Texas Instruments, AICTE, DST and IIM-B Join to Bring India Innovation Challenge Design Contest to Engineering Students

Texas Instruments India (TI India), All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the statutory body and a national-level council for technical education in India, Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Indian Institute of Management  Bangalore (IIMB) have joined hands to strengthen the innovation ecosystem, enhance skills and drive a start-up culture amongst engineering students by ensuring that India Innovation Challenge Design Contest (IICDC) is accessible to students even in remote corners of the country. IICDC is a national design contest for engineering students.

The announcement was made at the finals of IICDC 2018, coinciding with the announcement of this year’s top 10 winning teams. The 10 finalists will get an opportunity to take their start-up idea from the lab to the market, supported by a fund from DST of INR 4.94 Crore, incubation at NSRCEL, the innovation and entrepreneurship hub at IIM Bangalore, and technical mentorship from TI engineers along with access to TI tools and technology.  To-date, IICDC has incubated 20 start-ups.

SRM Institute of Science and Technology from Tamil Nadu won the Chairman Award for Technical Innovation on ‘Inkless Printing Technology’. A. P. Shah Institute of Technology from Maharashtra was the first runners up for their innovation ‘Solar Energy Harvesting for Wireless Sensor Node’ and Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College from Puducherry was adjudged second runners up award on their innovation ‘Mustard Seed Processor Machine’.

Congratulating the IICDC 2018 winners, Sanjay Srivastava, Director, TI India University Program said, “IICDC’s vision is to give students an opportunity to be innovators and entrepreneurs, launching path-breaking technology products and solving tough, real-world challenges. In 2018, IICDC reached more than 26,000 students from 1760 colleges and we received over 10,000 ideas! The diversity of students fuelled the diversity of ideas. For instance, several ideas focus on agriculture – a segment widely deprived of technology advances. Interestingly, more than 90% of participation comes from Tier II and Tier III towns. That’s the kind of grassroots innovation we want to drive through IICDC.”

Elaborating on the partnership with IICDC, Prof. Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE, said, “AICTE’s mission to develop robust technical institutions and promote a scientific mind-set is perfectly aligned with IICDC’s mission to strengthen technical innovation in India. We see students as India’s change-makers with the responsibility to drive cutting edge technological innovation. We understand that the next big idea can come from any corner of the country!  Our message to the student community is simple - no matter which college you study in or which pin code you reside in, if you have a powerful idea and a drive to make a difference, IICDC will give you an opportunity to achieve your goal.”

The last three editions of IICDC saw students file over 150 patents, and the numbers are increasing every year. Dr. Anita Gupta, Associate Head, DST, said, “We continue to partner with IICDC because it is a unique, powerful platform to drive student-led, tech-focused innovation. DST’s goal is to transform India to a global hub for innovation in science and technology. We also want to support innovation that can make an impact on the ground, tackling social, economic and environmental challenges. IICDC helps strengthen the innovation ecosystem by providing an opportunity to students to develop creative solutions for real world problems. Our seed funding to the winning teams aims to bring the best of these ideas to life.”

Professor Venkatesh Panchapagesan, Chair, NSRCEL at IIMB, said, “Though IIMB is not a technical institution, we believe strongly that we can aid in the creation of sustainable technical ventures through our expertise in developing businesses. Our collaboration with TI-DST in the last 4 years’ IICDC is a testimony to that. At NSRCEL, IIMB’s innovation and entrepreneurial centre, we have successfully incubated around 50 students to help shape their entrepreneurial ideas into start-ups.”

By forging partnerships with multiple stakeholders with far reaching influence in technical education, expertise in business and management, industry knowhow, IICDC aims to foster an innovation and entrepreneurial culture amongst engineering students in India, and to empower them to launch successful companies with a clear purpose to make the world a better place.

