15 Geniuses Get Ready To Compete At ISEF 2014

  

In a special ceremony held at the Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF) in New Delhi recently, 18 students were felicitated for being the best talent selected from across the country and holding the honor to represent the country at an international platform - Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) to be held in Los Angeles, California from May 11-16, 2014 - as TEAM India.

Department of Science & Technology (DST), Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF) & Intel came together to celebrate these young geniuses as they get ready to compete at the international forum. The TEAM India was given a send-off by United States Ambassador to India, Nancy J. Powell and T. Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India along with delegates from various organizations.

In an hour and a half long ceremony, the winners of the IRIS 2013, now the TEAM India 2014 were congratulated and given an opportunity to interact with scientists, professors and other eminent guests and showcase their respective projects. Out of the 18 students, 3 are junior observers and 15 are the finalists who would be competing amongst 1600 young students at the world’s largest pre-college science fair, the only global science competition for students in grades 8-12. Bringing together more than 1600 young students from more than 70 countries, Intel ISEF 2014 is an opportunity for the best young minds in the world to come together to share ideas, showcase cutting-edge projects, and compete for more than US $4 million in awards and scholarships. The winners are selected based on their creative ability and scientific thought, as well as the thoroughness, skill, and clarity shown in their projects.

The ceremony held today also marked the beginning of a new collaboration between Department of Science & Technology (DST), Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF) & Intel as the three came together to extend the opportunity of more projects to reach the international stage; and provide for the learning week post Intel ISEF. In this extra week, students will go for site-visits to science museums, universities, science labs; meet & interact with scientists, professors in their related fields and get an exposure to hands -on activities in labs, museums etc.

Commenting on the initiative, Rajiv Sharma, Executive Director, Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF), said, “IUSSTF is delighted to be part of this initiative that provides an opportunity to talented young students to showcase their ability and aptitude on the grand global stage that ISEF is. The one-week science learning tour in the United States would encourage them to explore the exciting world of Science. I wish these students all the very best, and hope they will make India proud!”

Speaking on the occasion, Nancy J Powell, United States Ambassador to India said, “I am delighted to be here, to give a special send-off to the 18 smart, young and bright minds that will soon be traveling to US to participate in Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair. The industries and challenges of the 21st century, such as climate change, renewable energy, medicine & healthcare, water & environmental management, and developing sustainable cities all require Science, technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) innovators and workers. My message for the students is that they should stay focused on your studies, make sure you attend and graduate from university; continue to be inquisitive, explore new avenues of research, innovate and dream about how to make a difference.”

              

“Both IRIS and Intel® ISEF are influential in highlighting the unique pool of creativity and innovation that exists in the country. This year, with 12 projects being selected for ISEF we have a greater opportunity to showcase the talent existing within the youngsters of the country, encouraging them to create realistic solutions, through research practices, to scientific challenges that are vital for tomorrow’s progress”, said Ashutosh Chadha, Director - Corporate Affairs Group, Intel South Asia. ”

SCFCL System To Become Operational in May 2014

Applied Materials, Inc. has announced that it has completed the assembly of a superconducting fault current limiter (SCFCL) system for installation and on-grid testing at the Knapps Corners substation owned and operated by Central Hudson Gas and Electric Corp. (Central Hudson)in New York. This SCFCL system, which is scheduled to become operational in May 2014,is designed to help protect Central Hudson’s electricity grid from the potentially devastating effects of electrical faults.

Applied is teaming with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA); Central Hudson, a New York State regulated electric and gas utility; SuperPower Inc., a manufacturer of high-temperature superconducting wire; and Three-C Electrical Co., a utility systems integrator, to complete the utility-scale implementation. System testing and evaluation will be conducted over a period of one year starting in May 2014, and the performance data will be provided to the New York State Public Service Commission.

Fault current mitigation is an increasing area of concern for utilities due to changes in power demand and the proliferation of new distributed generation sources. A fault current is an unintended, excessive current flowing through the electrical system that may be caused by various factors, including lightning or downed or crossed power lines. Fault currents can induce significant stress on critical substation equipment such as power transformers and breakers, resulting in a failure of part of the system and leading to interruption of power delivery. These destructive forces also wear out grid components causing premature failure and need for expensive capital replacements.

