i4C Announces Idea Challenge For Disruptive Ideas

i4C (Inter-Institutional Inclusive Innovations Centre) is a non-profit organization, established to support high potential innovations and make them market ready. i4C is based on a unique Public-Private-People-Media Partnership Model and is a joint effort of multiple individuals, institutes and companies who share a common goal of promoting the culture of innovation in India. The primary objective of i4C is to scout, showcase and mentor technology innovators and help them take to market innovations that have the potential to positively impact the quality of life of our citizens. 

As part of these efforts, i4C announced the i4C Idea Challenge-2014, a pan-India Idea and Innovation competition with the objective to identify disruptive ideas for solving problems relevant to a large cross-section of our population. The i4C Idea Challenge-2014 is open for all and ideas can be submitted online at www.i4C.co.in.  The last date for submission of Ideas is October 31, 2014.

Anand Deshpande, Founding Director of i4C and Chairman and Managing Director, Persistent Systems on the occasion of the launch said, “I am excited about the formation of i4C.  We have a large number of innovators in our country who have ideas that are simply outstanding.  It is our responsibility to build an eco-system to help these innovators take their ideas through various stages of development and to ensure that they can be mass-produced for the citizens of our country. I am delighted that i4C has made helping inventors its mission.” 

Second Founding Director, Arun Jamkar, Vice Chancellor, MUHS said, “Through ‘i4C Idea challenge’, an attempt is being made to systematically harness the creativity and energy of our youth; the ‘real demographic dividend’ for solving problems of our nation”. He further added, “All the submitted ideas will be thoroughly screened through a multi-stage review mechanism and the truly innovative ideas will be felicitated, showcased and promoted aggressively. Possibility of funding the selected ideas would also be explored through the i4C network.”

Some prominent members supporting i4C include Dr. Arun Jamkar, Vice Chancellor, MUHS, Nashik; Dr. Anand Deshpande, Chairman, CEO & MD, Persistent Systems; Mrs. Pratima Kirloskar, President, Innovations Society, Kirloskar Brothers; Mr. Ravi Pandit, Chairman & CEO, KPIT; Mr. Hemant Joshi, Partner, Deloitte; Mr. Ganesh Natarajan, Vice Chairman & CEO, Zensar; Mr. Pramod Chaudhari, Executive Chairman, Praj Industries; Mr. Vivek Sawant, Managing Director, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL); Dr. Anil Sahasrabuddhe, Director, COEP; Mr. Sunil Karad, Executive Director, MIT;  Mrs. Swati Mujumdar, Director of Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning and Principal Director of Symbiosis Open Education Society, Symbiosis; Mr. Pradeep Bhargava, Director, Cummins India Ltd; Mr. Ajay Phatak, Vice President & Pune Center Head, Symphony Teleca; Mr. Abhay Gadgil, Partner, PN Gadgil and Sons; and Mr. Prataprao Pawar, Chairman, Sakal Media Group.

Mission of i4C:

* Productizing 100 innovations for positively impacting lives of 1.2 billion Indians in next 3 years.

*  Jump start an ‘Innovation Movement’ for transforming India.

* Celebrating the ability of Indians to innovate under constraints.

* Establishing the best and biggest platform in India for innovators to showcase their innovations to various funding agencies, industrial houses and masses.

* Encouraging Indian society to think ‘out of the box’ through ‘i4C Grand Challenge’ and ‘i4C Idea Challenge’.

* Harnessing the power of science, technology, and creativity to develop affordable and quality products.

Indian PE Investments at US$2.38b Across 99 Deals

Investments in the first quarter of CY 2014 have started on a positive note. PE firms have invested US$2.38 billion across 99 deals, a growth of 14 percent in value and 15 percent in volume over the preceding quarter. In Q4 of CY13, investments were worth US$2.08 billion from 86 deals. The findings are part of the PwC MoneyTree India report, a quarterly study of private equity investment activity based on data provided by Venture Intelligence.

Even when compared against the same period last year, i.e., Q1 ’13, the value of deals has doubled despite a 7 percent decrease in the volume. In Q1 ’13, the value of investments was $1.17 billionat  from 107 deals.

