Persistent Systems in association with MHRD, AICTE, IIT Kharagpur,i4C and Rambhau Prabhodini Mhalgi is co-organizing Smart India Hackathon 2018 – Hardware edition. The 5-day hackathon was inaugurated by Prakash Javadekar, Minister of Human Resource Development, Government of India and Chief Patron - Smart India Hackathon 2018.
In its second year, the Smart India Hackathon has added a new dimension to challenge thousands of technology students in India to craft practical hardware-backed solutions for challenging problems statements as identified by 14 Union Ministries and 10 State Governments. The final rounds of the 5-day Hardware Edition are set to take place across 10 nodal centers in India.
Dr. Anand Deshpande, Chairman and MD, Persistent Systems, Co-chairman, Smart India Hackathon 2018, “Smart India Hackathon is an opportunity for students to go beyond their prescribed curriculum by being innovative and enterprising while solving problems of national interest. We hope this platform will help them boost their confidence and motivate them to take on entrepreneurship and other challenges in life.”
Dr. Abhay Jere, Secretary, Organizing Committee, Smart India Hackathon 2018 says, "It is a proud moment for us as we not only conceptualized but also executed the Smart India Hackathon to establish the world’s biggest innovation model – an endeavor which other countries may want to further replicate. We have received a phenomenal response for the Hardware edition of SIH 2018 and some of the solutions have great potential for success and provebeneficial for India’s progress. We believe that more than 25 start-ups will take root from this initiative and we look forward to the outcome of the grand finale with a lot of enthusiasm.”
Smart India Hackathon 2018 Highlights:
Software Edition – A 36-hour software product development competition was held on 30th and 31st March, 2018
Hardware Edition – A new inclusion, where teams will compete against each other in a 5-day challenge to build hardware-backed solutions held in the month of June 2018
Smart India Hackathon 2018 Hardware Edition Fact File:
This Hardware edition has received over 7500 submissions. This is supported by 14 Union Ministries and 10 State Governments
Over 68 problem statementswere identified by government departments which include environment, agriculture, health among others.
A total of 106 are shortlisted this year for the grand finale and each team will consist of 6 students and up to 3 mentors from industry and/or academia
10 Nodal centers will conduct the finale.
Persistent Systems conducted live trainings on Facebook for students
A family of 9 children and their parents have been rescued from bonded labour and human trafficking in a farm in Marlawadi Village, Kanakapura, Ramanagara District by the Ramanagara District Administration, Labour Department and the Harohalli Police. The family was trafficked from Denkanaikottai, Krishnagiri District, Tamil Nadu and was living and working on the farm for four years.
An FIR (195/18) has been registered at the Harohalli Police Station under section 370 of the IPC (Trafficking of Persons), sections 16, 17, 18 of the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976 and sections of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2016. The police are on the lookout for the owner.
Six of the nine children, ranging from 4 to 17 years worked from 10 am to 6pm everyday taking care of 20 goats and 15 cows, grazing, feeding and milking them. The husband and wife worked from 4:00 am till 7:00 pm daily taking care of the agriculture work on the farm, growing tomatoes and bananas.
According to the statements by the couple, the last two children aged 10 months and two years were born on the farm and delivered by the husband as they were not permitted to go to the hospital. The children have had no access to any medical facilities. They have never received any vaccinations, not even the basic vaccination for polio. None of the children have received any education at all.
In four years the family was never allowed to go outside the farm together or visit their home village. Only the husband, aged around 40, was allowed to go to shops near the farm to buy provisions for the family. “Several times I told the owner I want to leave and put my children in school but he abused us and said it’s not needed. He used to always abuse us using vulgar words saying we are not working well even though we worked from 4:00 am till 7:00 pm on all seven days. When my wife’s brother passed away, we asked permission to go back to our village for the funeral but he did not allow us. He said let the dying die why should you go? In the last four years we have never gone back to our village as a family,” he says.
