The All-New BMW R 18 Classic Makes Debut In The Indian Market

* A novel and distinctive interpretation of BMW R 18’s iconic style.

* Tribute to the beginnings of the great touring cruiser models.

* Typical cruiser styling combined with modern BMW technology.

* Propelled by the most powerful BMW boxer engine of all time.

* #BMWR18Classic #SoulFuel #MakeLifeARide #BMWMotorradIndia

BMW Motorrad India has launched the all-new BMW R 18 Classic in the country. The all-new BMW R 18 Classic can be ordered as a completely built-up unit (CBU) from today onwards through the BMW Motorrad dealer network. 

Following the premiere of the BMW R 18 last year, BMW Motorrad India has now introduced the second member of its new cruiser segment: The R 18 Classic. The all-new BMW R 18 Classic is a nostalgic touring bike that echoes the beginnings of great touring cruiser models.

Mr. Vikram Pawah, President, BMW Group India said, “BMW Motorrad made a striking entry into the cruiser segment with the BMW R 18. Building on the success and popularity of BMW’s first cruiser in India, we now present the BMW R 18 Classic with a reimagined, even more iconic character. The eye-catching styling of the BMW R 18 Classic adds on to the riding experience and evokes the emotions of a bygone era. While the design calls on the historic roots, the state-of-the-art technology and riding dynamics provide the most authentic, unparalleled experience one can enjoy on two wheels. This motorcycle will have an enormous appeal for motorcyclists who live for unforgettable cruising moments.”

In the all-new BMW R 18 Classic, a timeless design is merged with clear-cut yet contemporary technology to create a fascinating overall concept – offering a riding experience that is as cultivated as it is emotional. While the R 18 is purist in style, the R 18 Classic features a large windscreen, passenger seat, saddle bags, LED additional headlights and 16-inch front wheel. It features the largest displacement boxer engine ever built by BMW.

The all-new BMW R 18 Classic is available at following ex-showroom price –

The all-new BMW R 18 Classic ‘First Edition’             :INR 24,00,000                                               

*Price prevailing at the time of invoicing will be applicable. Delivery will be made on ex-showroom. Ex-showroom price (inclusive of GST) (incl compensation cess) as applicable but excludes Road Tax, RTO statutory taxes/fees, other local tax/cess levies and insurance. Prices and options are subject to change without prior notice. For further information, please contact your local authorized BMW Motorrad Dealer.

For complete peace of mind and to ensure that the journey of pure motorcycling continues uninterrupted at all times, the all-new BMW R 18 Classic comes with a standard warranty for ‘three years, unlimited kilometers’, with an option to extend the warranty to fourth and fifth year. Roadside Assistance, a 24x7 365 days package further ensures prompt services in case of breakdown and towing situations.

The all-new BMW R 18 Classic

The all-new BMW R 18 Classic is BMW Motorrad’s interpretation of a cruiser that continues in the brand’s tradition and confidently exhibits the style of the times gone by. Its purity of functional and stylish design elements such as the double cradle frame, the tear drop tank, the exposed driveshaft and the paintwork with finely drawn double pinstripes are reminiscent of the legendary boxer from 1936. The classically designed circular instrument with integrated display is enclosed in a metal housing with decorative chrome ring. The ‘BERLIN BUILT’ inscription on the face reinforces the bike’s origin. The state-of-the-art LED headlights ensure superior visibility on all roads. The sickle shaped graphical LED daytime running light further enhances the hallmark BMW Motorrad heritage face.  Starting from the steering head, the central frame tube and swingarm top frame tubes visually form a continuous line that functions as a central design feature. In combination with the swingarm down tubes, which are also aligned with the frame down tubes, this gives the new R 18 a distinctly flat, elongated and muscular appearance. 

Superior ergonomics ensure a high level of long-distance comfort and an unadulterated cruiser feeling. The BMW Motorrad ergonomic triangle consisting of distance to handlebar–seat and the ‘mid-mounted foot peg’ position is traditionally the key factor that offers an active and upright seating position. 

