Edtech Startup BasicFirst Appoints AjayDev Singh as Marketing Head and Chief Digital Strategist

BasicFirst – a personalized e-learning platform – today announced the appointment of industry specialist AjayDev Singh as Marketing Head and Chief Digital Strategist

Mr Singh has held leadership roles at top multinationals such as Reliance ADA Group, Percept Ltd and SVG Media (now Dentsu Aegis Network). An alumnus of The Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Delhi, and Institute of Management Technology, Ghaziabad, he possesses decades of experience in Marketing.

On Mr Singh’s appointment, Randhir Kumar, Founder and Chief Mentor – BasicFirst said, “As an e-learning brand, we are committed to helping students achieve academic goals by leveraging the unique combination of content-based learning and doubt clearing. Ajay Dev's experience in the mainline and digital domains will be conducive to our growth, accelerating BasicFirst’s presence in the e-learning space.”

Elucidating his plans for BasicFirst, AjayDev Singh said, “I am excited about the opportunity for heading an emerging ed-tech startup’s marketing unit, especially in challenging conditions. While nurturing the brand, we will be pursuing a long-term strategy of consolidation and growth. We are looking at 50 million installs and 5 million paid subscribers once the product trials and adoptions through marketing efforts across traditional and digital media, including Omni-channel platforms, are complete.”

Mr Singh believes digital campaigns leverage data to the benefit of the business, ensuring top-of-the-mind recall whenever the target audience seeks blended learning. BasicFirst is offering a bouquet of services to help students by promoting holistic development in multi-faceted areas.

About BasicFirst Learning OPC Pvt Ltd

BasicFirst Learning OPC Pvt Ltd is an aptitude-based personalized e-learning initiative that uses Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Science to create a platform for adaptive learning online. Founded in January 2017 by Randhir Kumar with a vision to make quality education available in the remotest locations of India, BasicFirst caters to various academic needs of class 6th to 12th students. BasicFirst employs experienced teachers and professionals from top colleges of India, available 24x7, to design teaching modules assisting students from these classes to ace school, Board and competitive exams, including CBSE, ICSE, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Bihar while offering multiple courses designed for competitive exams such as JEE Main, JEE Advance, NEET, AIIMS, NTSE and Olympiads.

BasicFirst clears students’ doubts within 32 minutes or less via chat in the app. It equips students with essential communication skills, aptitude, subject competency and foundational knowledge to excel in academic goals, crack competitive exams and pave their way for a better career. Gradually, BasicFirst plans to spread its affordable services across the farthest regions to make digital academic support universally accessible.

MIT World Peace University Commences a 4 – Day Conference on Eradication of Biological and Chemical Weapons

MIT World Peace University which is one of India’s leading education institute, announced the inauguration of a 4 -Day International virtual Conference on a burning issue which is Eradication of biological and chemical weapons. 

MIT World Peace University which staunchly believes in undertaking initiatives that aid in World Peace has consciously decided to spread awareness through this conference.  The conference aims to bring together all the nations together to build a mechanism to end the threat of bio warfare by establishing a legal discourse towards curbing research and development of such weapons. 

Relevant to the current times where the global pandemic COVID has shaken the world with its severe effects and continues to threaten countries even with medical advanced technology.  There have been multiple speculations which have been raised regarding the origin of the virus, some claiming it to be a trigger for a biological warfare.  Biological Weapons Convention and Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons which are the two important bodies which are tasked to getting rid of weapons of mass destruction, unfortunately do not hold an authority to abolish any decision. 

