Design Innovative Smart Cities & Win Prize Money of Rs 20 Lakh at KPIT Sparkle 2017

KPIT, a global technology company specializing in product engineering and IT consulting, today launched the third edition of its annual national design and development innovation contest KPITSparkle 2017, in association with College of Engineering, Pune. This contest focuses on creating a culture of innovation and disruptive thinking among engineering and science students. KPIT invites students from across Indian colleges to come up with cutting-edge solutions within the theme, ‘Smart Cities’ and win prizes worth over 20 lakhs.

This year, KPIT Sparkle 2017 invites students to create solutions for Smart Transportation and Smart Infrastructure within the scope of Smart Cities. The solutions should not only be inclined towards advanced technology, but it should aim to be cost efficient and address environmental issues as well. The winning entries should be able to be implemented in real time to make for a cleaner, greener society and improve the quality of living for the end consumer. Finalists will also be invited for job & internship opportunities with KPIT.

Commenting on the contest, Ravi Pandit, Co-founder, Chairman and Group CEO, KPIT said, “The energy of the youth in India will help push the boundaries of innovation to create a more efficient, cleaner and greener world through the use of technology. The Smart Cities initiative by the Indian government is vital to the development of our country and provides many opportunities to create groundbreaking solutions to solve real world challenges. With KPIT Sparkle 2017, we continue to engage the current generation of engineering and science students to enhance their technological acumen and scientific thinking.”

Dr. B.B Ahuja, Director, College of Engineering, Pune said, “It is our pleasure to collaborate with KPIT Sparkle 2017. It is a great platform that provides opportunity to all engineering and science students who are driven to create a sustainable ecosystem. I am pleased to announce that all the winning teams of the contest will get an opportunity from COEP to facilitate their respective startups.”

The last date of registration & Submission of Idea form and documents for the prequalification round is July 15, 2016. For application details and more information, visit http://www.kpit.com/sparkle/register.php. Shortlisted participants will exhibit their ideas at the grand finale. The exhibition will be organized in Pune in early 2017.

Last year’s edition of the contest, KPIT Sparkle 2016, received more than 1,700 innovative ideas on Green Energy, Alternate Fuels & Materials, Autonomous Vehicles and Intelligent Traffic Management from over 10,000 students across 500 colleges in India.

Entrepreneurs are Connecting Things & Changing the Indian Landscape: Satya Nadella

Excepts of Satya Nadella speech during his visit to India in May 2016.

Thank you so much. Thank you Minister for coming as well, it’s great seeing you.

It’s such an immense pleasure for me to be here in India and to see the energy, the creativity of this place. It’s infectious really for me and, obviously I grew up here and I come back here often but every time I come back, I go back energized and it’s phenomenal.

And, so this morning I wanted to share with you, since you are all young entrepreneurs, you are changing the world, you are changing the landscape of India, at least my own perspective. What does it mean to dream big, to create big and have big impact, because that’s what we seek. In my life there have been two passions that have driven at least my dreams and I think back and one of the catalyst – it’s poetry and Computer Science. In fact, I want to relate the two in the context of this big dreams.

Ek dilli ke shayar ne ek zamaney mein kaha tha –

Hazaaron khwahishen aisi ho ke har khwahish pe dam nikle

Bohat niklay mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle

My interpretation of that Galib’s saying changes every year. I learn something new, there are so many layers and labyrinths in there that every time I sort of, I kind of feel like I’ve learnt it again, that I have figured it out. But my earliest interpretation is the time I was reading Douglas Hofstadter’s book ‘Gödel, Escher, Bach’ and I sort of realized the power of what he was saying, which is, it is not just your dreams being fulfilled, it is your ability to dream things that are worth dying for. And, there is a sort of that incompleteness, in the incompleteness that Godel talks about that Turing took and then created a century of what is computation lies I think the power of what we can do with digital technology. That has to be the source of our inspiration, at least it has been for me as we think about the dreams going forward.