IICDC 2019 launch officially announced

TI India also announced the upcoming edition of TI India Innovation Challenge Design Contest (IICDC) 2019 which opens for registration from July 23, 2019 to August 30, 2019. Students can register their innovative ideas and participate in the contest through this link: https://innovate.mygov.in/iicdc2019/ 

Six Futuristic Technology Startups Power the NetApp Excellerator Cohort 4 Series 2019

NetApp, a leader in data management and hybrid cloud, has announced the graduation of NetApp Excellerator’s fourth cohort at a demo day event. NetApp Excellerator is the company’s flagship startup accelerator program. As part of the demo day, six technology startups – QuNu Labs,  SecurelyShare, Zappy.AI, Ecolibrium Energy, Eder AI and UniQreate, showcased their business models, market opportunity and projections to an eminent panel comprising of venture capitalists, industry leaders and NetApp top executives. Innovations ranging from quantum-resistant cryptographic systems, AI-based data extraction solutions, to smart predictive maintenance systems, and RPA (Robotic Process Automation) were presented by these entrepreneurs. This batch comprised early stage as well as mature startups, including an international startup, Zappy.AI, headquartered in the U.K.

So far NetApp Excellerator, a unique corporate accelerator program with a focus on data-driven technologies, has mentored 24 such startups through four cohorts. The NetApp team, as well as external mentors, coach these startups on data-driven technologies, platforms, tools, business acumen, and offers access to customer and investor connects. NetApp also provided an equity-free grant of $15,000 to each of the participating startups.

Ajeya Motaganahalli, Senior Director and Leader of NetApp Excellerator said, “Our vision with the NetApp Excellerator program has been to unleash greater possibilities and each edition reflects our commitment to speed up the delivery of advanced technologies. This demo day further validates our program’s strengths and is the start of a deeper engagement for enhanced business alignment in future cohorts. We envision aligning the next cohort with stronger go-to-market opportunities by funding proof-of-concepts.”

Marking another milestone for the program, Prakash Baskaran, Founder and CEO of SecurelyShare says, “Our flagship product Vault.Direct is now available on NetApp’s reference architecture. This strategic alliance will further improve our product and help us explore new ways to leverage NetApp technology.” With this, the NetApp Excellerator has formed eight strategic alliances through its cohorts. These include FirstHive, CardioTrack, BlobCity, SigTuple, Nanobi, Scalend and ZScore from the previous three cohorts.

The NetApp Excellerator Program alumni continue to have access to mentorship and go-to-market opportunities with NetApp. As a success story from the previous cohorts, Adya (an alumnus from the first cohort), recently got acquired by Qualys, a leading provider of cloud-based security and compliance solutions. Additionally, LightMetrics, provider of advanced video telematics (also an alumnus from the first cohort) secured a new series of funding.

Deepak Visweswaraiah, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, NetApp India commented, “We have understood some of the trends that are defining the B2B startup eco-system. Using this understanding, and our 25 years of data legacy, we are able to potentially redefine the direction of our startups.  ArchSaber, a graduate from the second cohort is being acquired and this is the second company from our alumni to be acquired. The success of the NetApp Excellerator program lies in our ability towards establishing the business and technology viability of the startups within a strong B2B ecosystem.”

NetApp Excellerator has now opened registrations for its fifth cohort. Startups with interests in the areas of hybrid cloud, AI, IOT, data management and adjacent technology domains are invited to apply. To know more, please visit http://startup.netapp.in/ and look us up with #NetAppExcellerator on social media.

1 QuNu Labs: A quantum-safe internet and cloud security company
2 SecurelyShare: Trusted, secure and intelligent platform for delivery of sensitive data
3 Zappy.AI: Cognitive Robotic Process Automation (Implement RPA 30X faster)
4 Ecolibrium Energy: Industrial IOT - Empowers enterprises to improve asset efficiency using predictive analytics
5 Eder AI: Helping enterprises scale AI adoption securely, with data privacy
6 UniQreate: Smart data extraction from documents

More specifics of the 6 cohorts passing out on July 23, 2019 include:

QuNu Labs: QuNu Labs helps CXOs who need to protect their critical data assets in transit to accelerate their transition to Quantum safe data security solutions by building hardware products that deliver unconditional data security.

