Hindware Pledges to Promote Safe Public Hygiene Practices in Unlock Phase; Brings Contactless Handwashing System

Reiterating its commitment towards promoting good health and hygiene in the society, Brilloca, makers of India’s iconic bath ware solutions brand, Hindware,  has introduced the first-of-its-kind ‘Contactless Handwashing System’, to be installed at public locations, as the country navigates though the Unlock phase.

In keeping with the brand’s legacy of driving innovation as per the needs of the community, the sensor-based handwashing system addresses one of the key priorities of the nation, i.e., creating awareness and building access to safe and hygienic hand-washing facilities at public places.

The contactless systems are being initially installed at eight sites in the National Capital Region, including four in Delhi, two in Gurugram and two in Noida. 

Commenting on the occasion, Mr. Sandip Somany, Chairman and Managing Director, Brilloca Limited, said, “Hindware has remained committed to promote health and hygiene in the society, and the Contactless Handwashing System is reflective of our efforts in this direction.  As the nation transitions through the Unlock phase, there is a need to stay cautious while we get into our routines. Safety is of prime importance, however, it is not always close at hand when we venture out. With our new initiative, we are aiming to not only bring safe hygiene practices to the masses, but also drive a behavior change which is imperative in the new normal.”

Crafted after a thorough field study at Hindware Design Studio, the contactless hand wash system come fitted with sensor operated faucet, basin and foot operated soap dispenser with a digital sensor, keeping a count of hand-washes at that particular station.

Mr. Sanjay Kalra, Chief Executive Officer, Bath Products & Tiles, Brilloca Limited, added, “These are unprecedented times, and it is imperative that the brands, with their expertise and knowledge, bring solutions that contribute towards the larger priority of the nation. While the focus remains on arresting the spread of coronavirus, it is also important to stay vigilant as we step out during the Unlock phase. The Contactless Handwashing Systems are being installed at specific locations where the footfall is expected to be higher. We are starting with the initiative in the National Capital Region and will adopt a phased approach to expand further.” 

Over the years, Hindware has emerged as India’s leading sanitary ware and faucets brand. Driven by innovation at the Hindware Design Studio, it brings together a perfect amalgamation of technology and aesthetics, to create bathroom products that are aligned with the changing requirements of the customers.

Hindware has been a pioneer and trend setter in the sanitary ware segment for more than six decades, thereby, creating a loyal base of millions of customers across the country.

MG Motor India Signs Up 6 More Start-Ups Under “MG Developer Program & Grant”

MG (Morris Garages) Motor India has announced that it has signed up 6 more start-ups for its ongoing MG Developer Program & Grant. The 6 finalists include Highway Delite, Socialcore, InCabEx, CamCom, ClearQuote, and the Alexa-based project Meeseeks. The start-ups will receive a grant and mentoring from technology experts and may get an opportunity to work directly with specialized MG teams on selected projects.

Demonstrating its firm focus on encouraging innovation within the start-up community, MG Motor India has already supported over 60 start-ups since 2017 to drive innovation in the automobile space of India. Such start-ups are working in the fields of engine & emissions, technology, child in-car safety, navigation, connectivity, and electric vehicles ecosystem alongside others. The overall objective of the program is to support the local start-up community by creating a specialized grant. The brand intends to indigenously foster innovation and contribute towards the development of the start-up ecosystem in India, thereby holistically contributing to the society.

The MG Developer Program & Grant is a part of the carmaker’s focus on innovation as a core pillar of the organization. Launched in partnership with several tech giants including Adobe, Cognizant, SAP, Airtel, TomTom, Unlimit, and others, the program aims to nurture ground-breaking solutions within the Indian urban mobility space.

Speaking on the development, Rajeev Chaba, President & MD, MG Motor India said, “MG thrives on innovation and has developed a symbiotic relationship with the Indian start-up ecosystem. Our goal is to indigenously develop a comprehensive, sustainable, and smart infrastructure for urban mobility in our country. The MG Developer Program has received an overwhelming response and we welcome all teams who have been signed as a part of the initiative. We look forward to mentoring and closely working with them. MG will also explore synergies with these start-ups and may deploy their solutions in its upcoming vehicles.”

The program had received over 300 entries, out of which, 60 teams were shortlisted in the first round. These teams were provided mentorship by 25 industry experts including MG India’s leadership as well as its technology ecosystem partners, making it one of the largest mentoring programs’ in the automotive segment.