The four-day conference will witness eminent stalwarts from various fields deliberating discussing and sharing their expertise on different aspects of bio warfare and to jointly contribute towards creating a legal framework.  Some of the prominent personalities include by UNESCO Chair Holder Prof. Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad - Founder President, MIT World Peace University, Founder Executive President, WPC, MAEER’s MIT Group of Institutions, Hon’ble Justice K. G. Balakrishnan - Former Chief Justice of India, Former Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC),  Hon’ble Dr. Rajendra Singh - Well Known Water Conservationist (Waterman of India) & Chairman, Tarun Bharat Sangh, Hon’ble GVV Sarma, , IAS, Member secretary , National disaster management authority Government of India ,Hon’ble, Dr.A. Velumani - Founder, Chairman and Managing Director, Thyrocare Technologies Ltd. & Former Scientist, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Founder and Managing Director, Nuclear Healthcare Ltd. (NHL), Hon’ble Shri. Arif Mohammed Khan - Hon'ble Governor of Kerala, Former Cabinet Minister, Energy and Civil Aviation, Govt. of India, Hon’ble Prof. Dr. Atanu Basu - Director Grade Scientist G, ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Department of Health Research, Min of Health & FW, Govt of India & Adjunct Professor, School of Life Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi. The conference comprises of a marathon of diverse sessions focusing on various facets of the Bio/Chem warfare.

During the inaugural ceremony Rahul V. Karad, Vice President – MAEER’s MIT Group, Executive President –MIT WPU, founder – BCS, MITSOG, NTC, NWP, Sarpanch Sandsad said “There is a pressing need to create a global voice for all nations to work in harmony in order to develop human safety. Through this conference our agenda is to bring together all the nations under one umbrella to evolve a mechanism to eradicate bio/ chemical – weapons and also to establish a legal discourse towards the restriction of the research and development of bio-chem warfare”.

Speaking on the inaugural ceremony Dr. N T Rao, Vice chancellor, MIT-WPU said “In this International Conference various intellectual minds have come together to make an appeal to the United Nations to destroy this impending threat caused by chemical and biological weapons. At MIT WPU, believers of world peace collectively speak, deliberate and come to a conclusion and pass the resolution for the betterment of the world “.

Speaking on the occasion Pravin V Patil, CEO, Centre for Industry – Academia Partnership, MIT- WPU said “We are truly overwhelmed to see the support and response from the people, till now we have had over 5000 registrations across the globe.  We are glad to organize this International conference as it is a platform bringing together global spokespeople to discuss the gravity of Bio warfare”.

Through this conference an effort will be made to awaken the youth globally to the dangers of such bio-hazards, which should be condemned with an intent of consolidating the message of ‘safe and secure mankind’.  The conference will also focus on the need to address the issue of preparedness for future so that we can safeguard ourselves against such global adversities.

For further details on the international conference and registration do log on to www.ebcw2020.com 

C-CAMP, Applied Materials India Assist Biotech Start-Ups to Increase Availability of Indigenous Medical Supplies

C-CAMP and Applied Materials India Private Limited (Applied Materials India) announced financial and technical support to two biotech start-ups in order to fast-track near-to-market technologies in the battle against COVID-19.

The two start-ups, Coeo Labs and Biomoneta, incubated under the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), an initiative of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), and were chosen by C-CAMP’s COVID-19 Innovations Deployment Accelerator (C-CIDA) launched on 25th March 2020 to identify and help accelerate near deployment-ready solutions that have the potential to fight the pandemic.

C-CIDA received more than 1100 innovation submissions and after a rigorous assessment, selected 31 innovations that have high potential to help battle against COVID-19 as C-CIDA Stars for Impact. With this, C-CIDA has built a diverse portfolio of innovations ranging from diagnostics and novel therapeutic approaches to air and surface sanitization and many more categories.

Of the 31 innovations identified as “C-CIDA Stars for Impact”, Applied Materials India selected two start-ups working in the following high-priority areas:

Assisted Respiratory Technologies: Coeo Labs, for its non-invasive Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) product, Saans ProAir Sanitization Technologies: Biomoneta, for its air decontamination product, ZeBox

 

The Applied Science & Technology Research Accelerator (ASTRA) provided an avenue for multiple start-ups incubated by C-CAMP to explore potential collaborations and/or investments with Applied Materials India. In continuation of these efforts and to help battle the COVID-19 crisis, Applied Materials India will provide technical expertise and financial assistance to C-CIDA, Coeo Labs and Biomoneta.