SecurelyShare: SecurelyShare helps Wealth Managers/Bankers improve customer experience with a mobile app that empowers their customers to receive, organise and share personal information with convenience, security and privacy controls.

Zappy.ai: Zappy is a desktop application that helps operations, accounting and back office employees doing manual business processes automate these processes within a minute without any technical knowledge.

Ecolibrium Energy: Ecolibrium Energy is an Industrial IoT company that empowers enterprises to improve asset efficiency using predictive analytics.

Eder AI: Eder AI helps Enterprise tech leaders to collaborate with third party solution providers in leveraging AI on sensitive data, thereby making privacy, AI and policy work together.

UniQreate: UniQreate helps business users of Data Provider organizations automate high diversity data extraction with intelligent workflow and adaptive learning system.

Analysts to Explore Emerging and Disruptive Tech at IT Symposium/Xpo, Nov 3-7, 2019 in Barcelona, Spain

Wireless technology plays a key role in today’s communications, and new forms of it will become central to emerging technologies including robots, drones, self-driving vehicles and new medical devices over the next five years. Gartner, Inc. has identified the top 10 wireless technology trends for enterprise architecture (EA) and technology innovation leaders.

“Business and IT leaders need to be aware of these technologies and trends now,” said Nick Jones, distinguished research vice president at Gartner. “Many areas of wireless innovation will involve immature technologies, such as 5G and millimeter wave, and may require skills that organizations currently don’t possess. EA and technology innovation leaders seeking to drive innovation and technology transformation should identify and pilot innovative and emerging wireless technologies to determine their potential and create an adoption roadmap.”

The top 10 wireless technology trends are:

1. Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi has been around a long time and will remain the primary high-performance networking technology for homes and offices through 2024. Beyond simple communications, Wi-Fi will find new roles — for example, in radar systems or as a component in two-factor authentication systems.

2. 5G Cellular

5G cellular systems are starting to be deployed in 2019 and 2020. The complete rollout will take five to eight years. In some cases, the technology may supplement Wi-Fi, as it is more cost-effective for high-speed data networking in large sites, such as ports, airports and factories. “5G is still immature, and initially, most network operators will focus on selling high-speed broadband. However, the 5G standard is evolving and future iterations will improve 5G in areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and low-latency applications,” Mr. Jones added.

3. Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) Wireless

Both conventional and self-driving cars will need to communicate with each other, as well as with road infrastructure. This will be enabled by V2X wireless systems. In addition to exchanging information and status data, V2X can provide a multitude of other services, such as safety capabilities, navigation support and infotainment.

“V2X will eventually become a legal requirement for all new vehicles. But even before this happens, we expect to see some vehicles incorporating the necessary protocols,” said Mr. Jones. “However, those V2X systems that use cellular will need a 5G network to achieve their full potential.”

4. Long-Range Wireless Power

First-generation wireless power systems have not delivered the revolutionary user experience that manufacturers had hoped for. In terms of the user experience, the need to place devices on a specific charger point is only slightly better than charging via cable. However, several new technologies can charge devices at ranges of up to one meter or over a table or desk surface.

“Long-range wireless power could eventually eliminate power cables from desktop devices such as laptops, monitors and even kitchen appliances. This will allow for completely new designs of work and living spaces,” Mr. Jones said.

5. Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) Networks

LPWA networks provide low-bandwidth connectivity for IoT applications in a power-efficient way to support things that need a long battery life. They typically cover very large areas, such as cities or even entire countries. Current LPWA technologies include Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), Long Term Evolution for Machines (LTE-M), LoRa and Sigfox. The modules are relatively inexpensive, so IoT manufacturers can use them to enable small, low-cost, battery-powered devices such as sensors and trackers.

6. Wireless Sensing

The absorption and reflection of wireless signals can be used for sensing purposes. Wireless sensing technology can be used, for example, as an indoor radar system for robots and drones. Virtual assistants can also use radar tracking to improve their performance when multiple people are speaking in the same room.