In today’s day, the world that you live in, the world that you are going to shape, the world that you are going to change, that canvas is so rich. When I think about even our own ambitions, when I look at the kind of applications, solutions that you are going to build for all walks for life, for all industries, the level of intelligence that you are going to infuse into that, is pretty stunning. For example now, there is not a single app that you are going to build going forward that’s not going to have computer vision built in and the ability to see things; there is not going to be a single app that you are going to build that does not have the ability to recognize speech. You are going to have apps that recognize natural language and text, and that ability to bring cognition into the application experiences and then augment in fact, human capability is a pretty phenomenal time to be a developer.

Then moving to what we can do by taking the oldest form of communication that we have which is, human language and what if we took the power of human language and were able to translate that into computers. In other words, what if we taught all the computers around us and all the computing, human language. Think about the kinds of applications you could build, but more importantly, think about what it does to democratizing the experience. Instead of us having the cognitive know as users of learning new shell constructs, downloading icon after icons, and screen after screens of apps, what if all you did was spoke or texted and you were able to get the work done. That’s the world I think you can create. In fact, you will build bots that have fundamental understanding of human language - just like how you built websites in the past, just like how you build mobile apps in the past. You are going to build these bot interfaces that understand human dialogue. And, it’s going to be a pretty profound shift in how computing is experienced by everybody. It’s probably going to be the most democratizing force and make it accessible to anybody, who is 80 years old or an 8-year-old.

And I want to just roll a video to just show you what is possible with something like this conversations-as-a-platform, just to kind of give the developers in the audience a feel for the kinds of advances that I think you all will create to change the computing landscape.

To me, this idea of conversations-as-a-platform is a pretty transformative change in computing that I think we’re in the very early stages of. And I can’t wait to see what you all create on top of this platform in terms of changing how people experience computing. And talking about changes in the experience of computing, the other platform, the other innovation that I am just completely blown away by is mixed reality and augmented reality. Because so far in our history, we have created computers that have created these mirror works – where we’ve taken something that we’ve seen in the physical world and created digital metaphors. In fact, the desktop is a great example of that, where obviously it exists in the physical world and we were able to translate that into digital metaphors that a billion users got comfortable with.

But now for the first time in our history, we are able to take what is our field of view and turn that into an infinite display. Just imagine, in what you see, you not only see the analog world but you can in fact, see the digital world along with it. And now let’s extend it even one step further. What if we could add presence? One of the most profound things that’s going to happen as we look out multiple years is people can be anywhere from everywhere. That’s that fundamental notion of presence. So this combination of mixed reality, where you have analog and digital getting mixed, as well as having digital presence where you can be anywhere from everywhere, will I believe fundamentally change computing forever. And this is going to mean - what is architecture is not going to be the same again, what is industrial design is not going to be the same again. 

I mean think about what NASA scientists are able to do now – they’re able to see the Rover move on Mars but the holographic output of the Rover is right there in their office. That means they can walk around and examine the soil on Mars as a holographic output. That transformation I think is what we can all look forward to. But most importantly, that’s what you will shape. It’s the ingenuity, the apps that you build that is going to in fact, change our lives and our work. And it’s that creativity that we want to obviously be able to ignite. And so I want to roll a video to give you a feel of what is happening with HoloLens and augmented reality.

It’s so exciting to see this new media being born right in front of us and I love that phrase which is, when you change the way you see the world, you change the world you see. And I think that’s what all of you are going to do. And the reason I invoke this rich canvas is to really invoke your ambition to how you will shape the world. These three platforms that we are creating – the intelligent cloud platform that gives every application cognition and computational resources so that you can do anything; this idea of reinventing productivity and business process, how you interface with every institution and every process becomes much more natural to a conversation because of the bots you build, because the applications that you build have language understanding; and lastly, the apps that you build, the experiences you build for mixed reality.