Speaking on the funding, Srinivas Satya, Country President and Managing Director, Applied Materials India said, “It is heartening to see the passion start-ups bring to our nation’s battle against COVID-19.  Many of these entrepreneurs have brilliant solutions and need help bringing the technology to scale.  As a company with deep technical expertise and a long history of supporting our communities, we believe we must do all we can to accelerate the development of innovations that can strengthen the country’s response to COVID-19. In a time when infrastructure is a challenge and access to medical relief is limited, we are pleased to collaborate with indigenous start-ups that can help pave the way to a healthier future in India.”

Speaking on the collaboration, Dr. Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO and Director, C-CAMP said, “We are delighted to get this support from Applied Materials India for our C-CIDA, where our mission is to bring near deployment-ready innovations to the field. C-CIDA has had a significant impact across India and this support further fosters our efforts. We look forward to working closely with Applied Materials India to deliver impactful innovations together.”

C-CAMP is one of the flagship incubators set up under the DBT and a member of the Bangalore Life Sciences Cluster (BLiSC), with a mandate to enable cutting-edge life sciences research and innovation and promote life sciences entrepreneurship. In 2019, C-CAMP forged a close collaboration with Applied Materials India to help accelerate time-to-market of promising biotech start-ups in India. Applied Materials India has also been engaging with the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, a program under the DBT, across various levels since 2019.

To find out more about these companies in India who are part of new wave of health tech start-ups aiming to create innovative solutions that are also affordable, please visit the Coeo Labs website for Saans Pro and the Biomoneta website for ZeBox.

Coders Turn COVID-19 Fighters at TechGig Code Gladiators 2020 Coding Contest

Hackathons

* TechGig Code Gladiators has 15,617+ registrations at two hackathons focussed on limiting COVID-19 pandemic impact

* Guinness book record holder event, Code Gladiators is hosting its seventh edition this year with more than 2lakh+ registrations 

* Code Gladiators 2020 is hosting five hackathons in total, all focussed on new-age technologies like Machine Learning, RPA, Cloud 

Will a computer programme ease the COVID-19 crisis? Going by the heaps of ideas suggested at TechGig Code Gladiators 2020, the answer could very well be - a ‘yes’. 

With the world gripped in the COVID-19 crisis for more than 100 days now, it’s the right time for the coders to join hands with the frontline health staff and pharma researchers to keep the indomitable Coronavirus at bay. 

TechGig Code Gladiators 2020 has recorded more than 15,617+ registrations in two hackathons focussed on finding tech-based solutions to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. They are IBM- 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge and Microsoft HackOnAzure. Microsoft HackOnAzure is solely focussed on finding COVID-19 solutions, while IBM- 2020 Call for Code Global Challenge has two tracks – COVID-19 & Climate Change. The other hackathons at Code Gladiators 2020 include UiPath RPA Hackathon, Automated Multi-Label Classification by Times Internet and the Open Coding Round where the participants can submit codes in any of the 50 programming languages offered.

Participation is free at https://www.techgig.com/codegladiators 

Code Gladiators - the Guinness world record holder programming event - is hosting its seventh edition this year. Code Gladiators 2020 edition kicked off on March 23, 2020, and has recorded 2,35,375+ registrations till now. This edition is particularly interesting because the COVID-19 lockdown has forced most professionals to work from home, giving them more time to participate in this globally acclaimed hackathon.  

TechGig surveyed to understand the participants’ experience at the present hackathon, where more than 68% coders affirmed that they could concentrate well on the hackathons owing to the lockdown. About 62% of participants also said that they were excited about the event’s upcoming online mega grand finale since this is the first time that the event will conclude with a virtual finale. 

