Microsoft Garage should be a familiar to many in the tech scene, having been set up nearly a decade ago with the intention of developing new and innovative products. Over the years, The Garage has come up with a number of solutions including Arrow launcher, Trip Tracker, and Ink to Code, but has also put other projects out to pasture, such as Cache and its Word Flow keyboard. While the incubator has had a dedicated building in the company"s campus in Redmond, it has now seen fit to expand the platform"s presence internationally.
In a News Center post, the firm announced the formal opening of a new Garage facility at the Microsoft Development Center located in Hyderabad. The 8,000 square foot space was officially opened by Sri. K. Taraka Rama Rao, Honorable Minister for IT, Government of Telangana. The location has been fitted out to support several kinds of experimentation, including a Reality Room for AR, VR, and MR initiatives, a Hub to host groups coming together for workshops or hackathons, plus a Makerspace complete with specialized equipment to design and build new creations.
At the inauguration, Jeff Ramos, Partner Director, Microsoft Garage said:
“Microsoft believes in enabling its employees to utilize their knowledge, capabilities and innovative acumen to build solutions for the rapidly changing technology landscape. The Microsoft Garage serves as a hub to engage our workforce, with facilities and programs optimized for hacking, ideation, and collaboration. Microsoft Garage’s engagement with the innovation ecosystems in our GDC locations, helps create the right kind of partnerships to accelerate experimentation and innovation in the local context.”
While Garage units, such as the Inlook Team behind Email Insights, were already based in India, the dedicated space aims to support ideation and prototyping efforts that could see more projects accelerated from an initial concept to a public release in the future.