Natural disasters can strike at any time, so Land Rover and the Red Cross are helping people in remote areas to prepare for the worst.
Such support has never been more important: the World Disaster Report 2018 estimates 134 million people will need humanitarian assistance this year. The report, by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), says challenging terrain, limited infrastructure, conflicts and natural hazards can all make it hard to get help to where it's needed.
To mark the release of the report, Land Rover and the Red Cross have released a film about the life-changing threats of natural hazards and the humanitarian work to help vulnerable people in isolated communities.
Land Rover funds a community preparedness project in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, which aims to support 55 000 people in vulnerable communities. In the last two years, the Mexican Red Cross has travelled over 37 015 km in order to reach these isolated communities.
Following the 2017 earthquake, the Mexican Red Cross were able to mobilise 1 200 search and rescue specialists and 31 000 volunteers to support the rescue efforts to deliver earthquake relief and response to more than a million people.
Chris Thorp, Responsible Business Director, Jaguar Land Rover said:“Through our partnership with the Red Cross we are committed to providing support to isolated communities like those in the Chiapas region of Mexico.
“The technology and capability of Land Rover vehicles enables them to get to the hardest to reach people in some of the world's most challenging terrain."
Alexander Matheou, Executive Director of International at the British Red Cross, said: “Millions of people worldwide are in crisis and need urgent humanitarian aid. In the past decade earthquakes have caused more than 350 000 deaths and the recent disaster in Indonesia has left a trail of destruction, bringing the importance of our humanitarian work to the forefront.
“These events are truly devastating. Through our partnership with Land Rover we’re able to gain access to some of the hardest-to-reach areas and support vulnerable people throughout the world. We’re committed to working together to continue helping communities prepare for and recover from disasters.”
Jessica Lara, Chiapas Programme Co-ordinator, said: “Working in such remote communities can be a challenge. We work with lots of people from different cultures and we have to earn their trust. The earthquake was one of the factors that have let us into these communities, who now understand they are exposed and that disasters can happen at any moment.”
Land Rover has worked in partnership with the Red Cross for more than 60 years. Since 2013 the partnership has raised more than US $ 12.8 m for people in need, funding 18 humanitarian projects in 25 countries.
Accenture has announced the winners of the Accenture Innovation Challenge 2018, a competition in India that aims to inspire students to apply their technology talent and creativity to develop innovative ideas that can create social and business impact. The grand prize was awarded to the team from Sir M. Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology (Sir MVIT), Bengaluru for their solution ‘Aayush’, a cost-effective ingestible battery-less electronic health pill that can continuously record health metrics to predict and prevent heart attacks and cardiac arrests.
Other winners in the competition included teams from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras; Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bengaluru; IIT-Kharagpur; Manav Rachna International Institute for Research and Studies, Faridabad; and Delhi Technological University, New Delhi. The winners were announced at the competition’s grand finale held recently in Bengaluru, which featured 16 finalists, all of them from the engineering discipline.
The Accenture Innovation Challenge 2018 was open to students pursuing graduate, under-graduate and post-graduate programs. Students were encouraged to develop ingenious technology solutions using advanced technologies such as advanced analytics, automation, artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain, cybersecurity, immersive reality and internet of things, among others.
“We are thrilled that the Accenture Innovation Challenge this year has seen a record participation – over 13,000 entries involving over 30,000 students across 1,000+ colleges in India. Technology innovation is driving disruption in many industries, and it is exciting to see how students have applied advanced technologies to develop innovative ideas in diverse areas such as medical care, trauma care, dairy farming, energy management, music, railroad management, personal data privacy, fraud management, eco construction, and so on”, said, Mohan Sekhar, senior managing director and lead for Accenture’s Advanced Technology Centers in India. “The innovative and creative abilities these students have exhibited are commendable and we heartily congratulate all the winners and participants”.