We look at this as a platform for you because that’s at the core of our mission – our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. It’s not about celebrating our technologies, it is about really celebrating the technologies that you all in India create. In fact, I want us to be the platform creators that foster the ingenuity of what is happening in India.

In fact, this morning, I had the good fortune of meeting entrepreneurs, student developers, young student developers, who have such high ambition. You met some of them just before I got on the stage. To see what is happening with technology in fashion, what technology is doing for things like Internet of Things, in fact, making it real – the entrepreneur behind iBOT taking Internet of Things and democratizing it, where industrial companies one after the other in India are transforming their products. In fact, the other entrepreneur I met who is building a solution for you to be able to get all your documents starting from your school passing certificate to your mark sheet which I was very scared that I would now go stare back at my mark sheet which I don’t want to ever see again. But the fact that you can get any document is so amazing not because of the fact that you can recall the document but now you can ease the way you do business, the way you apply for your driving license or what have you - the fact that this one entrepreneur is connecting things that were not connected and changing the landscape.

I had the chance to meet a bunch of student developers and it’s fascinating to see their ambitions. They are all participants in this Imagine Cup which I love because I get to see what are students thinking of, what they are imagining. And one of the developers from there has figured out a way to be able to detect, again using computer vision, garbage in our streets and automatically alert the municipal authorities so they can come and pick it up by just taking a simple photograph and using cloud resources and a mobile app to change how garbage collection happens. There was another student developer who is changing publishing – the idea that you can get in fact from textbooks get single chapters and change the unit economics of publishing forever because having grown up here I know exactly how hard it is to get some of the books, especially you know, in the fields like engineering where if you could transform the way people can get to access, it would be fantastic, it would further democratize, I think, learning.

I also had a chance to meet two young developers, one of them is a 17 year old who has figured out how to take data from NASA, conflate it with other information and see the spread of algae in Bay of Bengal. So, this is an app that’s been built so that you could really have the intelligence to drive sustainability, because you know algae grows uncontrolled and all comes a devastating impact. But here’s a student who is taking information that is available, bringing it together – he wanted to have a real impact right here in terms of how we managed our climate. And then I met an eight year old, and this is perhaps the time where I felt the most inadequate. And, the eight year old’s dream was, dream is, to create a society that knows how to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability. 

This is the goal he has and then he translated that vision, that goal, into a novel game that he’s built. And so, he has built a game where, it’s a game where you get to build cities, and in these cities, you can create factories, and yet, depending on the type of power you use in the factory, you get points. And of course, if you are wind powered or solar powered, you get more points. And the idea that this kid has been able to envision what is I think that fine balance that we need in order for us to be able to use new technology, but to use new technology to also create a more equitable society, a more sustainable environment, all around us. That truly is what each one of us is seeking, and what each one of us will have to do. And it is so inspiring for me to come here, to see this broad spectrum of student developers, entrepreneurs, artists and even some big brands, ecommerce companies, who are all changing the landscape of India and thereby, the world, and it really is a privilege for me to be here and it’s a real privilege to be a platform underneath this Indian success. Thank you so very, very much.  

GST Bill Likely to Help Healthcare Manufacturing in India: Raja Venkatraman

By Manu Sharma

If the government of India passes the GST Bill, it would lower tax on production by about 600 basis points from the present about 23 percent, said Raja Venkatraman, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Philips India Limited.

Addressing the media on the occasion of the Philips India Innovation Experience 2016 in Bengaluru, Venkatraman said, "software industry is a $160 billion industry and this is mainly due to the government incentives that created a good eco system for the software and the allied industries. However, the scene in the healthcare is very different. In fact, no incentives have been provided for the healthcare industry so far." 

If the government wants to see ‘Make in India’ take off, then they needs to provide incentives to promote manufacturing of healthcare products in the country, and not raise customs and import duty, he said.

“By raising duties, one cannot force companies to manufacture in the country. The costs need to come down and need to get the right technology at the cost patients can afford. Infact, it costs more to manufacture in India. That is a huge challenge and increasing duty would not address the problem at all, adds Venkatraman.