The SCFCL system is designed to reduce the first peak of a fault current on a power line, thereby limiting the destructive forces on the power system and improving equipment reliability. In developing its SCFCL technology, Applied utilized its high-voltage engineering experience gained in designing ion implant tools for the semiconductor industry, as well as its expertise in large-equipment systems engineering. Incorporating advanced 2G high-temperature superconducting materials, the SCFCL is designed to add essentially zero impedance during normal operation, to insert impedance in time to reduce the first peak of fault current, and to rapidly recover after a fault for subsequent operation. Depending on the specific system configuration and local operating conditions, the SCFCL has the potential to reduce the magnitude of fault currents by the desired levels, typically 50% or more.

“We anticipate that the successful demonstration of our superconducting fault current limiter in New York will be a significant milestone in showing the potential of this technology for wide-scale adoption by electric utilities globally,” said Om Nalamasu, Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, Applied Materials. “Applied’s development of this technology is an example of how the company’s core capabilities can add value in additional market areas. We are grateful to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for their support, as well as our project team members Central Hudson, Super Power Inc., and Three-C for working closely with Applied to install and demonstrate the superconducting fault current limiter at Central Hudson’s Knapps Corners Substation.”

“We see the application of fault current limiters at our host substation as a great opportunity to test and evaluate this promising technology,” said Paul Haering, Central Hudson’s Vice President of Engineering and System Operations. “The large current experienced during a fault – up to 200 times nominal current level – exerts excessive forces on power grid components and connections. By adding fault current limiters, our goal is to lengthen the service life of equipment and lower system losses, ultimately lowering costs for our electricity customers.”

“As a world leading developer and producer of second-generation high-temperature superconducting wire, Super Power provides a key component of the fault current limiter system,” said Mickey Lavicska, associate director of marketing and sales at Super Power Inc. “During normal operation, the wire in the fault current limiter is cooled to a critical temperature that brings it to the superconducting state where there is no resistance to the flow of the electric current.  When a fault occurs in the line, the wire leaves the superconducting state and immediately becomes resistive, thereby impeding the fault current flow and reducing the electrical current to levels manageable by existing equipment.”

E-commerce To Touch $70b In India By 2020

There is a common saying about the Indian retail consumers' "can't touch, won't buy" mentality. However, this is gradually changing with the rising trend of online shopping.  

India's e-commerce business jumped by more than 80 percent in 2013 and the momentum is likely to continue for at least the next five-six years, the founders of the country's largest e-commerce firm, Flipkart says.

Flipkart co-founder and chief executive officer Sachin Bansal said the e-commerce business in India is expected to reach around $50-70 billion by 2020 on the back of a fast growing internet-connected population and improvement in related infrastructure like payment and delivery systems.

The size of India's e-commerce market in 2013 was around $13 billion, according to a joint report of KPMG and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). The online travel segment contributed over 70 percent of the total consumer e-commerce transactions last year.

Bansal said online retail, also known as "e-tail", will lead the industry's growth in the coming years.

"Consumer mentality and shopping patterns are changing very fast. Online shopping is going to become mainstream in the coming five-six years," Bansal told this agency in an interview.

He said smartphones would be the biggest online shopping driver in the coming years.

"Over half a billion Indians will switch to smartphones in the next five-six years. That's going to be a big driver of e-commerce in India," Bansal added.

According to Bansal, online shopping is becoming increasingly popular in smaller cities.

"Tier-II and Tier-III cities are opening up very rapidly. By 2020, you will have e-commerce penetrated everywhere, whether it is smaller cities or rural areas," said Bansal.

Alumni of the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, Sachin and Binny Bansal co-founded Flipkart in 2007. They claim the company now controls nearly one-third of India's online retail business and has over 1 crore (10 million) registered users.

"By 2020, our target is to be a $20 billion company. We are thinking really big. We are investing a lot on technologies, especially on mobiles and the supply chain," said Binny Bansal.

"We have raised a good amount of funding this year. We are well funded for the foreseeable future. However, we will continue to raise funds as and when required," he said when asked about funding for the company's expansions.

