With ~$6 Billion Invested in New Age Start-ups in FY 2015, the Automotive Industry Witnesses Highest Disruption: Says Zinnov

BANGALORE, June 30, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

- A Study Conducted on Global Engineering R&D Analysis of the Top 60 Automotive Companies 

- Need for Companies to Access Diverse Talent Pool, Collaborate With Technology Leaders From the Ecosystem and Realign Their Global R&D Structure  

Leading management consulting firm, Zinnov, today released its latest study conducted on the Automotive R&D Globalization Landscape, presenting a global engineering R&D analysis on the top 60 automotive companies and how are they leveraging the global R&D ecosystems to improve engineering output and efficiency.

     (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130213/594614 )

The report which analyzed over 60 automotive companies - 30 top OEMs and 30 top Tier 1s, draws attention to the disruption that industries across the spectrum are experiencing. The disruption is caused by dynamic factors including newer technologies, business models, consumption patterns and changes in the global market. The pace of these disruptions are pushing the need for companies to access diverse talent pool, collaborate with technology leaders from the ecosystem and realign their global R&D structure.

Speaking about the report, Sidhant Rastogi, Partner, Zinnov said, "The automotive industry is witness to the highest disruption among all industries. New technologies such as Autonomous, AI, Electric have reached application maturity. New OEMs such as Tesla, Next EV have changed the way cars are conceived, built and sold. Tech Mafia - Google, Apple have invested billions of dollars in user experience. Start-ups across driver assistance, autonomous, sharing have received over $14 billion in funding. The existing OEMs and Tier 1s are fighting back with their own massive investments - in house R&D + start-up collaboration / acquisitions. Of all locations, the Bay Area Silicon Valley is at pole position with 27 new R&D centres of auto companies and more than 50% of all auto start-up investments."

With reference to the automotive industry alone, the report highlighted the shift in the product strategy of the automotive companies from building 'Discrete Products' to 'Cognitive AI Systems'.  It stated that the traditional core areas like car body design, fuel economy etc., are now moving to context and areas of consumer experience with features like IoT and connectivity technologies are becoming the new-core.

As a matter of fact, Zinnov's analysis shows that automotive companies are now leveraging different locations, such as Bay Area (20 new R&D centres), Los Angeles (8 new R&D centres), Shanghai (36 new R&D centres), Bangalore (9 new R&D centres), Romania (14 new R&D centres) and Vietnam (5 new R&D centres) that have seen increased R&D investments and centre setups over the last decade.

Additionally, the report also talks about the massive changes in the traditional siloed innovation structures with its clear demarcations for internal and external collaborations. This has given way to the new age paradigm of innovation fabric - with global companies now leveraging the larger ecosystem of start-ups, universities, technology leaders from other verticals and engineering service providers.

With ~$6 billion invested in automotive start-ups in FY 2015, new companies are booming. The global automotive companies require tapping into these new age innovative companies. Nine out of the top 12 automotive companies have venture arms present in Bay Area to tap into its mature start-up ecosystem.

Global automotive organizations are also adopting a globally distributed approach and have set-up 70+ start-up accelerator platforms across the globe, with Bay Area again being at the core of strategic focus with over 14 accelerator platforms in the location. There is also the Open Innovation Labs, encouraged by players like Honda which has set up an open innovation lab for R&D in connected vehicles, the Volkswagen's Electronics Research Lab and GM'S advanced technology lab in the Silicon Valley.

Furthermore, leading automotive companies like Toyota, Ford, Honda, BMW etc., are also fostering academic partnerships with top universities across the globe, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Standford University, Texas A&M University, Imperial College London and many more, that have a clear focus on research in emerging technology areas and will help drive next generation innovation.

The report also emphasizes on the highly mature automotive engineering services outsourcing landscape and with the engineering service providers addressing over $9.2 billion of the R&D spend by automotive companies, it ascertains the need for automotive leaders to leverage the leading engineering service providers across different sub-segments to optimize engineering efficiency.

About Zinnov: 

Founded in 2002, Zinnov is headquartered in Silicon Valley and Bangalore. In over a decade they have built in-depth expertise in engineering and digital practice areas. They assist their customers in effectively leveraging global innovation and technology ecosystems to accelerate innovation and digital transformation. Zinnov helps their customers:

- Benefit by benchmarking their technology strategy and business models with best practices from peers and technology start-ups

- With large scale engineering and digital transformation through globalization and innovative engagement models

- Build their M&A strategy

- Grow revenue by helping them identify relevant products and services for emerging markets

With Zinnov's team of experienced professionals, they serve clients in software, automotive, telecom and networking, semiconductor, consumer electronics, storage, healthcare, banking, financial services and retail verticals in US, Europe, Japan and India.

For more information, please visit: http://zinnov.com/

For any further media queries, please contact:
Kinjal Chhetri Panwar
Phone: +91-8197140140
Email: [email protected]
Zinnov Management Consulting Pvt. Ltd.