With 43 deals worth $908 million in Q1 of CY14, the information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITeS) sector is yet again the leader in terms of value and volume. However, the sector has shown a 7 percent drop in deal value despite two additional deals in this quarter as compared to Q4 ’13. Within the IT and ITeS sector, the online services sub-segment received the highest level of investment worth $405 million from 19 deals. The ITeS-BPO services recorded a spurt in investments this quarter with one major deal, thereby ranking second in terms of value among the sub-segments. Investments stood at $265 million from a couple of deals in this reporting quarter.

Sandeep Ladda, leader, Technology, PwC India said, “We have seen yet another quarter of PE investments dominated by the IT and ITeS sector. It has been an interesting quarter, where most of the leading e-commerce companies have received investments for expansion. The infusion of funds in the online services segment will continue for the next couple of years for the following reasons:  (i) Most companies are in the growth stage and are scaling up (ii) Newer product lines such as baby products, food, niche apparel segments and pet products are now available online (iii) Global companies in the same line of business are investing in Indian companies indicating a probable acquisition in the medium to long-term. With growing competition in the online space, inorganic growth is likely to be the way forward for some of the global e-commerce players who are keen to establish their footprint in India.”

According to Sanjeev Krishan, leader, Private Equity, PwC, “The January to March 2014 quarter was a positive one with general buoyancy in the investment outlook. With the formation of a new government around the corner, future flows (for the rest of this year and the next few years) will hinge upon the stability of the new government and its stand on various policies and regulatory matters. The general perception is that the new government will undoubtedly adopt a friendly investment regime to provide a fillip to the overall economic growth of the country.”

The energy sector has shown a surge in investments with an increase of almost eight times in value, from $52 million in Q4 ’13 to $414 million in this quarter with an additional deal. Even when compared to Q1 ’13, the value of investments has more than doubled with two additional deals. 

The engineering and construction sector too has shown an investment spurt this quarter and ranks third in terms of value. The sector witnessed investments worth $348 million from four deals; a seven-fold increase in value as against the preceding quarter with three additional deals in this quarter.

Key sectors such as healthcare and life sciences and BFSI have shown a significant drop in the value of investments in this quarter as against the previous quarter. 

The healthcare and life sciences sector had the highest drop in value of investments; from $746 million in the previous quarter to $91 million in Q1 ’14. Volume too fell by about 44 percent, from 16 deals in Q4 ’13 to nine deals in this quarter. Even as compared to Q4 ’12, the sector witnessed a drop of 40 percent in both the value and volume of deals.

The BFSI sector showed a drop of 25 percent in value; from $84 million to $63 million despite two additional deals in this quarter.

In Q1 ’14, PE investments in the growth stage recorded the highest value, seeing $846 million from 30 deals, which is double the growth in value and a 30 percent increase in the volume of deals. In Q4 ’13, investments stood at $420 million from 23 deals. Buyout deals, with an investment of $660 million from five deals, ranked second in terms of value. The value of investments has gone up by 21 percent with three additional deals in this quarter as compared to Q4 ’13.

In terms of region, Mumbai emerged as the top region with a nearly three-fold growth in the value of deals despite a drop of 7 percent in volume. Investments in this region stood at $942 million from 26 deals as against $365 million from 28 deals. The investment value is about 40 percent of the total PE investments in this quarter. With 26 deals, Mumbai leads in terms of volume too. The National Capital Region (NCR) has slipped to second position, registering funding of $531 million. Bangalore, in this quarter, sees an increase of 74 and 53 percent in value and volume, respectively, with an investment of $463 million from 23 deals.

Private equity exits

The exit activity in the first quarter of 2014 has nosedived in terms of value and volume as compared to the prior quarter. In Q4 ’13, PE exits were worth $1.45 billion from 24 deals as compared to $277 million from 15 deals in this quarter. Even when compared to the same period last year, the story is similar.. The exits have shown a decline of 76 and 60 percent in value and volume, respectively. In Q1 ’13, there were 37 exits worth $1.13 billion.

