TIA Summit Participants Resolve to Deepen Commitment for ‘Smart City’ Initiatives

The two-day India Advantage Summit 2017 (TIA 2017) co-hosted by the Department of IT/BT, Government of Karnataka and KBITS drew to a close today. The conference aimed to bring together key industry leaders working in the domain of “SMART Cities” to bring innovative practices, best case studies and globally tried and tested frameworks to India. Organised by Integro Infotech and Consulting, the focus of the TIA 2017 is on Global Partnerships for Building Smart Cities in India.

Dr.  A.  Ravindra, IAS (Retd.) Chairman Smart Cities India Foundation said, “The aim of the India Advantage Summit 2017 is to address the challenges that arise due to urbanisation. We aim to come up with smart city solutions which involve the use of technology. Our focus is to get the basic structure of a smart city implemented as soon as possible which includes guaranteed water, electricity supply, hygienic sanitation and solid waste management, well-organized mobility and public transport, strong information technology connectivity, safety of citizens, reducing carbon footprint and having intelligent traffic management systems”

One of the key challenges in the domain of ‘SMART Cities’ is providing an integrated, complete and holistic solution to challenges in Indian cities. Saurav R. Lenka- Business Head, SMART City Projects, Quess Corp Limited said, “Quess through it's well spread operations cutting across multiple sectors, has developed strong operational and program management capabilities to execute the strategic Digital infrastructure initiatives of the Government of India. Quess as a Master System Integrator(MSI) plays a pivotal role stitching together complete solution which includes cutting edge hardware and software components along with strong execution methodology.”

"There is strong need to revisit the funding pattern of the strategic initiatives like smart cities. Current funding methods are counter-productive to the strategic initiatives as it increases the working capital requirements for MSI. This in turn leads to increasing the cost of capital, which ultimately drives MSI to reduce the overall cost of project by compromising on technology" he further added.

Dr. A. Ravindra, encouraged the participants at the summit to jointly pass a summit declaration, to strengthen the overall progress towards the goal of ‘smart cities’ in India.

The summit declaration approved and passed is as below:

We, the assembled city representatives, key government representatives, industry leaders, bankers, global experts, city planners, architects, builders and university professors - who work in the domain of 'SMART Cities' commit to take the following measures in the best of our capacity:

1.      Support and engage in smart city initiatives, to complement the efforts of Govt. of India’s Smart Cities Mission.

2.      Develop new and innovative models with the help of financial institutions to facilitate/contribute to/invest in smart urban infrastructure projects and initiatives

3.      Build the capacities of stakeholders and impart skills to young people on specific training courses that create jobs for managing smart infrastructure/s.

4.      Facilitate site visits/smart city Labs to develop a greater understanding of how smart solutions are put into practice.

5.      Disseminate, share and exchange information, make new collaborations by regularly holding workshops/conferences with the aim of improving inter-city cooperation.

Chief guest for the closing ceremony was the Advocate Rakhi Ravikumar, deputy mayor of Trivandrum city Corporation, who also participated in both days of the summit complimented the organizers for bringing together various ‘Smart city’ stakeholders in one common and collaborative platform. She also welcomed the various companies that were present to participate in the upcoming ‘SMARCT City’ tenders for Trivandrum corporation.

Guruprasad Srinivasan, President – Shared Services & Logistics - Quess Corp Limited, who was the thematic speaker for the closing ceremony & guest of honour highlighted the importance of execution,quality of service delivery and the need for efficiencyin scaling up operations, especially in the context of smart cities and delivery of citizen services. Drawing a parallel with the stellar growth of Quess corp Limited, he underlined the importance of retaining the DNA of ‘innovation’ even as growth and scale bring new challenges.

While the summit had great corporate speakers from Quess Corp Limited, Bosch, Shapoorji Paloonji, Schneider and others there were an array of startups and special participation from the BRIGADE Reap accelerator. Other key inspirational speakers at the TIA Summit 2017 were Margit Hellwig-Bötte,Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany;Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Jürgen Lehmann, President of Hof University, Germany; Wiebke Dörfler, Managing Director - Bavarian-Indian Centre for Business and University Cooperation – BayIND. The 2-day summit brought together on a common platform stakeholders including decision makers from the declared SMART cities of India, global and Indian firms in the domain of SMART Cities development, developers of Indian ‘SMART’ Township projects and University professors and academicians involved in SMART City initiatives to share, discuss, ideate and partner with each other.