Flipkart has raised nearly $550 million since 2009 from venture capitals like Tiger Global, Accel Partners, Iconiq Capital and Naspers Group.

Sachin Bansal emphasised on the need for implementing a uniform goods and services tax (GST) as this would help boost the e-commerce business. "Right now it's a bit complicated for sellers to ship products across India because taxes vary from state to state and it is also calculated differently. GST will really be a help for the industry," he said.

He pointed out that despite high growth in recent years, India's e-commerce industry is still in a nascent stage. Online shopping accounts for less than one percent of the total shopping in the country. Total global online sales reached $1.22 trillion in 2013. In China alone it was around $200 billion.

Just around 12 percent of Indian population is into online transactions against more than half of their Chinese counterparts. This proportion is much higher in the developed countries like the US, where the figure is 64 percent.

Internet connectivity and other logistics infrastructure are still a big drag. This makes servicing in smaller towns a bit challenging, said Bansal.

According to the KPMG and IAMAI report, only around 10,000 out of the more than 150,000 pin codes in the country are covered by courier companies. The penetration of courier services is critically important to boost online shopping as deliveries are mostly done through them.

Source: Agencies 

VMware’s New MD To Accelerate Growth In India

VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, today announced the appointment of Arun Parameswaran to the post of Managing Director, VMware India. He succeeds T Srinivasan, who has decided to step down after five years with the company.

Parameswaran leaves Red Hat India to take up his VMware post on April 24 and will be responsible for the company’s growing business interests in the region. He will report to Sanjay Mirchandani, VMware’s Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) region, and will join the APJ Leadership Team.

Mirchandani said: “This appointment will help accelerate VMware’s progress in one of our prime growth markets, as we work to ensure Indian businesses reap the full benefits of our vision of IT-as-a-Service.”

He added: “Arun’s rich mix of skills and experience will build on the robust foundation established and developed by Srini since he joined the company in 2009. Under Arun’s leadership, the VMware India team will be well positioned to capitalise on the enormous opportunities ahead.”

Holding more than 21 years’ hi-tech experience across Asia Pacific and the US, IT veteran Parameswaran was most recently GM in charge of Red Hat’s business throughout the Indian sub-continent.

Before that, he was Senior Director, Global Business Development, responsible for building and managing Red Hat’s eco-system of partners across Asia Pacific and Japan. Other roles in the company included OEM Global Alliance Manager and MD of Global Professional Services, as well as leadership of the company’s services business in Asia Pacific. Prior to joining Red Hat, Parameswaran held leadership positions at PTI/Mastech before the company was acquired by Red Hat. He started his career with Wipro Infotech in India, holding various sales and product management positions.

He said: “I am delighted to be taking up this post because VMware is a pioneer and agent of change leading customer organisations to a whole new era of IT. I firmly believe that VMware’s strategy around the software-defined data centre, hybrid cloud and end-user computing provides the optimum route for customers wanting to capitalise on the seismic shifts taking place in IT today. I look forward to working with the team to accelerate growth such that VMware India plays an even more significant role in the company’s future success.”

Parameswaran attended the Thiagarajar College of Engineering at Madurai Kamaraj University and holds a Bachelor of Engineering, Electronics and Communication Engineering.         

VMware has undergone significant expansion in the APJ region and today serves some 63,000 customers there. The company’s footprint in the Indian subcontinent comprises a workforce of approximately 2,300 – including R&D staff, global support, operations, and a sales force – along with a presence in Bangalore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai, as well as Mumbai and New Delhi. Earlier this month (April), VMware announced its intention for further investment of up to US$500 million over the next three years to help fund growing operations in India.

IPO To Fund Hyderabad Amusement Park

The key to the success in amusement park business is to periodically bring in new things to keep up the excitement level, which in turn, helps improve footfalls, said of Arun K Chittilapilly MD, Wonderla Holidays.

 The Bangalore-based amusement park Wonderla Holidays public issue will open for subscription on April 21 and close on April 23.  

It will be the biggest issue in the hospitality sector post  Mahindra Holidays in mid-2009. The price band is fixed at Rs 115-125 per equity share. The company plans to invest the funds raised from the IPO into an amusement park in Hyderabad. The cost of the park would be around Rs 250 crore. 