The majority of the exits in this quarter came from the IT and ITeS and the agri-business sectors which together contributed over 55 percent of the total exit value and 40 percent of the total volume.

The preferred mode of exit in the first quarter of 2014 has been through public market sale (eight exits) and strategic sale (five exits). In terms of value, exits through strategic sale rank first in this quarter with exits worth $154 million from five deals. Public market sale ranks second in terms of value, with exits worth $110 million from eight deals.

P81 Delivers Multiplay Featuring Octa-core Processor

Delivering on its promise of presenting its consumers with the most innovative and advanced products, Panasonic, the global leader in consumer technologies, today unveiled its latest smartphone- P81. This latest offering from the company showcases its proficiency to innovate and offer its customers with unique software & design based features specifically designed for the Indian market.

P81 is Panasonic’s first flagship device of the year & the latest addition to the “P” series. The newly launched Panasonic P81 is 13.97cm (5.5) IPS HD (720x1280), 1.7GHz true octa-core smartphone, running on Android^TM 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) with 13MP Full HD capable Autofocus camera & 2500 mAh battery. The 7.9mm thin Leatherette smartphone will be available to consumers in India from the third week of May, 2014, at the best price of Rs.18, 990.

With the launch of this device, the company adds more to its “Play Life” bouquet of features, giving the customers a completely new multi-tasking experience seamlessly, where users can play around designing screens, keep device RAM healthy with “Device Cleaner”, multi-play with features like dual window operation, multi-task while watching videos with its Pop-i Player. Additionally, the smartphone also understands gestures with Panasonic’s signature feature, the “Gesture Play”.

The phone comes with Apps Freebies of Rs 9900 including Evernote 6 month Premium services worth Rs.1800 exclusively available for Panasonic smartphones, free entertainment download from Hungama for a month , India Today finest e-content & trendy offers from Hot-n-Trendy Space. Packed inbox are accessories worth Rs.2000 as well.

Expressing his pleasure on the launch, Manish Sharma, Managing Director, Panasonic India said “With the launch of the Panasonic P81, we have reached yet another milestone as this is the first model of the “P” series featured with octa-core processor. The introduction of this model reiterates our commitment to keep innovating as we believe that it is a direct result of the consumers’ needs, and customer centricity has to be at the core of developing products for the Indian consumer.”

Innovation enhanced through Features & Design

Panasonic while keeping the overall feel of device matching to the price segment, has upgraded the “Play Life” UI adding a few more innovative Multi Play features like Dual window operations named “ Dual Play” & screen design functionality named “Play More” to the Octa core device. Other than this, the company has also introduced Leatherette back cover for a better grip & style and a “Device Cleaner” feature for clearing the unwanted memory packets from the device’s RAM.

M2M Solution Enables Next-Generation mHealth

Gemalto, a leading company in digital security, announces its Cinterion M2M technology is providing wireless cellular connectivity for the next-generation of pill dispensers. Developed by MedMinder and wirelessly enabled by Gemalto, the advanced mHealth device for convenient patient use tracks medication intake, sends medical alerts, orders refills and improves prescription compliance. The new, innovative dispenser enhances communication between patients and caregivers, improving the overall well-being, independence and peace of mind for patients.

MedMinder’s smart pill dispensers, equipped with Gemalto’s advanced M2M module, monitor medication usage and send data from the pill box over wireless networks to a central server. Physicians and caregivers can log on to MedMinder’s secure web interface to observe medication adherence and manage changes when necessary. Gemalto’s 20 years’ experience in security combined with its M2M technology ensures this personal information is accessed only by authorized individuals. Continued success of the mHealth industry relies on secure data protection, in which Gemalto is playing a key role.

The solution provides an audio alarm to alert the patient when medication should be taken. Caregivers also receive alerts if scheduled doses are missed giving caregivers the ability to offer real-time support for an enhanced level of medical care. The patient can chose their preferred method of communication as the connectivity enables the pill dispenser to send reminders via text message, email or a phone call. In addition, MedMinder Medication Dispenser has Medical Alert embedded for two way voice channel with the patient’s monitoring center in case of an emergency.