Amongst the selected candidates, Highway Delite is India’s first free travel app to make highway travel and road trips both safe and fun. Meeseeks leverages Alexa/MG’s Voice Assistant to digitally manage and improve customer’s service experience.

Socialcore uses Artificial Intelligence to enhance customer interactions with sales improvement and cost reduction, while InCabEx creates a better in-cabin experience by personalizing car profiles as per users’ preferences.

CamCom is an AI-based start-up that provides defect and damage assessment while ClearQuote generates repair estimates via images/videos of a damaged car.

The 6 start-ups will be joining the already signed companies including Voxomos, Driftly, and Innvolution under the MG Developer Program & Grant.

MG’s journey with start-ups started back in 2017 with its first MG Innovation Hunt that was launched in partnership with TiE Delhi. Since then, MG India has conducted a total of 6 start-up programs, in partnership with India’s start-up community and leading educational institutions, all coming together in the MG Developer Program & Grant. The various MG start-up programs have attracted over 750 applications from start-ups and innovators so far in auto tech across India. 

About MG Motor India

Founded in the UK in 1924, Morris Garages vehicles were world famous for their sports cars, roadsters, and cabriolet series. MG vehicles were much sought after by many celebrities, including the British Prime Ministers and even the British Royal Family, for their styling, elegance, and spirited performance. The MG Car Club, set up in 1930 at Abingdon in the UK, has thousands of loyal fans, making it by far one of the world’s largest clubs for a car brand. MG has evolved into a modern, futuristic and innovative brand over the last 96 years. MG Motor India has commenced its manufacturing operations at its car manufacturing plant at Halol in Gujarat.

C-CAMP, Applied Materials India Assist Biotech Start-Ups to Increase Availability of Indigenous Medical Supplies

C-CAMP and Applied Materials India Private Limited (Applied Materials India) announced financial and technical support to two biotech start-ups in order to fast-track near-to-market technologies in the battle against COVID-19.

The two start-ups, Coeo Labs and Biomoneta, incubated under the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), an initiative of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), and were chosen by C-CAMP’s COVID-19 Innovations Deployment Accelerator (C-CIDA) launched on 25th March 2020 to identify and help accelerate near deployment-ready solutions that have the potential to fight the pandemic.

C-CIDA received more than 1100 innovation submissions and after a rigorous assessment, selected 31 innovations that have high potential to help battle against COVID-19 as C-CIDA Stars for Impact. With this, C-CIDA has built a diverse portfolio of innovations ranging from diagnostics and novel therapeutic approaches to air and surface sanitization and many more categories.

Of the 31 innovations identified as “C-CIDA Stars for Impact”, Applied Materials India selected two start-ups working in the following high-priority areas:

Assisted Respiratory Technologies: Coeo Labs, for its non-invasive Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) product, Saans ProAir Sanitization Technologies: Biomoneta, for its air decontamination product, ZeBox

 

The Applied Science & Technology Research Accelerator (ASTRA) provided an avenue for multiple start-ups incubated by C-CAMP to explore potential collaborations and/or investments with Applied Materials India. In continuation of these efforts and to help battle the COVID-19 crisis, Applied Materials India will provide technical expertise and financial assistance to C-CIDA, Coeo Labs and Biomoneta.

Speaking on the funding, Srinivas Satya, Country President and Managing Director, Applied Materials India said, “It is heartening to see the passion start-ups bring to our nation’s battle against COVID-19.  Many of these entrepreneurs have brilliant solutions and need help bringing the technology to scale.  As a company with deep technical expertise and a long history of supporting our communities, we believe we must do all we can to accelerate the development of innovations that can strengthen the country’s response to COVID-19. In a time when infrastructure is a challenge and access to medical relief is limited, we are pleased to collaborate with indigenous start-ups that can help pave the way to a healthier future in India.”

Speaking on the collaboration, Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director, C-CAMP said, “We are delighted to get this support from Applied Materials India for our C-CIDA, where our mission is to bring near deployment-ready innovations to the field. C-CIDA has had a significant impact across India and this support further fosters our efforts. We look forward to working closely with Applied Materials India to deliver impactful innovations together.”