“Sensor data is the fuel of the IoT. Accordingly, new sensor technologies enable innovative types of applications and services,” Mr. Jones said. “Systems including wireless sensing will be integrated in a multitude of use cases, ranging from medical diagnostics to object recognition and smart home interaction.”

7. Enhanced Wireless Location Tracking

A key trend in the wireless domain is for wireless communication systems to sense the locations of devices connected to them. High-precision tracking to around one-meter accuracy will be enabled by the forthcoming IEEE 802.11az standard and is intended to be a feature of future 5G standards.

“Location is a key data point needed in various business areas, such as consumer marketing, supply chain and the IoT. For example, high-precision location tracking is essential for applications involving indoor robots and drones,” said Mr. Jones.

8. Millimeter Wave Wireless

Millimeter wave wireless technology operates at frequencies in the range of 30 to 300 gigahertz, with wavelengths in the range of 1 to 10 millimeters. The technology can be used by wireless systems such as Wi-Fi and 5G for short-range, high-bandwidth communications (for example, 4K and 8K video streaming).

9. Backscatter Networking

Backscatter networking technology can send data with very low power consumption. This feature makes it ideal for small networked devices. It will be particularly important in applications where an area is already saturated with wireless signals and there is a need for relatively simple IoT devices, such as sensors in smart homes and offices.

10. Software-Defined Radio (SDR)

SDR shifts the majority of the signal processing in a radio system away from chips and into software. This enables the radio to support more frequencies and protocols. The technology has been available for many years, but has never taken off as it is more expensive than dedicated chips. However, Gartner expects SDR to grow in popularity as new protocols emerge. As older protocols are rarely retired, SDR will enable a device to support legacy protocols, with new protocols simply being enabled via software upgrade.

Inauguration of Atal Tinkering Lab at Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir, Bangalore

In the year 2017, NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission announced that 1500 schools in India will get Atal Tinkering Labs, to promote a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation across the Indian Education System. Since then, Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) have extended to over 98% smart cities and 93% plus of the districts (655-plus districts). Joining this big innovative movement is Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir, Bangalore-East.

The school inaugurated an Atal Tinkering Lab and opened its gate to development and innovative learning. The lab is established by one of the leading companies in this field, Skyrim Innovation. Skyrim Innovation is a technology company headquartered in Bangalore and specializes in establishing Atal Tinkering Labs under the guidelines of Niti Aayog.  Skyrim Innovation is making a significant impact by bringing change in applied education, technology-enabled agriculture and ultra-modern infrastructure through their expertise in respective fields and advancements in current technologies. The company is best known for working with both government and private institutions in hardware and software products, ideation, design thinking, installation, integration and commissioning with end-to-end solutions.

The lab was inaugurated by Dr. Unnat Pandit, Head of Operations, Atal Innovation Mission. Dr. Pandit highlighted that the objective of this initiative was to foster curiosity, creativity, and imagination in young minds; and inculcate skills such as design mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing, etc.

The inauguration was also attended by Mrs. Manila Carvalho, Chairperson, Bangalore Sahodaya School Complex and Principal, DPS East, Dr. Reshma Ganesh, Principal, Sri Sri Ravishankar Vidya Mandir, Bangalore East, and Mr. Santosh Kumar Kumar Mishra, CEO, Skyrim Innovation.

ATLs are innovation play workspaces for students between Class 6 to 12, stimulating innovations combining science and technology and is here to change the face of education, one lab at a time.

AVerMedia Starter Pack Now Available in India for Beginners

AVerMedia Technologies, Inc., the preeminent name in digital multimedia technology, has been targeting streamers and gamers that are customized to suit the needs of the Indian customers, with its portfolio of capture cards, webcams and other accessories. Over the past decade, live streaming has risen from relative obscurity to the status of cultural phenomenon. Likewise, broadcasting live videos content is becoming increasingly popular for businesses and gamers alike. Keeping in mind the requirements of Indian customers, AVerMedia recently launched YouTuber starter pack, a combo (Live Gamer MINI, AM310 USB-Mic and Webcam) Live Streamer 311(BO311).

