rest of them are students. Professionals participate to the pre-incubation program which lasts 3 months and the incubation program which lasts from 18 to 20 months. The DIY space is free of access to students.

Since the beginning, 100 users and 14 start-ups stepped in the space including 50 current makers and 9 start-ups.

As a lot of makerspaces and hardware incubators, the rate of women is very low: 10%. Most the users discovered Maker’s Village through press, hackathons or other challenges co-organized with companies such as Bosch or Microsoft.

The community of the hardware incubator can communicate thanks to a whatsapp group: questions on their projects, events etc. Moreover, to animate that community, every 3rd Saturday of the month, meet-ups for hardware enthusiasts are organized in the space.

An excel sheet open to all the members enable them to fill their needs in terms of resources (hardware, software, equipment …). If complicated to get it, Maker’s Village’s team maps those resources on their database the resources detained by other institutes and make partnerships so that startups can access it.

Maker’s Village got a 4-million-dollar funding for its 1st four years of development by IIITM, the Indian government and Kerala Start Up Mission: 30% for equipment, 20% for operational expenses, 35% for start-up funding and 15% for the 15 000 square feet building.

The space isn’t a legal organization but a project owned by its 3 creators.

Currently, 99% of its revenues come from the government of Kerala but in the future, it will come from pre-incubation and incubation fees, the assembly line and the machines booking, equity from start-ups as well as workshops and challenges organized for big companies.

Maker’s Village aims to become the largest and best equipped hardware incubator in the country. To do so, the team has already planned to get 2 or 3 more floors to host 30 more start-ups. One of its next steps is also to integrate start-ups directly into the incubation program.

5 individuals compose Maker’s Village’s team: 1 CEO, 1 in charge of operations, 1 of the PCB assembly line and 2 are the technical associates.

Maker’s Village has set up 3 main programs:

• Normal membership: free for students and on selection for others, normal members can access the “DIY zone”: the co-working space with free Internet and basic tools (opensource boards, 3D printer, …). But they’ll have to pay to use cutting-edge tools, machines and the assembly line and book those latter through the space’s booking platform.

• A 3-month-pre-incubation program: after the online selection by Maker’s Village according to the nature of the idea (IOT, robotics and wearables), the business plan and the team, the members will have to pay 30€/month/seat to access all the facilities and get mentorship.

• An 18-month-incubation program: this latter is accessible to start-ups from the pre-incubation program which developed a working prototype as a basic financial and marketing plan. By paying 45€/month/seat, the team will access facilities, funding and mentors.

Besides, Maker’s village organizes monthly workshops on prototyping boards, analytics etc., most of them in partnership with a company.

The space also sponsors hackathons and challenges with companies. The most emblematic example is the DNA electronics challenge. During this 18-month-online challenge, started in November 2016, 45 teams compete to find a smart-city solution which will be incubated by Maker’s Village and funded by Bosch.

Every week, each start-up must fill a tracking sheet on its technical, business challenges and status of advancement. This review is usually made with the technical officers.

Every 3 months occurs expert committees to review the start-up in greater depth: business updates, global status of advancement, … According to that committee, the start-up will keep on the program or might leave. All this documentation is for internal purpose. In the future, they aim to develop a full documentation portal drawn from their Bosch Challenge platform, and the start-up village website.

Technologies & procédés mis à disposition

Impression 3D Electronique Fraisage numérique Postes informatiques & logiciels Robotique Etabli outillage

Services proposés

Espace de travail partagé Formations & ateliers pratiques Coaching & mentorat de projets Hébergement de startups & projets Incubation / mentorat de projets & startups Sessions de sprint projets Prototypage Adhésions à l'atelier

Nos pratiques inspirantes

Ce que nous faisons de particulier pour gérer notre espace collaboratif

Unique booking platform

What is it?

Maker’s village created a booking platform for machines, events and workshops.

In concrete terms?

Once you need to use a machine, you can book it online. If you aren’t part of the pre-incubation and incubation programs, the platform will allow online payment. Regarding workshops and events, individuals are also able to book online their place.

Why it’s interesting?

This platform allows the team to track and secure the use of the machines. In the same way, the online booking for events and workshops is a useful technique to anticipate participation and improve community management.


Nos projets de makers

Inspirez-vous des projets DIY de notre équipe & nos membres

Nyokas - a self-defence garnment for women safety

What’s the project story?

Unfortunately, India’s famous for its women harassment problems. To prevent this, Rohit and Vivek created an e-textile and IOT garnment in order to keep Indian women safe in the streets.

Thanks to this tunic, the harasser can be shocked and the woman is tracked. Once the electronic shock has been triggered, a notification is automatically sent to the woman’s relatives.

How do they interact with the workshop?

Rohit and Vivek entered Maker’s Village’s pre-incubation program last June 2016 thanks to which they could develop their Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Then, they got selected to access the incubation program last September. The space provides them technical support, raw materials and business mentorship.

What’s next?

In July, Nyokas will enter its fundraising phase followed by its first pilot in Bangalore or Delhi in September.

Rohit and Vivek plan to make their marketable product by the end of December 2017.


EyeROV - an underwater robot

EyeROV is a underwater drone which can be easily controlled using a laptop/joystick and go up to a depth of 50m! A camera fitted on to the underwater drone gives live video feed of the underwater environment, to perform visual inspections/surveys of submerged structures!


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