Tablez India Opens the First Build-A-Bear store in India at Phoenix Marketcity, Whitefield

For more than 21 years, U.S. based personalized experiential toy retail brand Build-A-Bear has been sharing hearts and bear hugs globally, and today, after a long wait, Tablez - the retail arm of LuLu Group International, has launched the first Build-A-Bear store in India, at Toys”R”Us, Phoenix Marketcity in Bengaluru.

Build-A-Bear is a global customized stuffed-animal retail entertainment brand that aims to reach as many as 9 million households in the top 15 cities in India by 2025. Besides standalone stores, shop-in-shop formats of Build-A-Bear would be launched within Toys“R”Us.

On this special occasion, Adeeb Ahamed, MD, Tablez said: “The Build-A-Bear concept is a one-of-a-kind retail experience, and we are thrilled to open the first store in Bengaluru. Build-A-Bear is synonymous with creativity and novelty for children. I am sure that each child that enters our store will cherish their experience and leave with an indelible memory.

“From standalone stores to shop-in-shop formats, Build-A-Bear is ready to reach out to families and kids in India and help loved ones create memories and spend more time together. We plan to open 20 standalone stores of Build-A-Bear across key cities in India over the next 10 years, along with shop-in-shop formats across all our Toys”R”Us stores as well.”
Dorrie Krueger, Build-A-Bear Workshop Chief Strategy Officer, said, “Together with Tablez India, we are excited to open the first Build-A-Bear store in India and continue to expand into this important global market. We look forward to introducing the Build-A-Bear brand and sharing the joy of making a new furry friend with millions of families.”

Build-A-Bear is a global brand that kids love and parents trust for fantastic family experiences. The ‘Choose Me’ wall at every Build-A-Bear store is where the empowerment journey begins as each guest chooses an unstuffed animal to bring to life. Accessories give customers the freedom to customize their creation. The heart ceremony is where one can add special wishes to their friend. During the stuffing process, a heart is placed in the bear along with special wishes, and the guest promises to care for their new furry friend once they are given the birth certificate. This signature ceremony brings each stuffed animal to life in a personal way, further ensuring a greater attachment.

Established in 1997, Build-A-Bear has helped millions find their own meaning in a new furry friend. The brand has nearly 500 stores worldwide and more than 180 million furry friends have been made globally in its 21-year history. Build-A-Bear helps guests mark special occasions, starts friendships, and inspires people to make their own adventures. At Build-A-Bear, one is empowered to feel that anything is possible.

Further, a Build-A-Bear shop-in-shop format will follow in Vega City Mall, Bengaluru; City Centre Mall, Mangalore and Phoenix Marketcity, Pune. Build-A-Bear plans to expand to as many as 65 shop-in-shop format stores and 20 standalone stores in India over the next 10 years. 

Hina Jaiswal Commissioned as IAF's First Woman Flight Engineer

Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal has created history by becoming the first Indian woman flight engineer. She successfully completed the Flight Engineers’ course at 112 Helicopter Unit attached to the Air Force Station, Yelahanka near Bangalore.

Commissioned on January 5, 2015, in the engineering branch of the IAF, she has served as chief of firing team and battery commander in a frontline Surface to Air Missile squadron, before being selected for the Flight Engineers’ course.

Hina earned her Flight Engineer’s wing on Friday. During the course of the last six months of gruelling training, she displayed unflinching commitment, dedication and perseverance, said an official statement from the Defence Ministry.

Flt Lt Hina Jaiswal hails from Chandigarh and has completed her Bachelor of Engineering degree from Panjab University. The only daughter of D K Jaiswal and Anita Jaiswal, Hina dubbed her achievement a “dream come true”. Since childhood, she had aspired to don the soldier’s uniform and take to the skies as an aviator. The realisation of that dream took its root from the alma mater of Heli-lift.

As a flight engineer, Hina would subsequently be posted to operational helicopter units of the IAF. While in the unit, she would be routinely called upon to operate in demanding and stressful conditions, right from the icy heights of the Siachen Glacier to the seas of the Andamans.

In the last few decades, the Indian defence forces have taken very long strides to become more gender inclusive. Since 1993, the IAF has commissioned women in the officer cadre. They have also been inducted as pilots in various streams of the IAF.

Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board Entices Tourism Sector and South Indian Travelers at Travel & Trade Fair (TTF), Bengaluru

Being one of the forerunners among the economically rising states of incredible India, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board has participated  in TTF (Travel & Tourism Fair) held at Palace Grounds, Bengaluru from Madhya Pradesh is a state that reflects the true cultural heritage of Incredible India. Through the amalgamation of various communities and castes, the folklore and historical monuments makes Madhya Pradesh one of the most sought after tourist destination.

