CBI Partnership for innovation

The Plugin Alliance was founded by Intel India in collaboration with the Centre for Business Innovation at the Indian School of Business (ISB). It builds on the success of Plugin, a highly successful startup accelerator program supporting hardware, software, and electronic systems startups, driving innovation across the manufacturing, industrial, retail, automotive, healthcare, and banking sectors.

The Plugin Alliance is the first-of-its-kind industry technology alliance in India, aimed at accelerating the adoption of Industry 4.0 and digital manufacturing across the country. Its mission is to create an open and collaborative platform to nurture innovation and accelerate the adoption of smart industry solutions, enhancing the global competitiveness of Indian industries.

Industry 4.0 in Action

Technology Adoption Trends in Indian Manufacturing

In collaboration with ANSR Consulting, the ISB Centre for Business Innovation runs a series of leadership workshops to develop a robust pipeline of global leaders for India’s expanding GCCs ecosystem. These leadership workshops are targeted towards sharpening GCC leaders’ approach to engineering growth in global markets through higher-order value creation in India. The GCCs in this network include those operating in the tech, BFSI, retail, manufacturing, and automotives sectors.  

ISB collaborates with ANSR Foundation to empower women entrepreneurs in Hyderabad by delivering structured capacity-building programs that focus on developing entrepreneurial mindsets, business planning, financial literacy, and digital skills. For this project, the NGO implementation partner (Safa Society) works with the ISB Centre for Business Innovation to provide guidance on market access, formal documentation, and leveraging government schemes. The initiative aims to strengthen women-led micro-enterprises to promote sustainable livelihood opportunities through practical workshops, mentorship, and community support networks.