 "OpenBlue Innovation Centre, Johnson Controls")
Johnson Controls, a global player in smart and sustainable buildings, on Tuesday launched a technology and innovation centre in Bengaluru. The centre for technologies like cloud, edge, and artificial intelligence (AI) will help clients achieve net zero carbon emissions.
The ‘OpenBlue Innovation Centre’ started operations with more than 300 engineers and will hire more people over the next two years in roles like research and development (R&D), AI and computer vision, cyber security, and site reliability. Johnson Controls in India employs more than 8,000 people, including 3,000 engineers. The company competes with the likes of Schneider Electric, Honeywell, and Hitachi.
“The answer to one of the most urgent challenges of our time, climate change, lies in systemic digitalisation in buildings, using cloud, edge, and AI to unite, automate and optimise systems,” said Vijay Sankaran, chief technology officer at Johnson Controls. “OpenBlue represents a new frontier of digitalisation that is helping buildings reach net zero emissions, and even become net energy positive. India is at the heart of technological innovations, and we are excited to expand our OpenBlue network here.”
The company has other such centres in Pune and Hyderabad. Johnson Controls said the OpenBlue in Bengaluru is its “most advanced” centre in India highlighting its growing presence in the country and its commitment to supporting India’s G20 leadership priorities of sustainability and digitalisation.
OpenBlue will feature the company’s first experience centre in India, offering business and public leaders hands-on demonstration of building technology in action. It will showcase Johnson Controls OpenBlue, a suite of connected solutions using cloud, edge, and AI technology, in a fully operable, live environment.
“Customers will be able to experience the digital twin—a digital replica of assets, processes, places, systems, and devices in a smart building. Other demos include access control technologies, computer vision with video analytics, and fire safety solutions with 3D-printed models,” said the company.
“Decarbonisation of buildings is a key imperative to achieving the national net zero goals, as buildings contribute nearly 40 per cent of global emissions, and traditionally waste a lot of energy,” said Sivakumar Selva Ganapathy, Vice President, OpenBlue India Software Engineering and APAC Solutions. “We believe that digitalisation of buildings is the biggest, quickest way to address and realise net zero buildings in India, and this must happen concurrently across every industry.”