 

Elaborating on the Code Gladiators 2020 hackathons, Sanjay Goyal, Business Head, TimesJobs and TechGig said, “Every year TechGig Code Gladiators resolves to find solutions to the real-world business problems posed by the participating IT companies. This year, we found an opportunity amid the despair. Presently when most countries are battling the COVID-19 outbreak, Code Gladiators presents a unique opportunity to coders to find a tech-based solution to limit the virus impact. The other hackathons at the contest are equally interesting where coders are challenged to solve complex business problems using a trending technology such as RPA (Robotic Process Automation).”

Citing some of the solutions as ‘very promising’, Sanjay Goyal added that TechGig’s team and the entire IT industry is keenly waiting for some of these solutions to take shape. The first round of registrations at Code Gladiators 2020 is presently on and will conclude on June 22, 2020.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Enables Access to Clean Drinking in Mandya

CSR 

* Sets- up two water purification units in Maddur Taluk in Mandya District

* Two more water units’ expected in Magadi and Ramanagara

* Installed a total of 41units at villages in Karnataka includes, one each in Varanasi and Vaishali to cater to the drinking water requirement of villages in India.

* All the water purification units have a 1000 liter per hour capacity accompanied with a minimum 6-stage purification system

* Benefitting over 260,000 villagers covering 250 villages across India

In its mission to enrich lives in the communities, Toyota Kirloskar Motor today inaugurated two community-based water purification units in Maddur Taluk in Mandya District. In addition, two more units will be inaugurated by end of this month in Ramanagara District. With this, Toyota Kirloskar Motor has installed a total of 41 units in and around its manufacturing unit in Ramanagara in addition to two units set up at Vishali and Varansi. 

The center was inaugurated and handover to the village representatives by Mr. DC Thammanna, MLA and Ex -Transport Minister Government of Karnataka in the presence of TKM officials.

The newly set up unit has a 1000 liter per hour capacity accompanied with a minimum 6-stage purification system. The advanced machine is equipped with a real time water reporting system that will provide data on Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), PH value contents for delivering the high standards of purified water to the community members. The unit is also fitted with multiple water dispensing system to address congestion. In addition, the installed unit is equipped with solar system, power backup, wastewater management. TKM has also entered into a 15 years maintenance agreement with agency to ensure longevity of the project.

Commenting on the new unit launch, Mr. Vikram Gulati, Country Head & Senior Vice President, External Affairs, Public Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility & Corporate Governance, Toyota Kirloskar motor said, “At TKM, our guiding principle has always been to improve lives, and act on day-to-day life essential issues. We want to enrich the society with endeavors that are relevant, self-sustainable and meaningful. Therefore, our emphasis is to always secure the strong support of local communities so that each initiative can attain good sustainability. When we studied our neighboring community, the biggest threat was the access to treated water. Hence, in 2013 we harnessed our CSR program to invest in the creation of adequate infrastructure to increase access to safe and affordable drinking water. Today, we are humbled to announce, that we have touched over 2,60,000 in 250 villages.

It also gives us immense satisfaction that our CSR initiatives are meaningful and have so far touched the lives of more than 14,00,000 people with a commitment to bring in socio-economic development. With our continued commitment towards these causes we hope to continue to make a meaningful difference in the lives of people.”

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. DC Thammanna, MLA and Ex -Transport Minister Government of Karnataka said, “As responsible citizens, ensuring the health, safety and hygiene of the communities is of utmost importance. The Government, local authorities & Corporates must come together in understanding and catering to the critical needs of the neighboring community. Access to safe drinking water is a fundamental human right and a major cause of worry. By setting up these water units, Toyota has made a significant contribution to address this problem. I strongly believe that with the support of companies like Toyota, we will be able to make more and more villages free from such indispensable issues and aid them for a better tomorrow.”

Starting 2001, CSR has been an integral part of TKM’s philosophy. The voluntary initiatives taken up by TKM and our employees focus primarily on scalability and sustainability. The activities revolve around five main themes of Education, Environment, Health & Hygiene, Road Safety and Skill Development. These themes are aligned on the need of the community at large and national priorities with the aim to consistently work to adopt outcome and impact-oriented approach in all our social projects to ensure.