SonicWall Turbocharges Innovation with Unprecedented Delivery of New Wireless, Mobile and Wired Network Security Products

SonicWall, the trusted security partner protecting more than 1 million networks worldwide, announces an unprecedented range of advanced network security products and services that accelerate speed thresholds for its Automated Real-Time Breach Detection and Prevention Platform across wired, wireless and mobile networks.

“In a modern, hyper-connected world, there are no compromises,” said SonicWall President and CEO Bill Conner. “Our customers, and their end users, expect the best in real-time security, performance and analytics — regardless of network, device or physical location. This automated, real-time breach detection and prevention platform ensures organizations can build smart, consistent and sound security postures while meeting the speed, performance and cost-of-ownership demands of today’s businesses and their users.”

The platform enhancements include more than 50 new SonicOS features, a new high-performance firewall, a series of new 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless access points, an intuitive cloud analytics application and advanced secure federated single sign-on (SSO) capabilities.

“It’s imperative that any well-meaning, responsible organization take appropriate action to safeguard their networks, customer data and business as a whole,” said Jeff Wilson, senior research director for IHS Markit, a global information provider. “The threat landscape moves far too fast to rely on static solutions. More emphasis should be placed on real-time threat mitigation across wired and wireless networks. Companies of all sizes need to consider TLS/SSL decryption and inspection solutions as well, now that the majority of common internet traffic is encrypted by default.”

SonicOS 6.5 Boasts Modern Interface, Threat Intelligence API Capabilities for Security Automation

With more than 50 new features, SonicOS 6.5 is the biggest customer-driven release in SonicWall history. Highlighted by a modern, intuitive interface, SonicOS offers advanced networking and connectivity capabilities to optimize system availability, while scaling firewall performance to deliver uncompromised, uninterrupted threat protection for all connected networks.

“SonicWall products have always been very good, but the new SonicOS 6.5 is a giant step forward,” said Greg Thomas, owner of ComLogic, a SonicWall partner. “SonicWall is clearly visionary, not just in protection, but in analytics and usability as well. The new UI is fresh, relevant and easy to use.”

The operating system includes improved threat API capabilities to help businesses build automated security platforms that can leverage third-party threat intelligence feeds.

SonicOS 6.5 also features a suite of wireless features that enables security and connectivity for mobile users. Multi-domain authentication support also provides a simple and fast way to manage and enforce security policies across an entire organization.

New Multi-Gigabit Firewall Boosts Speeds, Adds Real-Time Security on Wired and 802.11ac Wave 2 Networks

Core to the platform expansion, SonicWall is unveiling the new SonicWall Network Security Appliance (NSA) 2650 firewall, which delivers automated, real-time breach detection and prevention, as well as TLS/SSL decryption and inspection, over multi-gigabit wired and Wave 2 wireless networks.

The NSA 2650 appliance is the first branch and campus firewall to support both multi-engine sandboxing via the Capture Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) service and full deep packet inspection of TLS/SSL-encrypted traffic for 2.5G wired and 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless networks.

With eight 2.5G Ethernet interfaces and 20 total ports, the NSA 2650 matches network throughput between multi-gigabit wired and 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless networks. Compared with the previous-generation NSA 2600 appliance, the NSA 2650 supports twice the number of DPI connections and offers 12,000 DPI SSL connections, an increase of 12X.

“One of our customers’ biggest challenges is ransomware, which is often sent around the internet using encryption,” said Spencomp Solutions security specialist Dominic Valois. “The NSA 2650, with high-speed TLS/SSL inspection, and the SonicWall Capture service, give them a whole lot more security from their firewall.”

To complement the NSA 2650 appliance, the new SonicWave series of access points meets the 802.11ac Wave 2 wireless standard, which features 4x4 MU-MIMO technology for best-in-class Wi-Fi performance, range and reliability.

“The new SonicWave access points give us throughput that matches our wired network,” said Dr. Michael Breen, Dean of Arts, Mary Immaculate College. “Whether someone is on a handheld device or directly wired to the network, the service is indistinguishable. Signal reception is consistently strong over a one-and-a-half-acre site.”

Centralized Firewall Security Analytics via the Cloud

Leveraging a powerful intelligence-driven engine, SonicWall Cloud Analytics is a new cloud application that is delivered as a service to customers and partners. It provides deep real-time visibility, insight and alerting for network traffic, user behavior and device activity from a centralized dashboard.