Live Streamer Cam313 (PW313)
Most videos are created at home, so the first gadget any aspiring video creator needs is a high-definition webcam. The built-in webcams on laptops are decent, typically offering 720p video quality, but the Live Streamer Cam 313 outperforms them by offering the ability to record in 1080p, which is considered the baseline for web videos.The Live streamer Cam 313 comes with two built-in microphones (mono) and a flexible, 360-degree swivel design. A well-thought privacy shutter provides users with a peace of mind against potential prying eyes of hackers; the flexible mounting clip with rubber pads enables the camera to be mounted firmly either on top of the monitor or on a tripod. When the camera is coupled with RECentral 4 - AVerMedia's new recording and streaming software - user can access exclusive features such as fair skin/wrinkle reduction camera effects, portrait filters (using facial recognition) as well as other filters.

Live Streamer MINI (GC311)
A decade ago, sharing gameplay with friends would involve meeting at a place to play. Today, one can stream game right from couch and have millions of people watch you stream to victory.The world of video games is constantly evolving. And this includes other components besides the games. Now, die-hard gamers can share their gaming skills with the world right from their couch.The popular capture card option out there is the Live Gamer MINI. The Live Gamer MINI, pocket friendly capture card delivers 100% zero latency Full HD pass-through, which helps to enjoy the gameplay as it is meant to be. It comes with UVC technology (USB Video Class) which standardizes video drivers across Windows PC. All users have to do is plug the capture card to the PC and it'll be ready for recording and streaming. Feature like STREAM ENGINE lets users record the gameplay backups using the 3rd party software directly to storage without putting any load on the CPU. User-friendly AVerMedia's proprietary RECentral software unleashes Live Gamer MINI's full potential with great functions like multi-stream, rich overlays, chroma key and more.

AM310 USB Microphone
Audio is half the video, and a good microphone is crucial. Portable devices have built-in microphones, but they do not make the cut, especially during the streaming. AM310 is designed to favor live streamers who crave for studio quality sounds. This model enables to record clearer, richer and warmer sound which is ideal for podcasting, streaming, gaming and more. AM310 is a perfect-fit solution/device to immerse your audience and enrich your YouTube & Twitch channels, by adding glamour to your voice.AM310 comes with 3.5mm headphone jack and toggle switch upraises/uplifts the ease of control of either listening to what is being recorded or what's playing on your computer/device. With driver-free design suitable for PCs and MACs, setting-up/installing AM310 is hassle-free.

Price, Availability, and Warranty
Live Streamer 311 comes with official MRP of Rs25, 000 carrying a warranty of 1 year. But the product available through MD COMPUTER offers a large discount of over 22%in India.

Entrepreneur India Felicitates Shailendra Naidu as the “Entrepreneur of the year” in Money Services

Shailendra Naidu, CEO of global financial technology company - OBOPAY, has been felicitated as the “Entrepreneur of the year” in the Money Services category. Shailendra has been recognized for his exemplary leadership and entrepreneurial achievements in transforming OBOPAY from a single product backend tech player to a multi-product hi-tech entity. The award was conferred by the renowned Indian film maker Muzaffar Ali and Sumant Sinha, the current Chairman and Managing Director of ReNew Power, India's largest renewable energy company.

Under Shailendra’s able leadership, OBOPAY now has a strong play in FMCG digital money solutions. He has been in instrumental in the success of OBOPAY and enabling a significant market play in India, one the largest emerging markets in the world. His ability to promote innovative solutions and digitization across all the industry segments and further promoting financial inclusion within the country, gave him this prestigious recognition. The winners were chosen from a strong list of contenders. 

On receiving the award, Shailendra Naidu, CEO, OBOPAY, said, “It is an honour to receive the prestigious “Entrepreneur of the year” award which is a testimony to India’s new age entrepreneurial spirit across the length and breadth of the startup ecosystem. The award reiterates the trust in our vision at OBOPAY and encourages us to further set higher standards in financial technology industry through breakthrough solutions in mobile payment and technology, distribution management system, consulting and many other such services.”