Last year his mother passed away in his home village but the owner refused to let him go immediately. After repeated requests the owner only let him go but did not give him any bus fare. He had to finally walk to his village and by the time he managed to reach his mother, she was already buried.
The family was exploited and worked all seven days a week. When they were first brought to the farm four years ago by a person known to the owner, they were promised Rs. 65,000 a year as advance. However, this was a false promise and when they first arrived the owner gave them only Rs 20,000 as an advance and thereafter no advance was given in the following years.
After the initial advance, the whole family only received Rs 1,000 – Rs 2,000 a month for their sustenance. The entire family of 11 had to manage all their daily expenses including food with this meagre wage. The prescribed minimum wage for an agricultural estate worker in Karnataka begins at Rs. 304 per person per day. However, these labourers were paid way below this wage.
The District Administration is conducting further enquires with the survivors and will be issuing them release certificates before their repatriation to Tamil Nadu. The Administration is also coordinating with the collector’s office in Tamil Nadu to receive the survivors upon their arrival and for further rehabilitation.
Trafficking labourers, giving an advance and exploiting them are serious crimes with a minimum sentence of 14 years if children are involved and a maximum sentence of up to life in prison under IPC 370 (Trafficking of Persons).
Six technology startups from the NetApp Excellerator Cohort 2, an initiative of NetApp India have graduated at the Demo Day in Bengaluru. The four months initiative launched earlier this year, is an effort to help start-ups create market-ready products and solutions by providing access to the technology companies’ expertise, along with its ecosystem of partners and customers. NetApp has also announced applications for the Cohort 3 are open until August 5 with focus on B2B startups in the data-driven areas of AI, robotics, machine learning and data analytics.
The six tech start-ups are SigTuple, Nanobi, ArchSaber, Anlyz, Dataken and BlobCity have demonstrated their achievements and progress to venture capitalists.
Speaking to the media on the occasion, Deepak Visweswaraiah, Senior Vice-President & Managing Director, NetApp India says, "NetApp had selected these six data driven startups for their cohort 2 of the NetApp Excellerator program. The selected startups received $15,000 equity free grant and access to NetApp facilities, our deep technologies, HR, marketing and other functions has helped them scale to the next level. We are only promoting their startups and don't own any equity in these ventures including their Intellectual Property (IP).
However, the startups from the second cohort of NetApp Excellerator or the third will continue to work in the data-driven areas of artificial intelligence, analytics, cloud & machine learning, he said.
He goes on to say that mentoring and interacting with the startups have proven to be a great learning experience for us. This year, we saw a diverse mix of startups with respect to gender, stage of evolution and geography - a proof-point that increasing numbers of startups recognize the importance of our data driven business model.
The program received close to 450 applications for the Cohort 2, from around 250 that registered for the cohort 1. Of these, 10 were shortlisted to participate in a rigorous boot camp that concluded with the six being selected for the cohort 2. Below are the startups that graduated from the cohort 2...
SigTuple
SigTuple builds intelligent screening solutions to aid diagnosis through AI-powered analysis of visual medical data. They are building an artificial intelligence (AI) platform called Manthan, which helps them analyze visual medical data efficiently for their customers. Manthan enable Sigtuple team to work on five major high-volume, screening processes of the health care industry – analysis of peripheral blood smears, urine microscopy, semen, fundus & OCT scans and chest x-rays.
They are working with pathology labs and hospitals to get data for developing our solutions. Each of their solutions is built in partnership with a medical institution and specialists so that the product scope and roadmap are in line with the requirements of the final users.
DataKen
Dataken’s Data Science Platform with cognitive capabilities provides Ingest, transform, visualize and analyze capabilities to deliver actionable proactive and predictive business insights across segments. With highly scalable computational, storage and machine learning capabilities along with 250+ industry adaptors are designed to deliver results in complex ecosystem. The platform’s capability has empowered business and operations team to extract, configure and analyze data to meet business demand, real-time.