In the areas of Health & Hygiene, TKM has taken series of initiatives to counter the growing concerns around insufficient sanitation facilities in government schools and lack of adequate training among school children. TKM has pledged its support to the ‘Swachh Bharat campaign.’ Under this initiative, TKM has constructed 907 school sanitation units in Ramanagara district in Karnataka [includes 125 units are located in Varanasi and 125 units in Vaishali in Bihar].  Around 29,406 girl children are benefitted from this program.

Recognizing the need for a new approach, TKM also initiated the ABCD project with a focus on bringing in a behavioral change. The Project ABCD (A Behavioral Change Demonstration) not only aims at achieving 100% school sanitation by increasing awareness, it also promoters dignity and privacy for the girl child by upgrading existing unhygienic school toilets to usable condition as well as to promote learning and retention among school children, teachers as well as the community members.  Under this program, a special initiative of motivating community to construct individual household sanitation units was undertaken and more than 10,754 individual household units have been constructed and 92 villages were declared Open Defecation Free villages.

75F Launches Epidemic ModeTM to Make Workplaces Safe and Healthy During the COVID 19 Crisis

As offices prepare to reopen across India, buildings are the new front in the fight against COVID-19. Today, 75F announced 75F Epidemic ModeTM, a new HVAC software sequence that ensure commercial buildings are healthier while keeping employees and customers safe. The system features various components such as indoor air flushes, where post working hours the entire air within the premises is replaced with fresh air from outside and during office hours ventilation from outside is increased to limit movement of airborne particles and reuse of indoor air. All these are based on the latest guidance from scientists, government organizations, and global industry leaders such as ISHRAE which has been adopted by the Indian Government, ASHRAE and the CDC.

Recent studies show the spread of COVID-19 appears to be occurring through airborne transmission of aerosols, particles 1-5 microns in size which cannot be reliably filtered out using a MERV-13 or HEPA filter. While much of the focus is on droplets 100-1000 microns in size produced by coughing or sneezing, a large quantity of aerosolized infectious particles are also produced, and are more likely to be produced by asymptomatic individuals or those who do not know they are infected simply from breathing or speaking. A recent study showed that more than 1000 of these virus-containing aerosols are emitted every minute of speaking, more proof that without dilution ventilation from outside air, buildings have ahigh risk of viral build-up and exposure.

In response to this, various organisations such as ISHRAE (Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers), ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-conditioning Engineers) and the CDC (Centre for Disease Control) have released new guidelines for the operation and control of HVAC systems to reduce disease transmission from infectious airborne particles and ensure a safe and healthy workplace.

The 75F Epidemic ModeTM achieves the directives through its specific application profiles; Smart PurgeTM and Smart Enhance VentilationTM.

75F Smart Purge

75F’s Smart Purge application profile works in pre- and post-occupancy settings and fully adheres to ISHRAE, ASHRAE recommendations to prevent re-circulation of air and to purge the air before and after occupancy.

75F Smart Enhanced Ventilation

This profile ensures the indoor environment remains as safe as possible during a building’s occupied period and reduces risk of infection from aerosolized particle.

Apart from minimizing viral loads in buildings the 75F Epidemic ModeTM also delivers significant energy savings. Increasing ventilation from 20% outside air to 90% outside air can normally lead to a high energy bill, but with the 75F Epidemic Mode profiles, concentration of infectious airborne particles is reduced while energy consumption is minimized

“The world is in the midst of a pandemic with so many unknowns, where the brightest minds are developing innovative ways to modify their businesses and 75F Epidemic Mode does that for the commercial building industry,” said Deepinder Singh, CEO and Founder of 75F.

“Being able to give companies and their employees some peace of mind that their facilities managers are taking the initiative to make their environments safe and healthy is extremely important and we believe will become the norm even when the outbreak is over”, adds Gaurav Burman, APAC President of 75F.