TTF Travel & Tourism Fair held in Bangalore is India's leading exhibition for the travel and tourism industry. It provides an annual opportunity for organizations from India and abroad to showcase their products and services. The trade fair was visited by India’s leading tour-operators, travel agents and hoteliers, airlines and media professionals from different corners of the country. These Buyers and Media representatives visited Madhya Pradesh Tourism stall also and exchanged their views and opinions on Madhya Pradesh with the officials at the stall.

As quoted by the officials of Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board, “Madhya Pradesh is such an extremely diverse state serving plethora of beautiful historic sites to exotic places. It is not only home to some of the unique wildlife in the country but warm-hearted people. It has become a holiday spot for celebrities, businesses, friends, individuals and families.With the rich history and commendable efforts of Archeology Department today Madhya Pradesh has become a preferred destination for solo and family travelers who want to move away from the hustle bustle of city’s abundance. Participating in TTF 2019 has provided MP tourism with an opportunity to display its magnificence as well as educate consumers on the latest offerings and world class tourism facilities provided by the state. ”

From being the state with the largest forest area to wildlife hotspots with 10 National parks & 25 Wildlife sanctuaries, 3 UNESCO World Heritage Sites; Madhya Pradesh has a plethora of nature, culture, heritage and activities available for every age group of tourist. Apart from the diversity, the annual cultural Events including the Khajuraho Dance festival, MalwaUtsav, Tansen Festival, Allauddin Music fest are simply the ideal trifect a showcasing best of Indian traditions. Besides these, “Madhya Pradesh Travel Mart (MPTM)” and “Jal Mahotsav” are annual events which are very popular amongst the trade people and tourists from various regions in the country

In order to create awareness among the native population and tourists regarding cultural and natural heritage in the state, the “Heritage run” activity is being organized at various tourist destination. Next runs are at 17th February on Pachmarhi, 24th February on Khajuraho, Gwalior on 10th March and Pench on 17th March and so on. Also, next international event in Madhya Pradesh is Khajuraho Dance festival from 20th to 26th February. The forthcoming major exhibitions in which the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board will be participating to carry on with trade networking are IITE in Bhubaneshwar from 15th to 17th MarchandGITB in Jaipur from 28th – 30th April, 2019.

CH2M (Jacobs) Pioneers the Use of a Digital Twin on the Thames Estuary Flood Management 2100 Project

The Thames Estuary 2100 is a comprehensive 10-year action plan by the United Kingdom’s Environment Agency to manage flood risk along the Tidal Thames for the next 100 years. Climate change-induced increases in sea level and river flows are estimated to put 1.25 million people and GBP 200 billion worth of property at risk. The Environment Agency plans to refurbish and replace tidal flood defenses in London and the Thames Estuary, including the Thames Barrier and 350 kilometers of walls, embankments, and other flood defense assets. The project team, led by CH2M (now Jacobs), successfully established a digital twin of the entire Tidal Thames flood defense infrastructure. With the digital twin, the project team is effectively focusing on flood risk reduction for London and the outer estuary, protecting lives, critical infrastructure, and private property.

The project team initially faced the challenge of managing a large dataset of information, primarily in the form of physical drawings and documents developed through decades of work dating back to the 1950s. Understanding the development of the flood defense asset through the as-designed, as-built, and as-maintained records is critical to understanding any subsequent movement or deterioration of the asset. The team selected ProjectWise as the basis for its connected data environment (CDE) and collated over 10,000 documents relating to 4,000 assets to establish the digital DNA of the flood defense infrastructure. The CH2M team augmented the digitized historical records with information on the current condition of assets gathered through field assessments executed with the cooperation of private landowners along the river.

CH2M configured its CDE to align with the BS 1192 national standard and to manage data of a higher classification with robust security protocols. Now, employees in over 30 office locations, and over 10 organizations across Europe are connected through the CDE and can access information with minimal transmission delays by using the caching and delta file transfer capabilities of ProjectWise. With ProjectWise’s spatially enabled search interface, users graphically select a region of interest and quickly discover all relevant drawings, pictures, and documents for assets in that area. The team is utilizing ProjectWise Deliverables Management to control the transmission of purchase orders and receipt of data. This data is synchronized to ProjectWise and accessible by external suppliers via a web portal. ProjectWise virtually connects offices to accurate and current information and connects office and field staff during inspection and construction.