Dataken’s platform provides one-stop solution to meet the future demand of organizations embarking on IoT, SDN, NFV, LTE, Social commerce and data monetization. The business layer provides 100+ out-of-box solutions for communications, banking & finance, insurance, health care and manufacturing sectors to accelerate their outcome.
Blobcity
BlobCity provides its customers with end to end data capabilities by making storing and processing diverse data easy. Most analytic products today are required to collectively analyse data of diverse natures, BlobCity offers real-time analytics over this diverse data. For the analysis of transactional data at the speed of transactions, one needs a real-time analytics system. Example in case could be ATM fraud detection, where your analytical algorithm needs to analyse possible fraudulent nature of an on-going ATM swipe, before the machine actually dispenses the cash.
Unlike ATM’s, not all systems need analytics at real-time. If you want to analyse stock market data of the previous day, compare it with a year’s trend and then take a position when the market opens next day, you need a system that can perform this analysis with low-latency to be able to complete analytics for all stock quotes before the markets re- open. Depending on the nature and complexity of the requirement, the term low-latency covers processing times from a few milliseconds to even several hours. BlobCity’s analytics solutions are extremely well suited for such requirements and support high volume of transactions without compromising on analytics speeds.
Nanobi Data & Analytics
Nanobi delivers analytical insights to clients that help them better understand their customers. Their analytical solutions deliver measurable business impact across revenue upside, cost optimization and end-consumer delight to clients in the healthcare, BFSI space.
Their powerful LiquiData Platform integrates data warehousing, business intelligence, predictive and prescriptive analytics into a single visual stack thereby allowing their clients the ease, efficiency and flexibility of using a one-stop platform to serve their analytical requirements. With a “nanomart” based data architecture and a rich API framework, solutions are built speedily and in easy to consume modules. Nanobi’s platform has built-in conversational bots, which makes it easy for anyone across the enterprise to use analytics to drive decision-making.
Anlyz
Anlyz is a next-gen security product with granularity and visibility of enterprise threat landscape, using machine/deep learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to address enterprise cybersecurity needs.
In the current ecosystem, information is the most valuable currency. Anlyz’s wheels are constantly in motion, scanning the slightest digital cues to keep information safe for their clients. Equipped with advanced cyber capabilities like machine learning, AI & sophisticated hunting, Anlyz is geared to take on threats to predict and prevent attacks even much before they happen.
ArchSaber
Founded in Feb 2016, ArchSaber automates the diagnosis and prediction of issues occurring in a large and complex IT stack. ArchSaber helps enterprises by giving real-time diagnosis of an incident including comprehensive details, from root cause(s) to the critical services, so the resolution can be handled immediately before it becomes an outage.
The firm does deep analytics over finely grained data and ensures that clients get clear causalities amongst events, depicting the domino effect in form of a cause & impact graph.
Cigna’s, India business, Cigna TTK Health Insurance, a joint venture between U.S.-based global health services company, Cigna Corporation and Indian conglomerate TTK Group, today announced the appointment of Prasun Sikdar as its new MD and Chief Executive Officer following regulatory approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). He succeeds Sandeep Patel, former MD and Chief Executive Officer, who will take over as Chief Strategy and JV Officer for Cigna and will serve as Director on the Cigna TTK Health Insurance Board.
Prasun will be responsible for building upon the company’s already strong position in India. He will continue to focus on delivering innovative products and services to the company’s growing customer base. With his deep experience in partnerships, he will also be working with the leadership team to further expand the company’s distribution channels, while enhancing the brand and creating long-term value for the organization and its customers.
Jason Sadler, President, International Markets, Cigna said: “We are delighted to have appointed Prasun as we continue to grow at a fast pace across India and deliver products and services to improve the health, well-being and sense of security of our customers. I am confident that his passion for innovation, as well as his rich and diverse experience, will add immense value and strengthen our market position in India.”
