Bangalore, India - Following three successive and exciting editions in Germany, Daimler DigitalLife Day was held in Bangalore, hosted by Mercedes-Benz Research & Development India (MBRDI). Around 3,000 attended the two-day annual digital extravaganza, which was the largest DigitalLife Day ever organized.

DigitalLife Day revolves around three objectives: information, innovation, and inspiration. This two-day event gave MBRDI employees a unique opportunity to interact with a vibrant mix of renowned industry experts, entrepreneurs, global leaders and tech innovators. The employees attended hands-on workshops, market booths, panel discussions. Also on showcase were innovations from Daimler divisions, partner eco-systems, start-ups and student communities concerning trending technologies, which are shaping the future of mobility.

Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and responsible for Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development at DigitalLifeDay in Bangalore, India

Daimler AG is a premium car manufacturer and plays a leading role in digitalization. This is enabling the company to evolve from being just an automobile manufacturer to becoming a provider of mobility services as well. DigitalLife@Daimler bundles the various digitalization activities and supports digital transformation across all divisions at Daimler.

The automobile manufacturer has been investing in digitalization across all operations for several years already. To shape this change into a leading position, the company aims to strengthen all its global units as a basis for the successful implementation of new business models centered on one of the company’s strategy - C.A.S.E. At Daimler, C.A.S.E stands for four major trends - connectivity (Connected), autonomous driving (Autonomous), flexible use (Shared & Services) and electric drive systems (Electric).

Speaking at Daimler DigitalLife Day India 2018, Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and responsible for Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, said, “The skills of our teams here in India are impressive and perfectly fit our requirements for digital product development and IT. They play a very important and integral role in our global strategy that focusses on future customer demand.” For the last two decades, MBRDI has displayed great potential in digitalization. Therefore, MBRDI is the host of the fourth edition of Daimler’s DigitalLife Day and the first outside of Germany.

Also attending, Jan Brecht, CIO, Daimler AG, mentioned, “IT powers digital transformation by understanding our customer needs. Therefore, the topics discussed at the DigitalLife Day will play a key role in the fundamental changes in the automotive industry.”

Manu Saale, Managing Director, and CEO, MBRDI further emphasized, “At MBRDI, we have the opportunity to expand the digital envelope of Daimler. To add on to two decades of work in the digital space, we will now explore the vibrant startup ecosystem in India and attempt to bring the best of the ideas to our products. At MBRDI, our focus would be on Imaging processing, Machine learning/AI, Cloud Solutions, Industry4.0, Simulation technologies, AR/VR, Automation, Digital solutions for Corporate functions like HR and Legal. 

We are very proud to host the largest DigitalLife Day here in Bangalore with around 3,000 people attending, also, the first outside of Germany.”

MBR offers Daimler the opportunity to tap into a source of qualified specialists in Engineering and IT. Since its inception in 1996, from a workforce of 10 to 4,600+ employees, MBRDI is steadily growing itself as a valuable partner to all business units and brands of Daimler worldwide. Today, MBRDI is the largest R&D for Daimler outside of Germany. With focus on digitalization, simulation and data science, MBRDI is Center of Excellence within Daimler for Engineering and IT.

Manu Saale, Managing Director & CEO at Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India, Ola Källenius, Member of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and responsible for Group Research & Mercedes-Benz Cars Development, Markus Haegele, Head Digital Life, Daimler and Thomas W. Hellmuth, Chairman of the Board Mercedes-Benz RD India at DigitalLifeDay in Bangalore, India

DigitalLife@Daimler: Leading the way in Digital Transformation
For some time now, Daimler made the digital transformation a core component of its corporate strategy. With DigitalLife@Daimler, the company initiates numerous digital project for direct implementation in the business units as well as promoting active dialogue between employees, top management and Board of Management. The success factor of DigitalLife@Daimler depends on the cultural change being driven forward by our employees and on co-workers across divisions and hierarchies.

Four Daimler entities currently operating in India: Mercedes-Benz India Ltd. (MBIL) in Pune is responsible for production, sales, service, and marketing of Mercedes-Benz passenger cars. Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) operates under the brand name Bharat Benz in Chennai, covering all activities for commercial vehicles. Daimler Financial Services (DFS) operates under the brand Mercedes-Benz Financial Services for passenger cars and Bharat Benz Financial Services for commercial vehicles. Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India Private Limited (MBRDI) in Bangalore.

The Indian Startup eco-system under its banner STARTUP AUTOBAHN: After successfully launching STARTUP AUTOBAHN in Germany, Singapore, and China, the innovation platform now expands further to the next market. MBRDI is proud to announce a sustained engagement with STARTUP AUTOBAHN that focuses on scouting local startups with creative solutions for the future of mobility and production.”