CH2M estimates that the digital twin enabled by ProjectWise has already saved the project approximately 500 hours, at a cost savings of approximately GBP 25,000. They estimate that the effort to retrieve current and historical data was reduced by 25 percent. With ProjectWise, the team can quickly search, collate, and send information. CH2M is effectively leveraging the digital DNA of their project to achieve the Environment Agency’s long-term vision of managing flood risk for the Tidal Thames over the next 100 years.

Hinesh Mistry, global technology leader at CH2M, said, “Bentley’s ProjectWise is the only application to deliver seamless integration of multiple BIM authoring tools, offering a truly global ability to collaborate in a security-enhanced environment across multiple disciplines and geographies. The management of over 20,000 documents in 200-plus projects and multiple organizations with [BIM Level 3-compliant interoperability] would not be possible without ProjectWise.The application enables true lifecycle asset management to deliver world-class management in the reduction of flood risk for the Thames Estuary and GBP 200 billion of assets.”

Zendesk Reinforces Commitment to Women in Leadership with 3 Management Hires

Zendesk, Inc. has announced the appointment of three new executives to its growing leadership team. Joining the company are Elisabeth Zornes, former general manager of global support for Microsoft Office, as Zendesk’s first chief customer officer; former Adobe executive Colleen Berube as chief information officer; and former Salesforce executive Shawna Wolverton as senior vice president, product management.

“Never have we seen customer expectations or technology changing as rapidly as it is today,"    said Mikkel Svane, Zendesk founder and CEO. "We are thrilled to be adding these proven enterprise leaders to Zendesk so we can help more companies around the world transform their customer experiences.”

Zornes will represent the collective voice of Zendesk’s 125,000 paid customer accounts in the role, and lead the teams responsible for helping customers onboard and maximize the benefits of the company’s growing product portfolio. She brings 20 years of experience as a leader in customer support, operations and services, most recently leading global customer support for Microsoft Office consumers, enterprise customers, and partners.

Colleen Berube joins as chief information officer, having formerly served as executive vice president and chief technology officer of Fisher Investments and executive in residence at PricewaterhouseCoopers. She brings more than two decades of leadership experience from pre-IPO to the Fortune 100 companies.

Wolverton comes to Zendesk with more than 15 years experience in product management and leadership. Most recently, she was the chief product officer at Planet, and previously was senior vice president for product management at Salesforce, where she oversaw all platform development.

The new appointments are part of the company’s recent leadership expansion aimed at supporting its global growth and long-term goal of becoming a multibillion-dollar revenue company.

Wacom Unveils 4K Cintiq Pro 24 and 4K Cintiq Pro 32 Priced at Rs 2,02 Lakh to Rs 2,75 Lakh in India

Working towards its commitment to inspire and equip people to make the world a more creative place, Wacom has unveiled its 4K Cintiq Pro 24 & 4K Cintiq Pro 32 in the Indian market. Designed diligently to aid creative professionals and set new standards in film and 3D animation, in industry design, digital art, game development and a broad range of human communication and expression, the 4K Cintiq Pro 24 and 32 will offer new high performance large-sized display built for cutting-edge creative and design applications including augmented and virtual reality.

Besides the large screen to create and design, the Cintiq Pro 32 & Cintiq Pro 24 help provide a true-to-life visual experience with the brilliant 4K display and up to 98% and 99% RGB color accuracy respectively.

Commenting on the launch, Rajiv Malik, Senior Director, Wacom India said, “Wacom is a company that truly believes in assisting creative experiences. Our products are the result of vast research and understanding of what the users want. Professional artists and designers today have an increased appetite for various technologies like augmented and virtual reality or 3D. They also want customizable controls for getting the work done faster. We understand the different needs when it comes to creativity and this is why we are excited to offer a digital canvas which provides more space and more options for those who create.”

Performance that gives you the most natural creative experience ever

Users will also experience higher level of productivity with these devices given setting like time saving onscreen or the multi touch gestures. The devices are designed to cater to connectivity and security. The Cintiq Pro 24 and the Cintiq Pro 32 have 4 X USB3 ports, and 1 X USB-C port. Along with that the devices also have an HDMI2.0

USB3 ports, and 1 X USB-C port. Along with that the devices also have an HDMI2.0 port, a DisplayPort and 2 X USB-A ports, of which, one is reserved for the ExpressKey remote. In order to assist creativity,the Cintiq Pro 24 & 32can be optionally converted to an “All-in-One” PC with Cintiq Pro Engine.