The five awards and their winners are:
Grand Prize: Awarded to the team from Sir M. Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, Bengaluru for ‘Aayush’, a cost-effective ingestible battery-less electronic health pill to predict and prevent heart attacks and sudden cardiac arrests. ‘Aayush’ records metrics such as PH level, body temperature, heart rate and myeloperoxidase protein content of a person using bio-medical sensors from the body and transmits data to a mobile app via a wearable smart patch. The solution features a built-in artificial intelligence-enabled virtual assistant, which monitors data for abnormal variations in the parameters, and analyzes and predicts a heart attack or sudden cardiac arrest 9 – 11 minutes prior to it taking place. In cases of an emergency, the solution uses GPS location to alert the nearest hospital and the person’s family or caretaker group about the need for immediate medical care.
* ‘Innovate for Businesses’ category award: Won by the team from IIT-Madras, for their solution ‘Microwave Pyrolysis’, which can convert waste into energy through microwave pyrolysis, an age-old technique of thermal decomposition that converts non-metal waste into forms of energy including oil, gas, and char, which have multiple uses and can be incorporated into existing product supply chains.
* ‘Innovate for the Society’ category award: Won by the team from Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bengaluru, for developing ‘EyeSee’, a solution which features a virtual reality (VR) app and headset to simulate the commonly used Humphrey field analyzer tool to carry out glaucoma detection tests. The solution is more affordable and portable to use, making it more feasible to use among people in rural and inaccessible areas.
* Jury’s Choice award: The jury named two teams as winners of this category:
‘MusicManiac’, developed by students from IIT-Kharagpur is a system that automatically chooses chords to accompany a vocal melody using melody extraction and Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) files, thereby giving novice musicians the opportunity to automatically create music and experiment with chord patterns without any professional knowledge of music.
‘Virtual Exposure Therapy’ (VET), is a solution jointly developed by students from Manav Rachna International Institute for Research and Studies, Faridabad and Delhi Technological University, New Delhi. VET is a solution that aims to treat people with phobias and post-traumatic disorders in a virtual reality environment, by recreating trauma relevant scenarios, providing analysis and monitoring improvement of the patient’s psychological condition.
* Employees’ Choice award: The winner of this award was chosen through voting by employees of Accenture’s Advanced Technology Centers in India. This award was won by the team from IIT-Madras, for developing ‘Artemis’, a robot that can detect and analyze cracks in railway tracks using ultrasound technology and IoT. Some key features of this fully automated method include storing the location of cracks, sending alerts on identified cracks to mobile phones, detecting loose fish plates and surveying for anomalies on tracks. The solution aims to address the problem of train derailments in India, which cause massive loss of life and property every year.
The Grand Prize winner received prizes worth INR 150,000 and each member of the two teams selected as category winners — for ‘Innovate for Businesses’ and ‘Innovate for the Society’ — received prizes worth INR 75,000.
The winners for the Accenture Innovation Challenge 2018 were chosen from among 16 shortlisted teams that presented their ideas to a jury panel featuring Anupam Sinha, Co-founder and CEO – Vxceed; Daniel Raj David, CEO and Co-Founder – Detect Technologies; Hari Bharadwaj, Founder and CEO – eSahai; Manish Singh, Senior Director of Product Mobile and Internet – Ola (ANI Technologies); Dr. M. Vijayalakshmi, Professor and Vice Principal – Vivekanand Education Society's Institute of Technology (VESIT), Mumbai; Sunil Rao, Partner, Business Services – Lightspeed Ventures Partners; Sunit Singh, Partner and Co-Founder – Design Capital; and Thomas Dal, Director and Dean – Strate School of Design.
Synechron, a leading Digital IT Consulting firm and technology services provider for financial services, has today announced that it has launched a new office and state-of-the-art Financial Innovation Lab (FinLab) in Singapore. The new facility will help build Synechron’s offering in the APAC region and partner with our clients on interactive workshops related to key digital strategies, such as AI, Blockchain, Data Analytics and RegTech that are reshaping the Financial Services landscape.
Synechron’s new office in Singapore will strengthen its capabilities in serving the APAC financial services market. Given Synechron’s new brand promise to ‘Accelerate Digital’, there will be a particular focus on Digital in the region. This comes after the appointment of a new APAC Head of Synechron, Mihir Shah. Shah brings extensive capital markets, innovation, and technology experience to the Singapore office, coming from Synechron’s London office, with 16+ years’ experience in Capital Markets and a proven track record implementing and leading innovation in financial services, with 11+ years spent at UBS.
