In Conversation with Legends Akhtar & Mahadevan in Bengaluru

At an event organized by Royal Stag Music and lyrics engaged Shankar Mahadevan and Javed Akhtar in a conversation on Saturday in Bengaluru.

The two greats - one a lyricist, another a musician - interacted with reporters before engaging in a conversation on how to create the perfect cinematic experience.

"When you are in the mainstream film industry, you have to deal with producers, directors and so many others. In all this, Akhtar sir has always stood by me," Mahadevan said about his mentor and guide.

On whom he considers the best music director, Akhtar said, "If you had asked me in the past, I would have said R D Burman. In today's time, I think Shankar is the best. They both have a certain class about them."

Akhtar said his experience as a Rajya Sabha member was enriching. "I went in with the intention to improve our copyright laws to protect the interests of Indian writers and lyricists. Though it took two years, I am happy to say that leaders in both the Houses were sympathetic and now we have one of the best copyright laws in the world."

Mahadevan and Akhtar talked about their new and upcoming projects. Akhtar has written scripts for two movies which will be announced in a few months. "Movies these days require different kind of writing. The drama is understated. The pace and structure is different from movies of the past."

Mahadevan has big plans for his online Indian music academy. "We started with just 15 students and now we have people from 67 countries learning our music. I want to extend it to teach Urdu poetry and composing music. I want to make it the Harvard for music," he said.

Philips Showcases ICCC Solutions at the Healthcare Conclave in India

Philips innovation Campus, showcased their IntelliSpace Consultative Critical Care (ICCC) solution service at the Healthcare Conclave in Bengaluru recently. The state of the art hardware and software products that are provided as part of the solution enables clinicians connect to and monitor multiple intensive care units from a central location. 

Talking to media, Srinivas Prasad M R, Managing Director of Philips Innovation Centre, Bengaluru says, “Tele medicine is the way forward. We have already made tremendous progress on this front with the hub and spokes model. Recently have tied up with several hospitals both in the government and private sectors. Today we have about 1,500 beds in India and did a pilot in In Karnataka, at Jadgir with partnership with Narayana Healthcare. Following this also have a joint venture with Manipal Hospitals in several places across India”

IntelliSpace CCC is a solution where connectivity is absolutely essential. Therefore the biggest challenge that needs to be overcome especially in the case of rural areas is lack of electricity and low broadband internet penetration, he said.

Trained healthcare providers and intensive care nurses stationed at the command center can monitor the patients in the peripheral ICUs on a 24/7 basis. This saves costs for the patients and gets best care to them, even at remote locations.

The conclave was graced by industry stalwarts like Rajesh Batra, CIO of Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, and government officials like Rajendra Pratap, advisor to Union Minister of Health, healthcare providers and a few ambitious start-ups. These stalwarts highlighted how can we leverage digital India for providing better healthcare solutions and that IoT and AI are a powerful combination in redefining healthcare. This comes as an addition to the breakthrough of big data in healthcare sector, where the healthcare providers have access to better and relevant data, in turn rendering them capable to offer better care to the healthcare seekers.

As on date our country needs additional 1.5million beds and 3 million doctors by 2034, to be able to render effective healthcare to the ones in need. However, according to a survey conducted by McKinsey, India has only 1.3 hospital beds per 1,000 people-significantly lower than the guideline of 3.5 beds defined by WHO (World Health Organization). The sector needs to focus on the quality, affordability and the reach of healthcare. The only answer to bridge the gap between the problem and the solution is innovative technology.

PIC now plans to make a significant reduction in the maternal mortality rate, with their latest innovation-Mobile Obstetrical Monitoring (MoM). High fetal and maternal mortality rates continue to remain one of the major concerns in the healthcare space. The project will monitor pregnant women for early high risk identification via a new telehealth solution. This will enhance the performance of India’s Frontline Health Workersas they are the first point of contact with the healthcare system in the developing areas, allowing them to save many lives. The project will be a great step towards improved healthcare for the newborn and the mothers.

While cardiovascular diseases have quadrupled in the last 40 years, 50% of the affected patients arrive too late for appropriate treatment. If the patient receives treatment within one hour of the attack- called ‘the golden hour’, possibilities of saving his/her life increase manifold. Philips Innovation Campus has developed the chest pain clinics to answer the problem. The Chest Pain Clinics are aimed at enabling small hospitals and nursing homes to provide timely and quality, ”Emergency Cardiac Care” and thus save lives.Each Chest Pain Clinic will be a clinic or a small healthcare facility equipped with Philips Efficia ECG-100 systems which will wirelessly transmit ECGs of patients in real time from the spokes(Chest Pain Clinics) to the hub. Once a patient is confirmed as suffering from a Myocardial Infarction, known as a Heart Attack, he/she is immediately transported via an ambulance from the Chest Pain Clinic, for primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) within the golden hour.