Prasun brings more than 22 years of leadership experience in financial services and deep insurance knowledge to Cigna TTK. Before joining Cigna TTK, Prasun was Group President and Global Head at Yes Bank, where he managed and grew key bancassurance and mutual fund alliances and partnerships. Prior to this he was a founding member and Senior General Manager – Chief Sales & Distribution at ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. During his 17 years with ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, he worked across several portfolios including Operations & Underwriting, Bancassurance, Agency, Alternate Distribution, Health Business and Sales Strategy. Before ICICI Prudential Life, he has been associated with GE Capital (SBI Cards) and Citicorp.
Cigna TTK is one the fastest growing health insurance companies in India and has created a niche in the health and wellness sector by offering its customers innovative products and services. Since commencing operations in 2014, the company has established a significant presence in the market and has fostered new partnerships with leading financial institutions. In 2018, Cigna TTK was recognized as the Best Health Insurance Company at the Indian Insurance Summit and was certified as a ‘Great Place to Work’.
Commenting on his appointment, Prasun said: “I am honoured to become part of the Cigna TTK family and am excited to have the opportunity to lead this respected organization. Health Insurance continues to be a fast-growing segment and I see tremendous opportunity for Cigna TTK to support access to health and wellness. I look forward to building a superior customer experience, delivering profitable growth for the organization and enabling the expansion of quality healthcare to millions of people in India.”
With the FIFA season in full swing, Xploree AI keyboard, the smart mobile keyboard app by KeyPoint Technologies, has introduced FIFA themes on the app. There is a total of 9 themes representing 8 participating countries as well as one common theme for soccer fans. The themes are designed as per each team’s national flag to represent the individual countries that are participating in the FIFA World Cup 2018.
Xploree has been constantly enhancing the user experience of their smart keyboard based on customer usage patterns and feedback. So, if you are chatting with your friends, sharing updates on FIFA or discussing the matches, then Xploree smart keyboard with FIFA themes is the best app for all your chat sessions.
Xploree is the world’s 1st mobile keyboard application that understands user’s intent and gives real time recommendations. Currently, on 20 million devices, Xploree allows users to receive relevant recommendations and content while they chat, search, browse apps, etc. The keyboard understands and identifies user intent, preferences, interests and maps them to real time discoveries. The app’s brand partnerships and the ability to bring value to users with 150 global and Indic languages, is being leveraged by brands across all verticals, to establish direct engagement with consumers, including those associated with this FIFA season.
The brand enjoys immense consumer satisfaction due to their superior quality products, promptness and service levels. Melorra is the only jewellery brand to have invested in the latest CAD (Computer Aided Design) technology, enabling high precision and accuracy to execute & convert computer sketches into virtual 3D models. The models are then rendered with real material input. Equipped with the latest technology,
Melorra leads the modern gold jewellery space with marque collections for any outfit. It is also one of the leading jewellery brands that showcases 12 different collections in a year to excite the consumers with their edgy and fashionable fine jewellery to keep up with the changing wardrobe.
Melorra, India’s first fashion inspired fine jewellery brand has branched out to 25,000+ pin codes and is ready to expand its presence in the country to bridge the gap between jewellery and fashion. Modern day consumers demand accessories which allow them to stand out from the crowd. This increasing demand to appear fashion conscious has paved the way for Melorra to expand their realms across the country catering to a wider audience. Melorra is one of the fastest growing fashion inspired fine gold and diamond jewellery brand that styles jewellery for the contemporary wardrobe inspired by fashion trends.
Melorra has a strong presence in Tier 1 cities and has recently in April 2018 enhanced its accessibility across smaller pockets of the country. Banking upon its strong distribution operations, the brand allows consumers to enjoy the luxury of home delivery in the fine jewellery space. From Itanagar to Kanyakumari, Melorra offers Cash on Delivery to all pin codes in India and hopes to bridge the jewellery-wardrobe mismatch of the modern woman.
Melorra has rapidly expanded and made a mark in the Indian jewellery segment with a high net promoter score (NPS) of 50+. One of its key success factors are the brand’s fine jewellery design creations. They are unique, stylish & refreshed every month with new collection launches. Melorra aims for customer satisfaction in all aspects from quality to style and closely works with fashion stylists to meet the changing jewellery needs of a modern woman.