Singapore is Synechron’s APAC hub from which we support clients across the region. Given our investment in Asia, Synechron expects to continue to add talent to the existing 50+ strong team across our Asian locations in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Manila.
Mihir Shah, Head of Synechron APAC, said: “The APAC region is a huge center for financial services innovation, and with our new FinLab, we will be able to accelerate banks’ digital transformation journeys to include even more emerging technologies with AI and data science, machine learning, Blockchain, and more, and create new solutions and further innovation to areas like banking, user experience, and wealth management.”
The new FinLab in Singapore leverages Synechron’s 300+ digital innovation SMEs globally and hosts over 50 Accelerators and counting. The space will allow clients to have direct interaction with the latest technology and prototypes in the market, including our recent Data Science Accelerators. This opening marks the 12th FinLab operating globally, with the others located in New York, Charlotte, Fort Lauderdale, London, Dubai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Pune, Serbia, Paris, and most recently, an upgraded FinLab in Amsterdam to expand its Technology business. Synechron will also be hosting its inaugural FinLabs Day on November 15th to showcase its newest innovations in Data Science.
Faisal Husain, Co-founder and CEO of Synechron, said: “Innovation and emerging technologies, and particularly their use in financial services, are evolving every day, and digital services are a large part of that. We are committed to expanding our global footprint to accelerate the digital transformation journey for banks and financial services firms, and our expansion to the APAC region is a strategic one. Our FinLab in Singapore will allow us to innovate with banks and will play a vital role in Synechron’s Accelerating Digital strategy to be the leading digital FS consultancy.”
Do Mobile, one of the most innovative mobile handset brands in the country announces the launch of its newest M4 feature phone with the power packed qualities that keeps you going.
The feature phone comes with 2.4inch Bright Display bringing you the perfect viewing from any angle and accurate edge-to-edge colours.Housed in an attractive body with powerful 1000 mAh Li-ion Battery you will never run out on the most important discussions, chats and your favourite games. Also, with upto 32 GB expandable memory the feature phone aptitudes to enhance your multimedia experience and provide endless entertainment.
The Dual Sim Phone also supports Auto Call recording along with Wireless FM. A few additional features that prims up the phone is the LED Torch, Vibration Mode, Bluetooth, Video support MP3, MP4 etc.
Centred on its high performance, stylish looks and durability, the phone brings the latest in technology at the best budgeted price. Speaking on the launch Sandeep Mehra, Sales Head – Do Mobile says, “Another star performer that shall keep you going – M4, not only this phone is packed with key important features but also comes at best price,crafted specifically for the Indian consumers in mind.”
Lastly adding significance at the budgeted prices, M4 comes with Multi-Language Support – Now take control and chat in 22 languages.
Priced at the MOP of Rs.949, the phone is available with retail stores across India.
Cybage Software has announced the consolidation of its various organic digital offerings into a unified Digital Solutions umbrella to cater to an ever-evolving gamut of customer requirements in the disruptive digital scenario. The decision was taken to tap in the huge demand from enterprises in various domains for a one-stop, comprehensive, up-to-date digital solutions portfolio that helps an enterprise be future-ready across operations.
The Digital Solutions umbrella will cover our flagship product DecisionMinesTM, Digital Marketing Services capabilities, Packaged Solutions offerings (CRM, CMS, E-commerce) and Centers of Excellence (Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing and Enterprise Mobility). The diversified service offerings are designed to help organizations make a smooth transition to the digital world by devising easy-to-integrate, built-to-suite solutions that can instantly enhance the efficiency of an organization without the need of any substantial re-skilling of existing employees.
The complete Digital Solutions package will serve to complement Cybage’s core Product Engineering capabilities. With this initiative, Cybage aims to fulfill the needs of enterprises, with a special focus on providing a differentiated value proposition to business decision makers across the length and breadth of internal operations and functions. As the relevance of digitization becomes imminent amongst enterprises in various domains, 360o solutions such as these are expected to be extremely popular for organizations looking to quickly jump on the tech juggernaut.