Convenience at a click with Express Key Remote

The Cintiq Pro 24 and the Cintiq Pro 32 come with an ExpressKey Remote for utmost efficiency and comfort. A set of 17 customizable buttons and Touch Ring allow for instant one-touch access to timesaving shortcuts in all your favorite creative applications. Users can place the ExpressKey Remote anywhere it’s most convenient while drawing – on screen, in your hand or beside your keyboard. User can also connect up to five ExpressKey Remotes at one time, one for each of your creative software applications, to optimize their workflow.

Precision performance at your fingertips with Wacom Pro Pen 2

Designed to provide a more comfortable and natural pen on screen experience, Wacom Pro Pen 2 features 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt-response and virtually lag-free tracking. A protective case with three nibs and a nib removal hole is included. For a freer movement, the pen offers more natural support, requires no batteries or charging and has reduced parallax. With the help of new pressure and tilt sensitivity of the Pro Pen 2 and the textured screen, the designers are sure to get a realistic artistic control and feel.

The 4K Cintiq Pro 24 series will be available in two options –Pen only priced at Rs 202,099, and Pen and Touch priced at Rs 223,399. The Cintiq Pro 32 model is available with Pen and Touch feature, priced at Rs 275,999.

Over 1 Crore Youth Join Skill India’s ‘Fark Dikh Raha Hai’ Campaign

With the launch of second edition of the popular ‘Fark Dikh Raha Hai’ media campaign today, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship aims to mobilise youth and empower them with employable skills. Since it’s inception in July 2015, Skill India has trained more than 1 crore youth every year through various programs under Government of India.

The campaign was first launched in August last year and was well received by potential candidates and influencers across the country. It further contributed to the increase in awareness of Skill India from 35% pre-campaign to 56% post campaign.

Popular Punjabi singer and industry veteran Daler Mehndi also sang the new anthem for Skill India mission. Titled ‘Hunar Nikharraha Hai, Fark Dikh Raha Hai’, the anthem has been written by notable Indian Lyricist, Screenwriter and Poet, Prasoon Joshi. Focusing on celebrating the success of candidates trained under Skill India mission, the campaign aims to inspire young people to earn a better livelihood through skill training. 

The campaign, a series of ad films, was commissioned by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) through leading advertising agency McCann. Since its launch in July 2015, the Skill India Mission under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has touched many people’s lives through its initiatives such as Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (NAPS) and upgrading and upscaling of Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).

In an endeavour to make vocational training accessible to the youth, Skill India has opened 500+ multi-skill Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Kendra (PMKKs) covering 490+ district across India. The number of ITIs have also been increased from 10,000 earlier to 15,000 in the last five years.  To facilitate placement opportunities for trained candidates, Skill India also organized 30+ Rojgar Melas across the country, where more than 1500 employers have shortlisted 60,000+ candidates across different job roles. In the last five years, comprehensive amendments to the Apprenticeship Act 1961 have been made and the number of establishments hiring apprentices has increased from 11,000 to 75,000 today.

Speaking about the campaign’s success, Shri Rajesh Agarwal, Joint Secretary & CVO, MSDE, said, “Skill India’ has been making steady progress towards transforming India as the ‘human resource capital’ of the world and in the past four years since its inception, various skill development initiatives and policy-driven accelerators have helped Indian youth develop job-relevant skills. Through this second edition of Fark Dikh Raha Hai campaign we aim to educate the youth about new age market relevant skills and motivate them to acquire a skill of their choice resulting in significant contribution towards the building of New India.”

Commenting on the campaign, Manish Kumar, MD & CEO, NSDC, said, “NSDC has collaborated with MSDE and multiple stakeholders to ensure that India’s youth are empowered with right skills; which could help them earn a better livelihood. The ‘Fark Dikh Raha Hai’ campaign 2.0 aims to showcase the achievement that Skill India has achieved over the years, more than one crore youth join the Skill India Mission every year to transform their lives. We are confident after the launch of our 1st campaign which received such an overwhelming response and now with Fark Dikh Raha Hai 2.0 we are hoping to raise awareness and aspirational value of vocational training in India even further.”

Prasoon Joshi, Chairman McCann Worldgroup, Asia Pacific and CEO & CCO McCann Worldgroup, India, called the campaign an important marker of the newfound belief in young India. “This campaign clearly communicates the changing attitude towards skill development in India and with the latest addition of the Skill India Anthem we are sure to extend our reach even further and motivate the young India to be a part of this noble mission” he said. “We are delighted to collaborate with MSDE and NSDC yet again and be a part of this noble mission to motivate the youth of the country and make them believe in their talent. The campaign portrays how by availing the benefits of various schemes under the Skill India program, they can hone their talent for a brighter future.”