Hike, India’s AI-led Unicorn was recently recognized as one of the top 3 patent filers in the field of IT. With 66 patents filed in the year 2017-2018, Hike joined the ranks of Wipro & TCS in a list unveiled by the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Design & Trademarks, Department of Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade, Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Keeping in line with a culture of research & innovation it also launched the Hike Patent Program. The program will not only incentivize Hike employees with rewards and grants but also lend legal and market guidance to prospective patent filers.
Staying true to Hike’s vision of ‘Building a New Social Future’ backed by AI & ML, the program is an initiative to cultivate AI innovation internally. The program will empower Hikers with support across their patent filing journey as well as offer rewards and grants ranging up to INR 60,000 per inventor depending on the impact of the idea.
“Hike is driven by innovation & we as a company are constantly looking to raise the bar on inventing on behalf of our customers. One of the principles driving our vision of building a new social future is advancements in tech & AI. These advancements in tech allow us to create much richer, more personalized experiences for our users. This has led to us to becoming one of the top 3 patent filers in the country, to accelerate this culture even further we launched the Hike Patent Programme. With more than 66 patents filed in the last year alone, we see the program as a catalyst bringing more innovations to the forefront & co-create new ideas for the ecosystem.” shared Dr. Ankur Narang, Vice President – AI and Data Technologies, Hike.
With AI at the core of the company, Hike has made multiple strides to further enable the ecosystem. It’s areas of research & work include Natural Language Processing (NLP), Computer Vision & Social Network Analysis. From being one of the only players to use NLP for local languages & solving for a mass scale to showcasing advancements across prestigious global & domestic platforms. Some of its latest initiatives include publishing academic research at prestigious platforms such as IJCAI & ECIR & partnered with local academia such as IIITD. It also recently hosted AI First, an exclusive event that brought some of the best minds in the AI & ML ecosystem together. Later this month it is slated to participate in Google’s Tensor Flow Event as one of the only Indian companies to do so.