“By raising duties, one cannot force companies to manufacture in the country. The costs need to come down and better technology is needed. We need to get the right technology at costs the patient can afford. Infact, it costs more to manufacture in India. That is a huge challenge and increasing duty would not address the problem,“ adds Venkatraman.

While the Pune-based Heathcare Innovation Campus of Philips makes interventional and diagnostic X-ray systems the Philips Innovation Campus in Bengaluru designs software that are put in various products manufactured by the company in the world. 

Bangalore Central Departmental Store Gets a Complete Makeover

Served as the first home for Central when it was launched 11 years ago. Starting the journey with the vibrant city, the fashion retail chain has brought its customers high definition fashion, world class labels and a high street experience ever since. India’s favourite fashion departmental store is now all set to commence a new, exciting phase. The first Central store, Bangalore Central located on Premium Residency Road opposite Mayo Hall has been redesigned with a layout unlike any other fashion departmental store in the country. The aim is to attract the style savvy individuals from one of the trendiest cities of the country. With a change in the look and feel of the entire space, the new Central will take the customers’ shopping experience to the next level.

With more space, minimalistic fixtures and an aspirational fashion boutique feel, the new Central provides hassle free shopping, right from when the customer enters the store to the billing and cash counters. The space has subtle displays that compliment the store design and aesthetics. The customer service lounge has been detailed & upgraded to serve the shoppers as per international standards.

The fresh and renewed Central will showcase a premium mix of national & international brands in various categories like Men’s and Ladies Formal Wear, Casual Wear, Ethnic Wear, Cosmetics, Fragrances, Handbags, Watches, Men’s and Ladies Footwear, Toys, Kids Apparel, Lingerie and more.

Central has so far housed a wide range of international labels across categories. From brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Guess, Gucci, FCUK to acclaimed designer names like Micheal Kors, Giorgio Armani, Ferragamo, Calvin Klein, Diesel, Roberto Cavalli, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana, Central will continue to display all of their collections, serving as a one stop shop for the fashion conscious customer of the city.

Speaking at the launch, Kishore Biyani, Group CEO, Future Group said, “We have always believed in staying ahead of the curve and understanding our customer’s needs. We would like to give them experiences that they don’t even know they want yet. The launch of the redesigned Central is an example of that. The amalgamation of world class brands with experiential design at the store provides customers with a global experience while keeping in mind Indian sensitivities”

Vishnu Prasad, CEO, Central, said, “The first Central was launched on this very same day 11 years ago. Re-launching the new and renewed Central on the same day at the same place is our way of saying thank you to the city of fashion which gave birth to India’s favourite fashion store. With the launch today, we are starting a new journey all over once again.”

For the many fashion forward citizens of Bangalore city, the redesigned Central is sure to appeal to their changing taste and meet the need for high definition fashion, through all seasons and for all ages. 

Unique offerings that will enhance customer experience:

·         Assisted shopping

o   Central buddies & ushers at entry – Central buddies at the elevator and ushers at entry will assist customers with store navigation and ongoing offers

o   Fashion stylists – They will help customers with expert advice on latest fashion trends

o   By appointment – Customers will be able to book an appointment with fashion stylists at stores who will help them revamp their wardrobe

o   Fashion attendants – Store staff to double up as fashion attendants for shoppers

o   Reserved – Customers can now choose a product and reserve it for free up to 48 hours if they are not sure about it instantly

o   WhatsApp shopping – They can now send their requirements through a WhatsApp message, get options and have the chosen product delivered to their doorstep

o   Make-up school – Beauty expert sessions will be held for customers where celebrity look make-up tips will be shared

·         Ambience and store facilities

o   Central aroma – A distinct Central aroma will welcome customers at each floor

o   Mother’s room – Convenience hub for mothers that will give them a private space for nursing and changing diapers along with added amenities like milk bottle heaters and food heaters

o   You are special – Various exclusive benefits will be provided to Central Privilege customers, senior citizens and pregnant women