“The Gemalto M2M solution allows for secure connectivity that provides 24/7 automated communication between the pill box, patient, doctor and medical alert monitoring center depending on the urgency of the situation” said Eran Shavelsky, CEO of MedMinder. ”The technology also offers flexibility and cost-effectiveness for our devices with the option to add new features and expand capabilities in the future without having to redesign the device.”
 
“The Gemalto Cinterion PHS8 module is the slimmest M2M module on the market, and ideally suited to MedMinder’s compact solution,” said Paul Kobos, Head of M2M Sales for Gemalto North America. “With an aging population and growing need for chronic care management, Gemalto M2M technology truly impacts patients’ day-to-day care while protecting data and can be seamlessly integrated into healthcare IT systems.” 

BT Helps Create, Perform & Excel in Art of Connecting

BT today launched a global campaign and new offers designed to encourage large organisations to use technology more creatively for stunning business outcomes. Recognising the changing role of CIOs - and in tune with influential industry analyst views - BT Global Services will engage with leading global companies and government organisations all around the world to offer innovations addressing four key customer requirements: delivering a great performance, realising possibilities in the cloud, working in harmony and performing anywhere.

In order to deliver a great performance, global organisations need to manage a mix of different network technologies - combined with applications performance management and security services. The optimal architecture for handling that complexity is the “intelligent hybrid network”. BT is launching a range of offers focused on its IP Connect service, bringing coherence to hybrid networks and addressing issues such as availability, performance, economics and security. The first offers launched today include application-aware network performance monitoring as standard for larger global network contracts and trials for 100 Mbps internet access as part of IP Connect Global for enterprise customers.

To realise possibilities in the cloud, customers require improved performance and availability of multiple cloud-based applications. They connect to different cloud providers and at the same time data in the cloud has to remain secure at all times. To help CIOs orchestrate their cloud resources, BT has just launched ExpressRoute with IP Connect, allowing customers to bypass the public internet when connecting to the Microsoft Azure cloud. BT is also launching today a special trial offer for its Cloud Compute customers with connectivity to the BT cloud via its IP Connect Global network.

For an organisation to work in harmony, collaboration must happen at any time, on any device. To create such an environment, the CIO needs to rely on a network that can cope with the new wave of communications, providing top-of-the-range collaboration tools. Reinforcing its collaboration portfolio, BT is launching today a number of offers that bring the latest unified communications services to its customers at very competitive conditions”.

In order to perform anywhere, organisations deploy great mobility applications on a vast array of devices. The CIO needs to focus on the things that count: It’s not the device that’s important, it’s the data. BT delivers data and applications on the move by connecting to wireless access points, wi-fi hotspots and the mobile network so users enjoy a seamless experience. The latest security technology ensures that both data and devices remain secured at all times, regardless of where or how they are accessed or used. Reinforcing its mobility offering, BT is launching a new solution connecting employees’ devices to the corporate network securely, and delivering the benefits of mobile working with minimal capital outlay and a flexible pricing model. BT is also proposing special offers, including trials and special discounts, for mobile device management and mobile application management. Additional services and offers aimed at helping customers perform anywhere will be launched throughout the campaign.

Luis Alvarez, chief executive BT Global Services, said: “Harnessing the possibilities in today’s world takes creativity and innovation. Today’s connected world offers unlimited possibilities to our customers to make creative connections leading to real business outcomes. Exploiting the potential of our portfolio and leveraging our BT Advise team of professional services specialists, we are committed to enable our customers to orchestrate intelligent hybrid networks with a high level of security, while maximising the performance, flexibility and control offered by the cloud. Our offers also cover services that provide great collaboration experiences as well as graceful, seamless mobility. All our efforts this year are designed to help our customers become masters at the art of connecting.”