C-CAMP is one of the flagship incubators set up under the DBT and a member of the Bangalore Life Sciences Cluster (BLiSC), with a mandate to enable cutting-edge life sciences research and innovation and promote life sciences entrepreneurship. In 2019, C-CAMP forged a close collaboration with Applied Materials India to help accelerate time-to-market of promising biotech start-ups in India. Applied Materials India has also been engaging with the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, a program under the DBT, across various levels since 2019.

To find out more about these companies in India who are part of new wave of health tech start-ups aiming to create innovative solutions that are also affordable, please visit the Coeo Labs website for Saans Pro and the Biomoneta website for ZeBox.

Is India among top 2 emerging markets for Yahoo!

Internet search giant Yahoo! on Sunday said India is one of the 'top emerging markets' and it would release a slew of products over next few months for further consolidating its position in the country.

"India is one of the top two countries in the emerging markets segment and holds a lot of promise for us ... Products developed in the Indian lab and centres abroad are part of the pipeline of innovative products that will help us in the Indian market," Yahoo! Head of Audience (Emerging Markets) Gopal Krishna told media.

He, however, declined to comment on the details of the products. "Innovations around mail, instant messenger and front page (landing page) would be prime focus areas. We would also look at news properties like News, Bollywood and Buzz," he said.

Emerging markets contributes up to 65 per cent to the total users for some of the key global Yahoo! properties and is the fastest growing region from business perspective as well, he added.

One of the leading properties/products is Yahoo! Cricket, which attracted 2.4 million unique users per month emerging as the top cricket site in India, according to Comscore April 2009 data.

In February this year, Yahoo! India had entered into a three-year partnership with the International Cricket Council (ICC), becoming the exclusive online partner for all ICC events, including ICC World Twenty20, ICC Champions Trophy and ICC Cricket World Cup.

It has also partnered with companies like LG, Pepsi, Maruti, Tata Xenon, Honda, ICICI, Citibank and Cisco for advertising on the microsite. Yahoo! India also has a two-year partnership with Reliance, Krishna said.

Yahoo! India is also focusing on building its mobile business in the country. It is working on developing products, apart from the ones available on web to build its presence on mobile websites.

"We are looking at presenting users with a experience that is different from using Internet on PCs. Apart from the usual things, we are looking at developing applications specific to mobile handsets as well," Krishna said, adding that the mobile segment also presents a good opportunity in terms of advertising.

Worldwide spending on mobile advertising is expected to reach USD 19 billion in 2012, while the APAC market is forecast to touch USD 6.9 billion, according to eMarketer (March 2008).

Agencies

Sun Microsystems begins laying off 6,000 across all ranks

Sun had earlier last year announced a series of changes designed to align its cost model with the global economy and accelerate the introduction of compelling open source innovations. As part of that effort Sun announced a global workforce reduction of approximately 5,000 to 6,000 employees, representing approximately 15% to 18% of the Company’s global workforce. Sun can confirm that today layoff notifications were given to approximately 1,300 employees as part of that action. Reductions were made across all levels, including vice presidents and directors.

Sun continues to make choices to align strategically, geographically and operationally with its plan for long term growth. We believe the restructuring will result in a more efficient coverage model with resources aligned to growth opportunities. We believe the number of positions that will be eliminated, when combined with the other cost cutting measures and organizational changes being implemented, will put the Company on track for improved financial performance.

Last November, Sun Microsystems said it would be laying off up to 6,000 employees — or around 18 percent of its workforce — after a weak first quarter performance. The cuts are happening today, we’re hearing from a well-placed source, ahead of the company’s second-quarter earnings report next Tuesday.

The server and software company is facing hard times as the market has shifted from closed-source to open-source software technologies, like Linux, and it is facing stiff competition from larger rivals like IBM and HP. To boot, a significant portion of the company’s business is in the financial sector — clients that aren’t in a position to make large purchases these days. Sun has been experimenting with software-as-a-service and other models to help it gain market share, and most prominently purchased open-source database company for MySQL for $1 billion last year. Here’s some more from the strategy announcement it released in November:

As part of this effort, Sun is announcing a global workforce reduction and alignment of its Software organization into new business groups - Application Platform Software, Systems Platforms, and Cloud Computing & Developer Platforms - with a focus on boosting open source momentum and growing new sectors of the market who view technology as a competitive weapon.

Agencies