Commenting on the development, John Oberon, President–Digital Solutions, Cybage, said: “The need for our partners to maintain a competitive advantage requires digital solutions that work across all functions. These outcomes-based operational solutions provide flexibility to meet market demand just in time. Now, more than ever, business leaders will be empowered to realize adaptability to market changes with a tangible return on investment.”
Cybage’s offerings and strategies have facilitated our enterprise customers to remain competitive, efficient, and capable of optimizing returns from opportunities by implementing some of the most cutting-edge technologies and automated management frameworks. This move will allow us to consolidate our position as a leader and allow our customers easier access to our turnkey consulting and implementation capabilities.
BMW India commenced its exclusive driving program – BMW JOYFEST 2018 in Bengaluru today. The two day event in Bengaluru will showcase the driving dynamics, modern functionality and high performance of the entire BMW product portfolio.
The BMW JOYFEST is a specially curated platform for customers and prospects to experience the extraordinary control, manoeuvrability and the grit of the signature BMW xDrive: the intelligent all-wheel drive system of the BMW X family of sports activity vehicles (SAVs) and explore the ultimate luxury, unsurpassed comfort and advance driving dynamics of other BMW sedans and sporty M cars.
The first-ever BMW 6 Series Gran Turismo, the all-new BMW M5, the all-new BMW 5 Series, BMW 7 Series, the all-new BMW X3, BMW X1 and BMW X5 will be available for test drive to participants. Further, BMW certified trainers will offer valuable advice on various driving techniques like slalom, fast laps, corner braking and emergency braking. The BMW 7 series will be on special display.
The thrill of high-performing range of sports cars – the all-new BMW M5 will be based on the Need for Speed Payback concept which made a debut at the 2017 Gamescom gaming conference in Cologne, Germany. BMW M Automobiles are produced by BMW Motorsport GmbH (a subsidiary of BMW AG). Sophisticated technology, individuality and safety - the BMW M cars offer an unmatched experience of exclusive, high-performance driving.
The 2018 edition of BMW JOYFEST will house an exclusive BMW 7 Series Individual Lounge, BMW Lifestyle zone with BMW original and BMW Motorsport accessories. It will also house BMW Financial Services zone, food and beverage section and BMW Gaming zone.
While the BMW Accessories and Lifestyle Zone will feature genuine BMW merchandise at special offers, the exclusive BMW 7 Series Individual Lounge offers customers an opportunity to customize and enhance their vehicle in line with their personal requirements. The BMW 7 Series Individual Lounge will also showcase individual paint finishes, leather upholstery and trims.
The BMW JOYFEST will feature one-of-its-kind two-tier set-up which will be created in each city, representing BMW’s premium international standards. The entrance is inspired from the iconic BMW kidney grille which is the most distinctive design feature. A special gaming zone will ensure an entertaining time for the entire family. Participants will also get to play games such as Need for Speed Payback and ring toss along with an opportunity to win lots of prizes.
Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold a total of 12606 units in the domestic market this month of October 2018. The company exported 639 units of the Etios series this month thus clocking a total of 13245 units. TKM sold a total of 12403 units in the domestic market and exported 1597 units of the Etios series in October 2017.
The company has witnessed a growth of 15% in domestic sales from April-Oct 2018 as compared to the same period last year. This growth has been primarily driven by the positive sales growth of Innova Crysta, Fortuner, Etios Liva and the positive response to Yaris.
Commenting on the sales performance, N. Raja, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “ We are happy that we have been able to sustain good customer demand despite the dampening effect on consumer sentiment owing to hike in fuel prices, higher interest rates and increase in insurance premium.
Innova Crysta has witnessed a growth of 11% in April to Oct 2018 as compared to the same period in 2017. We are thankful to our customers for their endless support to the brand and the trust they have shown for our products which define Quality, Durability and Reliability. Additionally, Etios Liva, one of the most popular choice of Indian families has registered a growth of 17% from April to October 2018 contributing significantly towards the overall sales growth.
We expect the buying sentiment to improve in the upcoming months and thus ensuring a positive sales momentum in the auto industry.