SonicWall Cloud Analytics empowers organizations to monitor, record, analyze and report security data for deep forensic analysis across multiple SonicWall firewalls and SonicWave wireless access points.

An extension of the recently introduced SonicWall Cloud Global Management System (GMS), SonicWall Cloud Analytics provides extensive drill-down investigative and forensic capabilities for deep security data analysis, including traffic, applications, threats, and user behavior and activities.

SonicWall Cloud Analytics — featuring real-time data presented in a structured, meaningful, actionable and easily consumable manner — enables security teams, analysts, auditors, boards, C-suites and stakeholders to discover, interpret, prioritize and take appropriate defensive actions against both known and unknown cyberattacks or threats.

Extend Speed, Security to Remote Workforce

When employees are on the road, they require secure access to the same systems and applications they trust when on Wi-Fi or wired networks in the office. Not only must access be available anywhere, anytime and on any device, speed and security cannot be compromised.

To extend SonicWall security from wired and wireless networks to remote users, SonicWall Secure Mobile Access (SMA) 12.1 provides secure, policy-enforced access to email, file servers and corporate applications using federated SSO to both cloud and on-premise resources from authorized devices. 

To defend corporations and security-conscious organizations against advanced cyber attacks, SMA now scans all file uploads with the SonicWall Capture ATP service, a cloud-based, multi-engine sandbox designed to discover and stop unknown, zero-day attacks, such as ransomware. This real-time sandbox approach ensures users have the same level of protection from zero-day threats when they are on the road as they have in the office.

Product Availability

For North American and European customers, SonicOS 6.5, NSA 2650 firewall and the SonicWave series of wireless access points are available immediately. SMA 12.1 and Cloud Analytics will be available in early Q4 in North America and Europe. For availability in other regions, please contact your local authorized SonicWall distributor for details.

Mahindra Lifespaces Launches Phase 2 of ‘Windchimes’ In Bengaluru

Mahindra Lifespace Developers Limited (‘MLDL’), the real estate and infrastructure development arm of the Mahindra Group, today announced the launch of Phase 2 of ‘Windchimes’, its first premium residential project in Bengaluru.  The launch marks an important milestone for the project, with Phase 1 construction ahead of schedule, and possession planned June 2018 onwards.  Phase 2 of Windchimes comprises 3 and 4 BHK apartments, ranging in carpet area from 1307 sq. ft. to 2119 sq. ft., and priced Rs. 1.38 Cr. onwards.

Located on Bannerghatta Main Road, one of the high convenience destinations in Bengaluru, Windchimes offers suitable connectivity to residential and prime commercial corridors, including workplaces, schools, hospitals, malls and other retail outlets.  Windchimes has been developed keeping in mind the needs and aspirations of the evolving home buyer in Bengaluru, who prefers differentiated brands that offer value beyond point of sale.  Approximately 80% of the homes launched in Phase 1 of the project are sold till date.  Windchimes is also one of the first few ‘green’ residential projects in Bengaluru. The project is IGBC ‘Platinum’ pre-certified, with a key feature being more than 80% open spaces for balanced and healthy living.

Deepak Porayath, Business Head, Residential (South), Mahindra Lifespaces, said, “Bengaluru, as one of India’s leading end-user drivenresidential destinations, will continue to remain a priority market for us.  Bengaluru has performed well and offers steady rental income, owing to a healthy rate of employment generation, city growth and a rising market for second home buyers.  We are delighted to launch Phase 2 of Windchimes for the discerning home buyer who seeks a vibrant, resource-conscious, spacious and comfortable lifestyle.”

Windchimes is located adjacent to the proposed Metro Phase 2 line, between the IIM Bangalore and Hulimavu stations.  In line with Mahindra Lifespaces’ focus on sustainable urban development, the project has been designed to be environmentally conscious, and incorporates over 50% rainwater harvesting; solar water heating systems, low-flow water fixtures; water meters in every apartment (pay as per usage); STP (sewage treatment plant) facilities; electrical charging points in parking areas, organic waste treatment; and unit-level segregation of waste.  Windchimes is also differently-abled friendly, with preferred parking and dedicated restrooms.

Windchimes has been conferred the Vishwakarma Award for Health, Safety and Environment by the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDC) earlier this year, and is Mahindra Lifespaces’ flagship project in Bengaluru.