An alumnus of the prestigious London Business School, Shailendra has progressively established OBOPAY as a leader in digitizing the direct payments and supply chain ecosystem for enterprises ever since he took the charge in 2016. Under his inspirational leadership, OBOPAY has evolved as a world-class cutting-edge technology player bringing measurable and sustainable difference to financial inclusion within the country.

Entrepreneur India aims to recognize and felicitate Achievers, Innovators and Suppliers, who have contributed significantly towards the development of entrepreneurship in India. The awards were given to professional entrepreneurs who have played a key role in driving technological innovations; or have been a driving force in changing regulation and standards; an opinion leader; a turnaround business leader and someone who has been an influential voice in the national media for consumer and business services in the country.

Headquartered in Bangalore, OBOPAY is a global financial technology company providing enterprise solutions for Telecom companies, BFSIs and companies with a dominant supply chain focus. With a successful run in global markets, OBOPAY is focusing on India as a key market for its next phase of growth. Key offerings will include wallet services and payment solutions for supply chains.

The company offers enterprises an integrated processing platform that is capable of linking multiple participants into a transaction network. OBOPAY is digitising the whole payment structures and providing technology overview as a solution to enterprises.

The key current clientele of the company is spread across 11 plus countries and 3 continents - Asia, Africa, North America – and includes brands like Airtel, Telecel, Azam Group etc. The key driver at OBOPAY is the vision to excel in service and products and commitment to help more and more clients, customers and partners to gain from us.

In 2019, OBOPAY was awarded with the prestigious “Financial Institution of the Year” accolade for its innovative solutions in promoting digitization across all the industry segments and further promoting financial inclusion within the country, especially in tier 2 and 3 markets. 

Travel Tours Introduces Spectacular “Monsoon Holiday Packages” for the Perfect Getaway

Travel Tours, the flagship leisure-travel brand of FCM Travel Solutions – Indian subsidiary of Flight Centre Travel Group, Australia – has come up with its latest offerings for monsoon 2019 with international and domestic holiday packages for travel enthusiasts. Though traditionally considered to be a lean travel period, monsoon travel holds a permanent place in the annual tourism calendar now and Travel Tours has curated an extensive variety of packages and destinations for monsoon retreat.

Monsoon travel enthusiasts who are keen on exploring international getaways can visit Bali – An abode of beautiful beaches and verdant countryside; the emirate of Dubai in UAE - known for luxury shopping, ultramodern architecture and a lively nightlife scene; Australia - The land of Koalas and Kangaroos; Singapore – for an unforgettable 360° view of Singapore Skyline from the Sands Sky Park, located at the top of Marina Bay Sands Hotel buildings. The packages are priced* between INR 7900/- to 47600/-*.

Leisure travellers who look forward to discovering ‘Incredible India’ during the rains can explore Rajasthan - Take a breath-taking boat tour over the picturesque Lake Pichola to admire the royal buildings around the lake; Andaman & Nicobar Islands - Head to Havelock Island on board cruise connecting the two islands; get mesmerized by Ooty and Kodaikanal - Visit the Doddabeta Peak which is the highest peak of Ooty from where you will get a panoramic view of the neighbouring regions; Pondicherry - Popularly known as the French quarters of South India. Packages are priced* between INR 5800/- and 23,740/-.

*T&Cs apply

A few Monsoon 2019 packages by Travel Tours

Beautiful Bali

4 Nights
INR 7,900*
Includes DISCOUNT OF INR 3000* PER PERSON
Simply Australia

6 Nights
INR 47,600*
FREE UPGARDE FROM 3 STAR HOTELS TO 4 STAR HOTELS (SUBJECT TO AVAILABILITY)

Glimpse of Rajasthan

4 Nights
INR 17,350*
Includes accommodation, meals & sightseeing
*per person on twin sharing basis

Discover Andaman

5 Nights
INR 22,150*
Includes accommodation & meals
*per person on twin sharing basis

Mesmerizing Ooty with Kodaikanal

4 Nights
INR 14,650*
Includes accommodation, meals & sightseeing
*per person on twin sharing basis