L’Oreal Invests in Technology Startup Incubator - Founders Factory

L’Oréal announces a strategic investment in the Founders Factory, a leading global multi sector digital accelerator and incubator, co-founded by Brent Hoberman, Henry Lane Fox and Jim Meyerle, based in London. As such, L’Oréal becomes Founders Factory’s exclusive partner for investments in Beauty tech startups worldwide. This will allow L’Oréal to deeply connect itself to a global ecosystem of world-class startups and entrepreneurs operating in the field of beauty, in line with L’Oréal’s CEO Jean-Paul Agon vision of the transformative power of digital for beauty.

As part of the agreement, L’Oréal and Founders Factory will invest and scale five early stage startups and co-create two new companies from scratch every year. The in-house team of experts at Founders Factory, many of whom are successful entrepreneurs themselves, will provide hands-on support and advice to participating startups, as well as working with L’Oréal to jointly build and launch new products and services. L’Oréal will be part of the Founders Factory Board of Directors and represented by Lubomira Rochet, Chief Digital Officer and member of L’Oréal’s Executive Committee. Three L’Oréal executives will also hold seats on the Beauty sector Committee of Founders Factory.

“This strategic investment will give L’Oréal direct access to a powerful global ecosystem of exciting startups and innovative technologies at their earliest stage allowing us to invest in and nurture innovative business models based on digital platforms to better serve consumers’ aspirations,” said Lubomira Rochet.“Leveraging the Founders Factory’s ecosystem and experienced entrepreneurs in residence, L’Oréal will provide significant contribution to the development of incubated companies in the beauty sector by bringing our knowledge of the beauty industry, the beauty consumer and our marketing and innovation expertise in all beauty categories.”

Launched by successful serial entrepreneur and lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman, Founders Factory aims to develop as many as 200 early stage technology companies over the next five years. “At Founders Factory we provide ambitious forward-thinking blue-chip companies with a way to develop innovative technology startups away from their day-to-day business and connect them with elite entrepreneurial talent from across the globe. It’s incredibly exciting to be partnering with L’Oréal, the world’s leading beauty company, with a long history of scientific innovation and a champion of entrepreneurship. Marrying our expertise in digital with L’Oréal’s brands, scientific research, and audience reach offers a compelling opportunity to build and scale the next generation of beauty startups,”said Brent Hoberman, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman, Founders Factory.

The partnership with Founders Factory will deepen and support L’Oréal’s broader digital innovation strategy. L’Oréal’s Technology Incubator located in San Francisco has spearheaded a number of game changing digital services such as the world famous Makeup Genius, the virtual make-up coach downloaded 20 million times across the world that has changed consumers’ make-up experience. L’Oréal recently launched My UV Patch, the first-ever stretchable skin sensor designed to monitor UV exposure and help consumers educate themselves about sun protection.

L’Oréal is the world’s largest cosmetic company with the highest investment in research in the industry.

Pearson India & Khan Study Group Partner To Set-Up 100 IAS Coaching Centres

ETEN, Pearson India’s network of satellite technology based coaching network, today entered into a strategic alliance with Khan Study Group (KSG), the well-known IAS coaching institute that also mentored the national toppers of the Civil services examination, 2015, AIR 1, Tina Dabi and AIR 2, Aamir Ul Shari.

ETEN introduced the V-SAT enabled learning model in 2008, breaking all geographical barriers to impart CA and IAS training across the country.  Over years, the network has provided advanced and personalized coaching to CA and IAS aspirants in their hometowns, not only at a lower fee as compared to in-person classes, but also saving them the opportunity cost and trouble of migrating to another city for quality training. The success of this blended learning model is reflected in the number of rank-holders that the Institute has produced since inception.