BT, Hitachi Partner to Develop Industrial and Enterprise IOT Solutions

BT, one of the world’s leading providers of communications services and solutions, and Hitachi Vantara, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd. has announced a global partnership to co-create innovative solutions in the area of industrial and enterprise internet of things (IoT). The partnership aims to drive better business outcomes for global customers, including greater efficiency, productivity and cost savings. The companies will initially focus on exploring and designing asset intelligence and predictive maintenance solutions to deliver the desired outcomes for customers in industry sectors such as manufacturing and transportation.

Announced at Hitachi’s inaugural user conference, Hitachi NEXT 2017, in Las Vegas today, the partnership unites BT’s global network infrastructure, cloud capabilities and cyber security expertise with Hitachi’s extensive operational and information technology (OT/IT) expertise, next-generation Lumada IoT platform software and integrated IoT services and solutions portfolio.

The companies’ combined technology, infrastructure and expertise will help their mutual customers to take full advantage of connected intelligence and advanced data analytics to streamline processes and optimise business performance on a global scale.

Bas Burger, CEO Global Services, BT, said: “Our partnership with Hitachi will help BT to accelerate innovation and ease the path to digitalisation and IoT for our customers around the globe. Hitachi’s OT, IT and IoT expertise, long-standing customer engagements and its Lumada IoT Platform will combine ideally with our global infrastructure, cloud services and cybersecurity expertise to create powerful IoT offerings that will help maximise the success of our global customers’ digital transformation journeys.”

“IoT represents a critical inflection point, in which the interests of business, industry and society are now intersecting and aligning like never before,” said Ryuichi Otsuki, CEO at Hitachi Vantara and vice-president at Hitachi Ltd. “We see the creation of strategic partnerships with leaders and market makers like BT as a critical underpinning to Hitachi’s IoT strategy as we move our company and business into the next phase of its evolution.”

The first business solutions resulting from this collaboration are expected to be available in Q1 2018.

pCloudy Becomes First Indian Company to Establish Mobile Device Data Centre in Australia

In an effort to enhance their customer base in South East Asia and Australia, pCloudy.com - one of largest mobile device cloud platform, today announced the launch of its new mobile device data center in Melbourne, Australia. The launch of the data center is aimed at tapping the Australian App market helping our customers increase their App coverage to ANZ region.     

The new data centre will help in testing the apps on all Australia specific mobile devices with local Telco networks such as Vodafone, Telstra and Optus. The opening is in sync with pCloudy’s global expansion plans and further in line with building world’s largest cloud platform for mobile and IoT Testing by as early as 2019.

Commenting on the new data centre launch, Avinash Tiwari, Co-Founder of pCloudy said, “It has been a great year for us in terms of customer acquisition. We received overwhelming response from our customers for our last data center in California, US. Furthering our success, we are happy to announce the launch of our new device data center in Melbourne, Australia. This launch is a strategic step will help us increase our customer base in South East Asia and Australia along with offering added advantages of with increased test coverage to our existing enterprise customers.”     

pCloudy has its existing data centers in three countries - India, US and Philippines. The data centre launch in Australia will help the organizations in further increasing the test coverage and the savings on device testing. pCloudy is leveraging AI and robotics to solve some of the pressing testing needs of enterprises undertaking digital transformation and IoT journey. 

Lenskart Invests US$1 Million in 3D US-Based Startup Ditto

As a part of the company’s bullish expansion plans, Lenskart has announced its investment in US based start-up, Ditto, which develops 3D face model for Lenskart’s virtual trial service. Eyewear major Lenskart will be investing US$1 Million for a minority equity in Ditto.      

Lenskart already employs Ditto's 3D try-on services on its website and app. Further integration will help the company enhance its online engagement with consumers, wherein they can share different pictures of themselves trying various eye glasses, with their friends and relatives on social media. Ditto is a VC-backed technology company that is improving how the world’s best retailers sell eyewear.

Commenting on the announcement, Peyush Bansal, Founder and CEO, Lenskart.com said “Lenskart as a company has always believed in constantly innovating and leveraging the technology interface to give customers a best in class experience. Ditto provides us with the patented 3D virtual try-on technology that allows customers to see themselves in eyewear in 180° angles with realism. So far, the response to this service is commendable with over 10,000 trials everyday. We have been evaluating our relationship and now want to take it to the next level. With this association, Ditto has now become a strategic partner for Lenskart and we certainly believe this will help us achieve a wider and more satisfied customer base.”