The centerpiece of the all-new BMW R 18 Classic is a newly developed air/oil cooled two-cylinder boxer engine – the most powerful boxer in series production by BMW. The massive 1,802 cc engine resulting from a 107.1 mm bore and 100 mm stroke. It produces an output of 91 hp at 4,750 rpm. The maximum torque of 158 Nm is already available at 3,000 rpm, with more than 150 Nm available at any time from 2,000 – 4,000 rpm. This elemental pulling power is combined with a full, resonant sound.

A single-disc dry clutch transmits the torque to the transmission. For the first time, it is designed as a self-reinforcing anti-hopping clutch, thereby eliminating unwanted rear wheel hop. The constant mesh 6-speed transmission is in a dual-section aluminum housing and is designed as a 4-shaft transmission with helical gear pairs. The gearbox input shaft with lug dampers drives the two gearbox shafts with the gear wheel pairs via a countershaft. A reverse gear is available as an optional extra.

In terms of the suspension, the all-new BMW R 18 Classic sports a double loop steel tube frame. The rear swing arm surrounds the rear axle transmission in authentic style.  The suspension elements deliberately dispense with electronic adjustment options. Instead, a telescopic fork and a directly mounted central suspension strut with travel-dependent damping and adjustable spring preload ensure superior wheel control and better suspension comfort. The braking system consists of a twin disc brake at the front and a single disc brake at the rear in conjunction with four-piston fixed callipers.

Unusual in its segment, the all-new BMW R 18 offers three standard riding modes – ‘Rain’, ‘Roll’ and ‘Rock’ to suit individual rider preferences. In ‘Rain’ mode, throttle response is gentler and riding dynamics allow a high safety over slippery road surface. In ‘Roll’ mode, the engine offers optimum throttle response while riding dynamics achieve ideal performance on all roads. ‘Rock’ mode allows riders to tap into the full dynamic potential - throttle response is very spontaneous and direct, while Automatic Stability Control allows a little more slip.

The all-new BMW R 18 Classic boasts a list of important standard features. The disengageable traction control Automatic Stability Control provides perfect control, whether the road is dry or wet. Dynamic Engine Brake Control electronically prevents the sliding of rear wheel by sudden closure of throttle or back spacing. Hill Start Control makes starting off on a hill particularly easy. Keyless Ride system replaces the conventional ignition steering lock. The bike also offers Electronic Cruise Control as standard.

The all-new BMW R 18 brake system is equipped with the well-established BMW Motorrad Integral ABS (partially integral) that adapts the distribution of brake force between the front and rear brakes to the dynamic wheel load distribution and the load state. In addition, the dynamic brake light signals function warns following traffic in two stages when the brakes are applied sharply and in the event of an emergency brake manoeuvre.

BMW Motorrad has also collaborated with renowned international brands to further add to the diverse range of accessories and customization. Created in collaboration with Roland Sands Design, two different design collections of milled aluminium parts are available – ‘Machined’ and ‘2-Tone-Black’. In cooperation with Mustang Seats, high-quality, hand-made seats are offered in different variants for a variety of purposes. Developed in cooperation with Vance & Hines, a custom exhaust system is available in chrome or with a scratch-resistant black ceramic coating.

Safexpress Collaborates With IBM To Drive Business Transformation & Deliver Rapid Growth

* A cognitive cloud native digital logistics platform, ‘PROPEL-i,’ developed to transform business operations and customer experience

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced that Safexpress, India’s leading supply chain & logistics company, has deployed ‘PROPEL-i’, a bespoke, end-to-end cloud native logistics platform, which was developed in collaboration with IBM Global Business Services. The digital platform enables the company to attain agility in demand management, obtain advanced and flexible dynamic pricing modelling capabilities and provides enhanced visibility and transparency for its customers.