Under the alliance, ETEN and Khan Study Group, will set-up 100 learning centres to impart best-in-class training for UPSC – Civil services examination and various state public service commission exams. By using V-SAT technology, ETEN will make quality coaching, the expertise of India’s foremost panel of faculties including Dr. Khan and a team of about fifteen other faculty members. Each of the faculty members is a domain expert & has a vast experience of teaching General Studies; the core of the most of the competitive examination today. The most-relevant study material will be accessible to IAS aspirants, even in the remote corners of the country.

Announcing the tie-up,  Vikas Singh, Vice President, Higher Education & test preparation and Vocational verticals, Pearson India, said, " With its highlypersonalised and comprehensive product design, ETEN features in the top consideration set of CA aspirants across India. We now aim to expand our offering to the Civil Services space by leveraging our formidable presence across India. Our state of the art technology-enabled coaching will enable students to get the best of inputs, in the most cost efficient manner, from top notch faculty in the comfort of their homes. This tie-up is no less than a breakthrough in the IAS coaching space as the Pearson's expertise in the global education space and Khan Study Group's excellence in IAS coaching would give students the best of both the worlds."

Dr. Khan, (Director KSG) said, “The civil services examination is perceived to be one of the toughest and competitive entrance examinations in the country. In addition to that, an aspirant is constantly struggling to find a systematic teaching module that offers right guidance to clear the exams. Our partnership with Pearson is an effort to give our students an access to the best learning environment, acclaimed faculty panel and the best-in-class content.  Pearson's in-depth understanding and reach in the test preparation market will go a long way in making this a successful initiative."

ETEN provides quality education to the far corners of the country. From state-of-the art central studios in metro cities, the faculty lectures are beamed live to the authorized ETEN centers located across India. In addition to giving access to best faculty panel, ETEN offers structured assessment, e-Learning support and video archives. ETEN centres are a true testament to the path of efficacy that Pearson has undertaken.  

Server Virtualization Market Is Reaching Its Peak Globally: Gartner

The worldwide x86 server virtualization market is expected to reach $5.6 billion in 2016, an increase of 5.7 percent from 2015, according to Gartner, Inc. Despite the overall market increase, new software licenses have declined for the first time since this market became mainstream more than a decade ago. Growth is now being driven by maintenance revenue, which indicates a rapidly maturing software market segment.

"The market has matured rapidly over the last few years, with many organizations having server virtualization rates that exceed 75 percent, illustrating the high level of penetration, " said Michael Warrilow, research director at Gartner

The market remains dominated by VMware, however, Microsoft has worked its way in as a mainstream contender for enterprise use. There are also several niche players including Citrix, Oracle and Red Hat, in addition to an explosion of vendors in the domestic China market.

While server virtualization remains the most common infrastructure platform for x86 server OS workloads in on-premises data centers, Gartner analysts believe that the impact of new computing styles and approaches will be increasingly significant for this market. This includes OS container-based virtualization and cloud computing.

The trends are varying by organization size more than ever before. According to Gartner, usage of server virtualization among organizations with larger IT budgets remained stable during 2014 and 2015. It continues to be an important and heavily used technology for these businesses, but this market segment is approaching saturation. In contrast, organizations with smaller IT budgets expect a further decline in usage through to at least 2017. This is causing an overall decline in new spending for on-premises server virtualization.

Gartner believes that organizations are increasing their usage of "physicalization," choosing to run servers without virtualization software. More than 20 percent of these organizations expect to have less than one-third of their x86 server OSs virtualized by 2017 — twice the amount reported for 2015. However, the underlying rationales remain varied.

The rise of software-defined infrastructure (SDI) and hyperconverged integrated systems (HCIS) are providing new options. It has put pressure on best-of-breed virtualization vendors to add more out-of-the-box functionality and provide a better experience and faster time-to-value.

"What was considered as the best approach to greater infrastructure agility only a few years ago, is becoming challenged by an array of newer infrastructure choices," said Warrilow.