The 3D Try On service records the users face from multiple angles letting it map the face - and then when the users try on a frame, they can swipe on the image to turn the head to the left and right as well, to get a view of the glasses from different angles. This online trial provides preferences and historical data to make frame selection faster, more effective and fun for the buyers. Lenskart.com has been using the services since 2016.

Hairline International Opens its 7th Clinic at Koramangala in Bengaluru

Hairline International Hair and Skin Clinic launched its 7th Clinic amidst great fanfare at a central location in Koramangala. The clinic was inaugurated by M Chandrappa Koramangala Corporator and B.N. Manjunath Reddy Former Mayor & Madiwala Corporator.

Spread across 1500 sqft, this clinic offers potential patients, state-of-the-art infrastructure for medical management of hair and skin ailments.

Speaking on the launch of the 7th Clinic in the city, Bani Anand, Founder and Managing Director, Hairline International Hair and Skin Clinic says, “With this new center, we now offer our full range of services and consultation expertise to a wider number of patients. This center also enhances our research abilities with inputs based on data that we collect from our treatment of patients”.

This new clinic is placed at a central location in Koramangala, at the heart of its retail and commercial hub, making it highly accessible. It has 2 consultation rooms and 5 treatment rooms. Hairline International Hair and Skin Clinics offer a wide range of diagnostics and treatment options. To offer the best of diagnostics, Hairline International has a Pathology lab as well as Hair and Skin DNA Testing (adjunct diagnostics), Drug DNA testing as well as health, fitness and metabolic panels with the help of DNA testing.

Hair Treatments

·  Cranial Prosthesis approved by the Italian ministry of Health

·  Robotic hair transplantation

·  Hair Regrowth Treatment

·  Hair Loss Therapy

·  Hair Greying Therapy

·  Hair Weaving / Bonding

·  Hair Transplant

·  Hair Concealing Fibers

·  Hair Extensions

·  PRP for Hair Loss

·  PRFM for Hair Loss

·  Biologics for Scalp Psoriasis

·  Wigs for Cancer Patients

·  Scalp Micropigmentation

·  Hair Restoration

·  Augmented PRP

Skin Treatments

·  Permanent cosmetic make up for lipstick, eyeliner, underliner,

·  Treatment of scars, stretch marks, areola,

·  Treatment of Vitiligo,

·  Treatment of beauty spots, under eye dark circles, pigmentation.

Besides access to qualified and experienced medical professionals across multiple fields to ensure proper diagnoses and customized treatment forms, patients will also be able to avail of benefits from specialized options such as Nutrigenomics, Stem Cell Therapy and Hair & Skin DNA Tests to allow for focused treatment.

Hairline International Hair and Skin Clinic has carved an indelible name for itself in the field of Trichology and Skin care and its medical management. Under the stewardship of its Founder and Managing Director, Bani Anand, Hairline International grew from non-surgical competencies to surgical treatment options and today is making in-roads in regenerative medicine as well.

Spread over 7 clinics now in Bangalore, with a research center, pathology lab and a stem cell lab in the making, Hairline International believes in creating a strong foundation with medical professionals in varying fields of diabetology, gastroenterology, gynacologists, trichologists and dermato-surgeons as well as cosmetic surgeons – drawn from multiple specialties but all working towards a scientific and technologically advanced means of hair and skin care management. Hairline aims to grow from strength to strength across multiple spectrums in the field of Trichology and Skin care to become the undisputed leader in the field.

New Management Changes in Sula’s Winemaking Team

After 17 years with Sula Vineyards, Ajoy Shaw has decided to move on and hand over to a bright young wine making team.

Karan Vasani and Gorakh Gaikwad will head winemaking at the Maharashtra and Karnataka wineries respectively.

Kerry Damskey who has taken the role of Director of Winemaking will also be seen spending more time in India.

Rajeev Samant, Founder and CEO, Sula Vineyards, said,“Ajoy Shaw has been a part of Sula’s success story all these years and of course it’s sad to see him move on. We wish him all the best with whatever he chooses to do. I am sure many more successes await him.”

He added, “Congratulations to Karan and Gorakh for their richly deserved promotion. With the two of them working closely with Kerry, Sula’s winemaking will be even stronger as we head into our whole new future.

Kerry is spending much more time here with us, given all his amazing experience, that’s going to give our winemaking especially of our premium wines a huge boost.”

Sula Vineyards is by far India’s first choice in wine. Their award-winning wines are available nationwide at the finest hotels and restaurants, and are also exported throughout the world. Sula is on track to sell a million cases of wine in 2018.

