A quiet shift inside a multinational technology company is changing how global capability centres are expected to function. At Hexagon’s India research and development centre, engineers are no longer limited to executing global plans. They are increasingly shaping what gets built and how. This shift began after Navaneet Mishra joined the company in 2013 and questioned why a centre with deep technical strength had little influence over global product decisions.
One early experiment helped set the tone. A small Hexagon engineering team was placed inside the T Hub startup ecosystem in Hyderabad. The engineers remained on the company payroll but were expected to work like founders. They spoke directly with customers, tested ideas in live settings, and moved fast. The effort later became Aura, an AI powered facial scanning platform now used by customers worldwide. More importantly, it showed that a corporate lab could build products with startup urgency while operating at enterprise scale.
Over time, this mindset changed the centre’s mandate. Hexagon’s India workforce grew from about 900 engineers to over 2,200, making it one of the company’s largest engineering hubs. Teams now contribute to product management, customer engagement, and technology strategy. Mishra summed up the change by saying, “You can continue to execute what is given to you. Or you can start influencing what should be built and how.” He also stressed that technical skill alone is not enough. “The era of single-skilling is gone,” he said, adding that engineers must communicate clearly and understand customers to earn decision ownership.
Aura later moved into a full global business unit, with adoption across North America, Europe, and parts of Asia Pacific. At the same time, Hexagon expanded its focus on talent by working with universities to update curriculum and by partnering with startups on real industry problems. Looking ahead, the company plans to bring global technology leaders to India to shape the next phase of growth, including hardware, middleware, and product leadership. “Engineering excellence alone is no longer enough,” Mishra said. “Ownership, customer understanding and the courage to innovate internally will define the next generation of GCCs.”
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