Commenting on the brand’s growth Saroja Yeramili CEO & Founder of Melorra.com, “Melorra was conceptualized to disrupt the Indian jewellery segment. Traditionally the Indian jewellery market is heavily dominated by traditional wedding jewellery pieces which cannot be adapted to suit modern day casual or workwear restricting the option to wear fine jewellery. Melorra aims to redefine the dynamics of everyday gold jewellery by creating fashion inspired/ forward master pieces that endeavours to amplify the country’s fashion quotient.”
GAMERZ LOOP is a new sports-centric immersive and interactive entertainment center. One of the largest indoor entertainments is now at the heart of the Central Bengaluru (Kamaraj Road, next to Commercial Street). All elements of fun - be it food, games or celebrations - are under one roof. Offering fresh Virtual Reality experiences, glow-in-the-dark indoor paintball, indoor net cricket and so much, Gamerz Loop is now the absolute favourite fun destination for the shoppers in Commercial Street.
What’s more, there are a host of delectable treats to savour at the Café Amore, which is the only A/C food court in Commercial Street, conveniently placed inside Gamerz Loop. With brands like Kapoor’s Café, Chicking, Gelato and more, Café Amore is where hungry shoppers come to fill up their appetite. If you feel hungry after all that gaming, you can enter I cafe called ‘Café Amore’ where you can expect to lose yourself in an eclectic menu.
Bengaluru has not only been long known as the Silicon Valley of India, but is also immensely popular for its entertainment, music and food culture. The launch of Gamerz Loop going to give the city, many reasons to cheer as we bring to Bengaluru, a never seen before gaming experience with fresh concepts, powerful simulative technology and innovative design
If you’re looking for an adrenaline-pumping celebration, will also accommodate up to 400 people for private events, team building activities, corporate outings and birthday parties. With special packages, it’s a great option for celebrations with a difference. Whether you want to improve your sports skills, spend an active weekend with friends or just unwind with the family, Gamerz Loop is a place that has it all.
Gamerz Loop is ideal for all ages above 6 years. Teenagers, Couples and entire families are sure to have great fun. Gamerz Loop is also ideal for Corporate get-togethers, Team Outing, Team Building, Birthday Parties etc., considering that great food and fun are just a snap-of-a-finger away.
Gamerz Loop has a beautifully designed Kid’s Zone that comes with a special go-kart zone where kids can try their hands at driving. Professional care managers are available to keep an eye on the high-spirited lot!
Syed Khaleel, Founder of Gamerz Loop Said “ Gamerz loop is a one of kind experience centre for families and friends to have a memorable and shared experiences whilst using technology to bring them together. Our experience is all about mind and body where customers interact within the virtual environment as one of a kind with basic to extreme experiences. We do this in various ways with 25 of our attractions with quality entertainment in mind and diverse special events and attractions. Our guest also visit the food court expecting friendliness, cleanliness, service with quality and fun right in commercial street. At gamerz loop we take pride in serving our guest with pomp and galore”.
Gamerz loop is committed to create wholesome and awesome experiences. We are one of its kind family entertainment centre because we provide thrilling to light hearted yet distinctive experiences for our guest irrespective of age groups. Gamerz loop has changed the way people celebrate birthdays and parties because at gamerz loop every guest is special and adorable hence we make every moment memorable too. We can provide amazing birthday or get together experiences for as low as Inr 15000/- for 3 hours with games. We have party halls right at commercial street cross roads that can accommodate around 400 people. We invite one and all to come and experience us.
Whether you’re a PS-4 obsessed gamer or just somebody looking for a nice play to hang out with their friends, Gamerz Loop is clearly the next place in your bucket list.
Address: Gamerz Loop, 286, 2nd floor, Commercial Plaza, Kamaraj Rd, Sivanchetti Gardens, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560042
Price for games - Inaugural offers-5 games @ 299
http://www.gamerzloop.com/