Sula is also a pioneer in India’s wine tourism opening the country’s first winery Tasting Room in 2005, first vineyard resort Beyond by Sula, in 2007 and India’s first heritage winery resort The Source at Sula in 2017. With over 250,000 visitors last year, Sula is one of the most visited wineries in the world and the #1 spot where Indians first taste wine.

Sula Vineyards won the prestigious Drinks Business Award 2016 for the ‘Best Contribution to Wine and Spirits Tourism’! This is the first time an Indian company has won a Drinks Business Award.

Firmly committed to remaining at the forefront of Indian wines, Sula continues to experiment with new varietals, engage in sustainable agriculture and support the local rural economy. Sula is well on its way to becoming one of the world’s most sustainable wine producers.

In addition, the company is also a leading wine and spirits importer, with Sula Selections, a portfolio of prestigious brands like Remy Cointreau, Hardys, Cono Sur, Le Grand Noir and Asahi.

6th Innovators Conclave -BIRAC Bio-Innovations: Propelling the Bio-economy

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a public sector undertaking of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) organized a two-day Innovators Conclave & Bio-Innovation Fair at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The theme for the conclave was BIRAC Bio-Innovations: Propelling the Bio-economy. The conclave was inaugurated by the Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, and attended by Guest of Honour, YS Chowdary, Minister of State (MoS), Science & Technology and Earth Sciences. The Conclave brought together nearly 300 innovators and startups, scientists from industry and academia, public and private sector, policy makers, and national and international organisations. 

Inaugurating the conclave, the Chief Guest, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, said,“BIRAC led by the DBT is playing a catalytic role in building a 100 billion-dollar Indian bio-economy. We are now effectively leveraging the research and entrepreneurial capabilities of this sector to address the needs of our people by creating affordable products that have the potential to change lives and catapult India in to a brighter future. Our Government is focused on making India a global hub for innovation and BIRAC is playing a crucial role in shaping the biotech innovation ecosystem of India.”

The Guest of Honour,  YS Chowdary, MoS, Science & Technology and Earth Sciences said, “Over the last 5 years, a foundation has been laid for making India a global leader in biotechnology research and development. We are ensuring that our innovators and indigenous products receive the encouragement and support to make their mark on the international biotech stage. We are very proud of the impact that BIRAC has generated in such a short span and this Innovation Conclave is testament to it.”

BIRAC has provided financial and mentoring support to more than 500 companies, and nearly 500 young entrepreneurs and startups. BIRAC’s partnership network includes more than 15 implementing agencies both national and international, nearly 700 national experts from academia, industry, public and private research laboratories, donor agencies and other government departments that can contribute towards building the innovation ecosystem of India.

Prof. VijayRaghavan, Secretary, DBT and Chairman, BIRAC during the event said, “The country’s biotech startup landscape has shown immense growth over the last five years. BIRAC was created to bridge the space between policy, industry and academia in the biotech sector and bring all stakeholders together on one platform. Our impact on the biotech innovation landscape is clearly visible.”

The conclave was host to a bio-innovation fair and an innovation market place and featured a number of key panel discussions including “The Startup Conversation: Gaps, Opportunities and the way forward” featuring venture capitalists and angel investors and a discussion on “Pathways to create impact through Biotech Innovations to the power of Infinity” featuring decision-makers and experts. The conclave ended with the bio-innovation fair awards. The bio-innovation fair played host to more than 65 innovations supported under various initiatives of DBT and BIRAC.

Dr. Renu Swarup, Senior Advisor, DBT and Managing Director, BIRAC said, “BIRAC has transformed the biotech innovation ecosystem in the country. Our investments in the Indian innovation ecosystem are bearing fruit and our innovations are now showing real impact and producing tangible benefits for society. This Innovation Fair is the perfect occasion for us to showcase what our up and coming investigators are working on and how they hope to transform India. This fair also gives us the opportunity to showcase the potential for scale-up of these innovations to relevant stakeholders and decision-makers.”

BIRAC plays an important role in the Startup India Action Plan, the Government of India’s flagship program to boost entrepreneurship in the country. Innovations backed by the DBT and BIRAC have also heavily contributed to flagship programs of the government such as Make in India and Swachh Bharat. BIRAC has supported 25 Bio-incubators and 2 Regional Centres for Entrepreneurship development. The support for innovation and startups has today resulted in more than 100 technologies and products at different stages of commercialisation.