Celonis unveils innovation hub in Bengaluru for AI advances

Celonis has launched its first innovation hub, named Celonis Garage, in its Bengaluru office to facilitate co-innovation with customers and partners while collaborating with startups on advanced solutions such as artificial intelligence.

The hub will be led by Sowmya Kubendran, who has been appointed as Vice President and Head of Celonis Garage, and Dr Monika Gupta, who will serve as Head of Innovation at the hub. Their leadership is part of Celonis's effort to expand in the region following the recent announcement of Kaushik Mitra as India Go-To-Market Leader.

Celonis Garage aims to operate with startup-like agility, fostering rapid innovation through the processes of ideation and experimentation. The hub will collaborate with Celonis customers, partners, and academic institutions to identify, validate, and develop concepts into scalable solutions for global enterprises.

Celonis Garage will focus on co-innovation with regional customers and partners, working with leading global brands that have capability centres in India, and large global consulting firms and system integrators. The hub will also engage with startups to create, deploy, and scale advanced solutions in artificial intelligence and the utilisation of unstructured data.

The initiative includes strengthening ties with academic institutions through the Celonis Academic Alliance and Celonis Academy.

Celonis Garage is closely linked with Celonis Labs and forms part of the company's Strategy and Innovation department, which acts as a research and development unit within the organisation.

Eugenio Cassiano, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Innovation at Celonis, commented on the hub's establishment: "At Celonis, we're helping companies get the most from their data, systems and AI.

Celonis Garage is at the forefront of that effort." He emphasised the unique talent and energy in India, stating, "Sowmya and Monika bring a wealth of expertise driving innovation, building scalable products, and leading high-performing global teams. The talent, energy, and scale in India are unmatched, and many of our most active users, partners, and customers are based in India. It's the perfect place to develop exciting new projects, test them in the local market, and discover the art of the possible with customers."

Sowmya Kubendran expressed her enthusiasm for her new role, saying, "I am excited to join Celonis as a member of the India leadership team and to head up Celonis Garage."

"This is an exceptional opportunity to accelerate the adoption of new technologies and drive co-innovation with our customers, partners and leading academic institutions in the region. I look forward to working alongside this talented team as we harness Process Intelligence to enable effective enterprise AI and drive business orchestration for our customers around the world."

Dr Monika Gupta also conveyed her anticipation for her position, stating, "I am honoured to take on my new role at Celonis Garage. India is a hotbed for technology innovation, and the depth of talent here is truly remarkable."

"I'm excited to work with visionary startups and our ecosystem to cultivate a dynamic environment where collaboration fuels the next wave of process intelligence advancements."