GoDaddy Enables Suvidhaa For Payment & Remittances

GoDaddy, the world’s largest technology provider dedicated to small businesses, today announced Suvidhaa, a Suvidhaa Infoserve Pvt. Ltd. (SIPL) franchise, has purchased Suvidhaa.com as a key part of its global expansion. The payment company allows customers to pay cash for necessary bills and services such as travel, utilities and entertainment at convenient locations including grocery stores, pharmacies and cyber cafes. More than 18 million customers have used Suvidhaa to pay bills at these locations often without even realizing it was Suvidhaa that made it possible. 

The company’s objective is to empower consumers to pay bills and manage transactions online. With its well-established market presence in India, the top-level domain Suvidhaa.com and GoDaddy’s commitment to quick and collaborative customer care is helping to facilitate the company’s international expansion. After experiencing GoDaddy’s remarkable support, customer care and efficient premium domain purchasing process, SIPL has registered 80 other domains with GoDaddy.

“We wanted to take our business global and start international remittance services,” said Paresh Rajde founder and chairman of SIPL. “GoDaddy was our preferred choice of partner to facilitate our registration of Suvidhaa.com and they made our experience of searching for a premium domain easy. GoDaddy folks went out of their way to help us. I am extremely satisfied.”

“We help our customers build successful businesses by understanding their needs and overcoming any challenges they may face,” said GoDaddy India Vice President and Managing Director Rajiv Sodhi. “We want our consumers’ purchasing experience to be easy and simple. “We not only worked with Suvidhaa to buy and register the premium domain name - ‘Suvidhaa.com’, but the company also went onto registering eighty more domain names with us after that. That’s a testament to GoDaddy’s products and our commitment to 24/7 local customer care.”

GoDaddy works with small businesses across the world to help them establish and build beautiful digital identities, enabling them to reach customers globally and run their business 24/7. In India, the company offers its world-class and award-winning customer care with local Indian representatives, to help small businesses understand and build professional websites.

ITechLaw Appoints Sajai Singh As First Asian President

J. Sagar Associates (JSA) announces the appointment of its Partner - Sajai Singh as the first Asian President of the International Technology Law Association (ITechLaw) headquartered in Massachusetts, USA.

Having been associated with the ITechLaw’s Executive Committee since 2010, Singh has donned various roles within this global body including serving as its Vice President, Treasurer & Secretary in the past.

A leading lawyer, Singh has worked at JSA for the past twenty two years and currently serves as the Chair of the Corporate Commercial practice, and also leads the TMT practice. During his tenure, he has undertaken transactional work with a focus on representing emerging Technology companies in areas of Inbound Investments in India, Venture Capital, Private Equity investments, Joint Ventures, strategic alliances, and Mergers & Acquisitions. He has represented clients across industries such as Media, Communication, Entertainment & BPOs; and has assisted many international businesses and funds to funnel investments into India. He also serves on the Technology Committee of IBA (International Bar Association). He is very active with ABA (American Bar Association) globally, and is often called to speak at international events.

Speaking on his appointment as President of I-Tech Law - Sajai Singh, Partner, JSA said, "It is an honor to be not only the first Indian but Asian to be elected by the I-Tech Law Association to lead this influential organization. In my new role, I look forward to working with this global network of technology law practitioners to leverage I-Tech law as a platform to grow and strengthen laws in information and communications technology. This is an important area especially for emerging economies like India where privacy laws are not so defined and empowering as compared to European and American nations.”

For his year ahead as President, Singh has set some ambitions goals for himself. These include providing a thurst to the membership of the association, including encouraging young tech and IP lawyers to join this prestigious organization. Giving back to the profession by conducting intensive workshops, called CyberSpaceCamps in developing nations, something he has been included in for a while.

Congratulating Singh on the appointment, Berjis Desai, Senior Partner, JSA said, “We are proud to see Sajai become the President of the I-Tech Law. Over the last two decades, Sajai has played an instrumental role in the growth of the firm’s technology law practice and has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the area. His appointment is a testimony to his area expertise and efforts over the years. We wish him all the best in his new role.”

I-Tech Law has been serving the technology law community worldwide since 1971 and is one of the most widely established and largest associations of its kind. It has a global membership base representing six continents and spanning more than 60 countries. Its members and officials reflect a broad spectrum of expertise in the technology law field.