Apart from addressing the healthcare gaps though technology, Philips Innovation Campus also organized a Start-up Alley, where they chose the best Start-Up, who addressed the common healthcare gaps with utmost precision. The Start-up was chosen in association with NASSCOM and Philips innovation Campus would be mentoring them to better their chosen project.

Amul Products Available in US Via Amazon’s Global Selling Program

Amazon has announced Amul’s foray into online selling in the US through its Global Selling Program. In line with Amazon’s vision to transform the way India buys and sells, this exclusive association will enable consumers in the US to enjoy Amul’s high-quality products. At launch, Amul is offering Amul Ghee to global customers through Amazon.com. Amul’s Ghee and Gulab Jamun are amongst the best-selling products in the US market with Amul’s Ghee currently being ranked as one of the top SKUs on Amazon in the ‘Butter and Margarine’ category. Going forward, Amul plans to add additional products from its wide product portfolio on Amazon.com 

Amazon’s Global Selling Program was launched in India in May last year. It facilitates easy, simple and convenient access for all Indian sellers - including entrepreneurs, SMEs, manufacturers as well as large brands – to sell their ‘Make in India’ products to consumers across the globe. The program has witnessed a 70% increase in seller base as compared to last year with a total of over 18,000 Indian sellers on the platform selling globally across Amazon’s 9 global marketplaces. The program offers a comprehensive end-to-end solution that includes assisting sellers with imaging, logistics, tax advisory and remittance. With over millions of Indian products listed on Amazon’s global marketplaces, Global Sales has expanded selection of popular Indian products into several categories. Currently over 25 million products are listed by Indian sellers.

Amul is one of India’s largest, most loved and trusted food brand which enjoys worldwide recognition and global demand. Through Amazon’s Global Selling Program, ‘The Taste of India’ will transcend geographical boundaries and take its high-quality food products overseas to delight international customers.

“Amul has been exporting its products to the USA since last 20 years and has been selling through the traditional retail channel there. We are pleased to partner with Amazon as we mark our entry in the online space in the US and scale our business internationally through Amazon’s Global Selling Program. With this association we are looking to expand our reach to a wider audience in the US and open new doors for our business with online selling. We are positive that our mainstream online US consumers can be seamlessly satiated through our partnership with Amazon.” said R S Sodhi, Managing Director, GCMMF (Amul).  

“We are thrilled to have Amul, India’s most loved food brand, onboard and are excited to help fuel the brand’s growth in the US market by offering unprecedented reach to consumers. Through this program, we will offer Amul an end-to-end solution and help the brand cater to the growing appetite for quality Indian food products amongst global consumers” said Mr. Gopal Pillai, Director and GM, Seller Services, Amazon India. 

Jointly owned by over 3.6 million milk producers in Gujarat with a turnover of over 23,000 crore, Amul will venture into the online space in the US by leveraging Amazon’s expertise of more than 20 years. The brand will launch through Amazon’s gold-standard Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) offering and gradually expand its online business in the US. Fulfilment by Amazon will allow Amul tostore its products in Amazon’s warehouses and have Amazon pack &deliver the orders to customers apart from providing customer service and managing returns. As an extension to its existing offline business in the US, Amul is all set to cater to a growing online consumer base through this association.

“We are delighted that the Amazon Global Selling program will provide -iconic Indian brands as well as emerging companies- the opportunity to leverage this platform for a larger market access. We have been witnessing an increasing demand for ‘Made in India’ products amongst global consumers across ethnicities. Since its inception last year, our Global Selling Program has grown multifold and now enables over 18,000 merchants to sell their products to millions of consumers across 9 international markets. We are happy to partner the ‘Make in India’ initiatives to create an ecosystem of globally scaling Indian companies,” adds Gopal.

Ola’s World’s First Connected Car Platform for Ride-Sharing in India

In a global first, Ola, India’s most popular mobile app for transportation has launched ‘Ola Play’, a connected car platform for ride sharing that will transform the in-car experience for users on the go like never before. Ola Play is powered by proprietary in-car and cloud technologies from Ola, by bringing advance car controls, choice of personalized content and a fully connected interactive experience for the user. The platform hardware is a first of its kind solution built by Ola in partnership with Qualcomm. With this, Ola raises the bar globally, on a connected in-car experience.

Beyond offering a highly personal, experience for users during their rides, Ola Play also allows various partners like Apple Music, Sony LIV, Audio Compass and Fynd to build a high quality interactive experience for users. Mahindra and Mahindra, as part of its strategic partnership with Ola, is deeply integrating this technology in its vehicles, enabling both companies to build holistic solutions for the ridesharing world.