When asked if the company would still need to raise additional funds for the park, Chittilapilly said the company has already invested around Rs 30-40 crore in the project from internal accruals and another R 20-30 crore would come from debt. The company so far has been operating in medium to largescale amusement parks with a footfall capacity of 12,000 people a day. 

According to Chittilapilly it is still a growing industry in India and the company aims to concentrate on this business going forward. The company aims to capitalise on the in-house manufacturing of some rides, as well as in-house park designing, he said. Going forward the company also plans to replicate this model in large cities starting with Hyderabad, he added.

Kia New Hybrid Tech Reduces 25% CO2 Emissions

Kia has revealed an all-new supercharged mild hybrid powertrain at the Geneva motor show. The setup will become a central pillar in the firm’s future model strategy.

The new European-designed hybrid system uses a 48-volt lead-carbon battery powering a small electric motor that will enable cars to be driven at low and constant speeds in pure EV mode. The battery also drives an electric supercharger but will, in time, support a conventional turbocharger.

Kia says the powertrain could operate without the supercharger for a more straightforward layout in smaller models. The hybrid system uses a belt-driven starter-generator to virtually eliminate noise and vibration on start-up.

Kia says the new technology, which will be offered in petrol and diesel-powered models “in the near future”, could reduce CO2 emissions by 25 percent while delivering a 15-20 percent increase in power.

Kia has also revealed an all-new seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, engineered to deliver improved performance and fuel economy. The unit will replace the current six-speed DCT from 2015. Engineers have targeted a seven percent improvement in fuel economy and a five percent improvement in 0-100kph times.

The new gearbox uses two dry clutches, each fitted with a motor-driven actuator and a pair of input shafts – one each for odd and ratios – allowing the driver to jump immediately to the required gear.

Mobile Banking App Launch In Partnership With IBM

Over 47% of Indian men who participated in a survey believed that their spending has increased ever since they have started using their mobiles for purchases, like shopping, travel, ticketing etc. Over 2500 respondents participated in an online survey held by ING Vysya Bank in liaison with ING International Survey (IIS), London. The study aimed to capture emerging consumer insights and behavioral trends in the run up to the launch of the new and improved ING Vysya Bank mobile banking application.

While the majority of the male respondents said mobile drove them to shop more, they also felt mobile banking helped them have better control over their money. 81.75% of male participants said they feel more in control of their money after they started using mobile banking. Also 42% of respondents said they use mobile banking on the move as against home (31%) or office (20%).

The survey, juxtaposed with ING International Survey findings on mobile banking consumer behavior, threw out interesting findings on how Indians compare to European consumers. In a first-of-its-kind such comparative study, over 81% of respondents felt that they are in control of their money as against the European average of 66%. The European average comprised of 12 European countries covering a total sample size of 11724 respondents.

Indians, however, are in line with Europeans when it comes to expectations of banks enabling payments via social media, with only 32% really wanting this feature. Another interesting similarity is in the level of trust in mobile banking. 67% of both Indian and Europeans polled stated that they trust the security of mobile banking platforms.

Indian children are nearing global averages when it comes to usage of smart phones, over 50% of respondents said their son or daughter uses a smart phone which has either an internet connection or has a phone that is compatible with mobile applications. Baby boomers in India, however, are not that quick on mobility with only 30% using smart phones.

Between the age group 18-34, the survey noted close to 50% of respondents prefer using mobile banking applications over their desktops or laptops for accessing their bank accounts. Some of the most active features that customers use their mobile banking application were to check balances, transfer funds and check last few transactions.

Brett Morgan, Country Head – Branch Banking & Private Client Group, said, “In a country like India, where mobile penetration is exploding, we believe digital platforms is the best way to deliver our brand promise of “Jiyo Easy”. Taking cognizance of these consumer behavior findings, we designed a Mobile Banking app with many customer-centric and innovative USP’s. The encouraging rate of our app download and the very high ratings it has received from customers (on Apple App Store and Google Play Store), validates that we have built a unique and best-in-class banking app.”