Epidemic ModeTM is updated by 75F as guidelines from these organisations evolve or new data emerges. This means it offers the most current sequences that minimize operating expense and viral transmission, while improving indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy efficiency. Furthermore, 75F Epidemic ModeTM does not require any manual programming and there is no risk of equipment damage from running the system outside typical parameters.

Apart from minimizing operating expenses the 75F Epidemic ModeTM also delivers significant energy savings. Increasing ventilation from 20% outside air to 90% outside air can normally lead to a high energy bill, but with the 75F Epidemic Mode profiles, concentration of infectious airborne particles is reduced while energy consumption is minimized.

75F offers the only system on the market today currently implementing these healthy building measures, which are available free of charge to all customers in office buildings, retail businesses, schools, restaurants, and apartment buildings. Once the pandemic is controlled, 75F technology will allow facility managers to easily, and remotely, disable these measures, with a return to 75F's award-winning algorithms to improve the comfort of occupants.  

Copyright Clearance Center Partners with Editage to Offer Research Promotion Solutions to Authors through RightsLink

Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), a leader in advancing copyright, accelerating knowledge, and powering innovation, announces a partnership with Editage, the flagship brand of Cactus Communications (CACTUS), a technology company accelerating scientific advancement, to offer its Research Promotion Solutions for authors through the growing community of RightsLink for Scientific Communications publishers. 

As scholarly publishers diversify revenue streams due to changing market dynamics, it’s imperative they protect and strengthen relationships with influential and emerging authors. This strategic collaboration between CCC and Editage gives RightsLink publishers the immediate ability to offer high-impact research promotion solutions to authors at the time of manuscript acceptance without incurring additional overhead.

In the increasingly competitive world of scholarly research, publishers seek creative, cost-effective ways to expand the range of services for their authors as a means to build loyalty and ensure a continuous stream of submissions. Publishing in a prestigious journal is important to building an author’s brand, and authors must also find ways to build visibility for their research as funders and institutions look at new ways to assess research impact. With this partnership, an author whose manuscript has been accepted by a RightsLink publisher can order infographics, plain-language summaries, video, and news stories through RightsLink from the science communication experts at Editage in order to support the promotion of the research upon publication.

“An author needs to adopt the mindset that publishing a paper is only the beginning of making one’s research results visible to the world, and that they need to promote their findings to peers, adjacent peers, the public, and policymakers in order to maximize societal impact,” said Donald Samulack, Head, Global Stakeholder Engagement, CACTUS. “We are excited to partner with CCC to enable RightsLink publishers to empower authors with the opportunity to consider research promotion solutions, along with other publication options through traditional and touch-free workflows at the final stages of the publishing process. All of these elements, although different in character, are equally important to the success of the published paper.”

The emergence of transformative agreements such as Read and Publish and Publish and Read, as well as of Pure Open Access, has changed the face of scholarly publishing. With its industry leading RightsLink for Scientific Communications solution, CCC leverages its extensive experience collecting, managing, and reporting of core Article Processing Charges (APCs) to give publishers new opportunities to grow and manage their businesses. RightsLink is trusted by 30 of the world’s leading publishers as they implement Open Access agreements with over 300 institutions and support thousands of authors from more than 125 countries. In the past year, RightsLink publishers have approved more than 1,500 Open Access and transformative agreement funding requests. 

“Plan S and other funder mandates to accelerate Open Access continue to foster meaningful dialogue for change in scholarly publishing,” said Gretchen Gasser-Ellis, Vice President and Managing Director, Publisher Solutions, CCC. “Our partnership with Editage will build on what publishers are doing to create new solutions within the scholarly publishing ecosystem and strengthen their strategic author programs.”

CCC is a trusted intermediary and recognized market leader uniquely positioned to facilitate dialog among key stakeholders in the author, publisher, institution, funding and vendor communities. CCC also encourages engagement across boundaries through an ongoing series of roundtables, panel events, webinars, podcasts, and blogs. CCC is a member of the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association (OASPA), the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), the International Association of STM Publishers (STM), and a Sustaining Member of the Society of Scholarly Publishing (SSP).