               

Speaking at the launch, Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-Founder and CEO at Ola said “The entire Ola team is proud to launch Ola Play, the world’s first connected car platform for ridesharing. I believe this will completely transform the consumer’s ride experience, giving the user the power to control the interactions within the car, and usher in a new era in the ridesharing industry. With over 60 million minutes spent in Ola rides every day, the impact on consumer comfort, convenience and productivity can be transformative. This will further propel ride-sharing as the first choice of mobility for many more millions.”

He added, “As a young Indian company, we’re proud to be at the forefront of the Startup India movement. Ola Play is a world first, built in India by an Indian team, which showcases that we can do better than the best in the world, and be global leaders in technology and innovation.”

Simplilearn & Microsoft to Train Over 1 Lakh Professionals on Microsoft Cloud by 2020

Simplilearn, the global professional training company announced a collaboration with Microsoft to build a talent pool of over one lakh next generation cloud professionals by 2020. Simplilearn has been appointed as Microsoft’s silver learning partner for its suite of Microsoft Azure certification courses and will train IT professionals on Azure as cloud based applications are becoming more prevalent in today’s digital workplace.

As per forecast by Goldman Sachs, the cloud platform and infrastructure market roughly generates $21 billion in revenues and is expected to grow by 20 percent year after year to $43 billion by 2018. This rapid growth is paving tremendous demand globally for IT professionals with specialized cloud skills. The certification courses on Developing Microsoft Azure Solutions, Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure and Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions are intended to equip learners with relevant skills through Simplilearn’s flexible online instructor-led training, e-learning and industry projects.

“In today’s digitally driven economy, there is a need for talent to own relevant and most updated skill-sets to be relevant in the work space. By partnering with Simplilearn, we are assured of talent in India that is skilled and up to date on cloud capabilities. Through this partnership, going forward, we will also implement similar upskilling programs for other Microsoft technology products in India”, said Manohar Hotchandani, Director – Business Development, Microsoft India.

Speaking on the partnership with Microsoft, Krishna Kumar, Founder and CEO, Simplilearn said, “We want to be instrumental in empowering professionals adapt to the changing digital technologies.  We are excited about providing our learners with the best of training through comprehensive learning paths recommended by Microsoft.  Together, we are confident about setting an ambitious mission of creating a large talent pool of 1 lakh Microsoft cloud professionals by 2020.”

With renowned cloud expert Bernard Golden as the course advisor and experienced Microsoft certified trainers onboard, course participants will gain in-depth understanding of Azure’s features for effective practical applications. On getting certified, professionals can explore possible career opportunities in the growing cloud domain as .NET Developers, Solution Architects, Enterprise Architects, DevOps Engineers, QA Engineers, Security Administrators, Network Engineers,  Server Engineers and Virtualization Engineers.

Win US$5M for Bold Ideas to Re-Model Global Governance for 21th Century

A US$5 million prize competition is seeking to identify new models of global co-operation capable of handling the most serious threats to humanity including climate change, weapons of mass destruction and extreme poverty. 

The Global Challenges Prize 2017: A New Shape was launched today by the Stockholm-based Global Challenges Foundation, set up with the aim of deepening and understanding of global risks and achieving more effective responses to them.The prize competition is based on the premise that the current system of global governance that has evolved since World War II is no longer equipped to deal with 21st century risks. These risks transcend national borders and can affect populations anywhere in the world, including India the second most populated country in the world.

India is amongst one of the many countries where impacts of global catastrophic risks will have far reaching impacts, the Chennai floods or the Cauvery water dispute owing to depletion of natural resources being the recent examples. The competition pledges to bring together the brightest minds and visionary thinkers in India, across academia, policy-making, civil society, business, technology or law, in order to contribute to the re-shaping of global governance and to safeguard our future generations.

Globally, this outreach effort even includes collaborating closely with experts and practitioners currently working within existing global governance institutions such as the United Nations.

The New Shape Prize will challenge entrants to design frameworks for international decision-making equipped to address today’s global challenges with a focus on climate change, major environmental damage, violent conflict (including nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction) and extreme poverty. ​Entrants are also asked to consider the implications of a rising world population, forecast by the United Nations to reach 11bn by 2100. The prize is open to anyone – individuals, groups and organisations – anywhere in the world.

“Today’s risks are so dangerous and so global in their nature they’ve outrun the international system’s ability to deal with them, we’re trying to solve today’s problems with yesterday’s tools.  We believe a new shape of collaboration is needed to address the most critical challenges in our globalised world.” said Global Challenges Foundation founder Laszlo Szombatfalvy, an investor, author and philanthropist who built his career in Sweden through the successful analysis of financial risk.

“We believe that the human ingenuity that has allowed us to eradicate diseases, bring down poverty levels and stabilize the hole in the ozone layer, can, if properly channeled, play a role in averting the greatest risks to our survival,” said Mr Szombatfalvy. “If we can tap this creativity and apply it to designing a better decision-making system for the world community, then we will have a chance of preserving our world for future generations.”

The Global Challenges Foundation emphasized the prize competition was not seeking solutions to the individual risks in question, but for the global decision-making structures that would allow the world community to tackle them more effectively. 

The competition is open until May 24, 2017. Entries will be evaluated by a panel of academic experts. The best proposals will then be judged by a high level international jury comprised of respected figures of global stature. Final awards will be made in November 2017.

The Global Challenges Foundation said it was committed to promoting the winning ideas following their announcement in order to generate debate around how they could be implemented and to support promising entrants to develop their ideas where appropriate. Through its New Shape Prize, the Global Challenges Foundation hopes to stimulate urgent global debate at the highest levels about how the world community manages global risks and to contribute to the re-shaping of global governance in order to safeguard future generations.

Rise in Industry CSR Spending Says CEO of NASSCOM Foundation

NASSCOM Foundation at its flagship event, The CSR Leadership Conference (CLC), announced that the Industry had widely accepted the 2% CSR rule with a trend of more and more companies coming out openly to declare 100%+ utilization of their CSR money for 2015 -16.

The CLC deep-dived into the changing landscape of CSR spends and the way companies are currently investing their CSR money, the slow but steady shift from Prime Minister’s relief fund to more impactful and sustainable CSR, the innovative CSR solutions to tough social problems and much more.

NASSCOM Foundation gave a sneak peak of a soon to be released report highlighting key findings like: 

·       Increasing number of companies investing on non-headquarter geographies: Geographically, while maintaining focus on states that host headquarters: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telengana and NCR, companies are now also going to non-headquarter locations for CSR, indicating growing equity in the distribution of projects between urban and rural areas.

·       ‘Technology for Good’, A Reality: Increased importance on technology integration in various stages of CSR lifecycle, including, innovative solutions for projects, monitoring and reporting and volunteer matching.

·       Clear cut path to monitoring astuteness for CSR projects: Companies have become increasingly aware of outcome assessment and close monitoring implementing agencies as evidenced by the growing frequency of report submissions from partner organizations, and greater on-ground frequency of CSR team.

·       Persisting Roadblocks: A large percentage of companies surveyed spoke of identification, selection and due diligence on NGOs and the absence of robust tracking process as biggest challenges in CSR project undertakings.

·       Education forms the major chunk of CSR spend: About half the companies interviewed have spent more than 60-70% of their CSR spend in education initiatives and the remaining half spend between 30-40% of their budget in education.

Shrikant Sinha, CEO, NASSCOM Foundation, said, “The social landscape of the country is changing for good and the CSR is proving to be a much needed catalyst. India Inc. in its third year of the CSR mandate, has started to show signs of maturity towards its CSR spends and larger number of companies are willing to work towards sustainable goals and create a more developed society around them.”

The event saw over 300 CEOs, CXOs, CSR Heads, HR Heads of the top most companies from across various industries with the NGO Leads, Government officials, thought leaders, Tech4Good champions, social innovators come under one roof to discuss and create collaborative and innovative ways of fulfilling the most important Social Development Goals for India like education, skills, health, environment and help create a roadmap to a new, developed India.

In his statement for the event, Ajay Kumar, Additional Secretary, MeitY, said, “We are entering into the new digital economy in India. Benefits from Government are no longer received from local Government office but through DBT. 325 million people benefitted so far. Government services have grown nearly 100%. Farmers have opportunity  to sell their produce directly in a National market through eNAM (National Agricultural Market) portal. eCommerce is increasingly becoming alternative mode of purchasing by common man. Digital payments is the net big transformation. I urge Nasscom Foundation and its members to continue the good work in ensuring that ‘No Man Left Behind’ in this digital transformation of India.”

The CLC which started primarily as an IT-BPM industry specific CSR conference, has widened its approach and has come out to help companies from across various industries in fulfilling their CSR goals in a meaningful way. This year’s CLC hosted the leadership from Manufacturing companies like Dell; Banking and Financial services firms like UBS, HSBC, HDFC, Duetsche Bank, Wells Fargo and Fidelity; Healthcare and Pharma companies like Cipla and Lupin; Steel, Energy and Infrastructure companies like JSW and Essar; Insurance companies like All State, Retail companies like Target; Telecom and VOIPcompanies like Vodafone and Avaya; Education domain companies like Ellucian and 4 C Learning; Engineering and R&D companies like CISCO, Intel and Aricent and IT-BPM companies like Wipro, Mindtree, MpHASIS, Accenture, Sonata Software, Hinduja Global Solutions and Thomson Reuters among others.  

Through its unique Impact walls and Networking spaces, the CSR Leadership Conference also provided a opportunity to NGOs like Akshay Patra, Humana People to People India, Magic Bus, Dream a dream, Enable India, Samarthanam, SVP India, CFBT and many others, to showcase their work to the corporates and connect at a programmatic level.