Established in 1997, Safexpress offers a wide range of innovative supply chain services including express distribution, third-party logistics and consulting to its customers. Safexpress with its network of 60 logistics parks, 42 3PL locations, 1959 booking offices, 7,500 containerized GPS enabled vehicles, operates on 1,830 routes and delivers 100 million packages a year to over 5,000 corporations across 31083 pin codes in India. Safexpress has been on digital transformation journey for the last few years and has a strong focus on technology driven business acceleration and growth. The logistics market in India is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 10.5% between 2019 and 2025, according to the report, Indian Logistics Industry Outlook, 2020.

To capitalize on this significant market opportunity and fuel its growth plans, Safexpress wanted to remodel its core business processes and further expedite the adoption of next-generation technologies and digital-driven solutions. Safexpress then collaborated with IBM to design and build ‘PROPEL-i', an innovative scalable logistics platform, deployed in a secure & resilient cloud environment.

Commenting on the collaboration, Mr. Kapil Mahajan, Group CIO, Safexpress said, "Being a technology driven organization, our next wave of business strategy was focused on building a cognitive enterprise that can keep up with the speed of transformation around us. 'PROPEL-i', which is our new transportation management system (TMS) platform, has been built with Design Thinking at its core and centered around 4 key pillars: People, Process, Data and Technology. Its microservices based cloud native architecture will further strengthen our position as a market leader both from logistics and technology standpoint and help us respond exceptionally faster to the market dynamics while minimizing time, cost and effort on new product development lifecycle.”

Kamal Singhani, Country Managing Partner – IBM Services, India/South Asia added, “‘PROPEL-i’ is a major milestone for Safexpress as well as India’s logistics sector and is a testament to the continued success of the company’s longstanding association with IBM. By leveraging our deep industry expertise and access to technological innovations including cloud & AI, Safexpress will be able to leverage the new digital platform to manage their growing business, enrich customer experiences as well as boost revenues by acquiring new accounts & by optimizing costs.”

‘PROPEL-i’ is an internal logistics operations management suite of applications custom-built by IBM Global Business Services for Safexpress. It is designed specifically with a mobile first policy which enables the field staff to work from anywhere and frees the company to migrate to a desktop-free environment which maximizes office space.

The platform is based on microservices which is a cloud native architectural approach in which a single application is composed of many loosely coupled and independently deployable smaller components, or services. These components can be scaled and updated independently of one another, reducing the waste and cost associated with having to scale entire applications because a single feature might be facing too much load.

Furthermore, by leveraging the container management capabilities of Kubernetes deployed on a public cloud, the ‘PROPEL-i' platform provides Safexpress with high scalability, availability and security with self-healing runtime environment. The platform’s API interface integrates with Safexpress’ customer system and enables streamlining of workflows & efficiencies in internal processes and provides industry leading integration capabilities. The project consists of multiple components such as customer contracts, associate contracts, booking, associate management and others.

TECNO Kick Starts 2021 With Its Brand-Connect Initiative ‘TECNO India Virtual Run’ – Registrations Open

* TECNO India Virtual Run to be held on 13th and 14th March, an opportunity for fitness enthusiasts to participate from the safety of their choice of surroundings

* Participants can choose from - 2Km Performance Walk, 5Km Speed Run and 10Km Power Run and win exciting prizes like Tecno smartphone and TWS devices as well

TECNO, the global premium smartphone brand, today announced the launch of its first virtual edition of TECNO India Run.  A brand-connect initiative to engage with our young TG and also strengthen the Government of India’s ‘Fit India Movement’. The virtual run will be held on 13th & 14th March’21 ensuring participants are actively engaged within the safety of a surrounding of their choice. Through ‘TECNO India Virtual Run’, the brand aims to encourage people to bring about a behavioral change and make health & fitness an important part of their day to day lives.

The campaign that was ideated basis insights derived from our TECNO CMR Study which stated that ‘around three out of seven users in Aspirational Bharat have taken up new activities & hobbies during the period of lockdown’. The report further suggested that there was a 54% increase in smartphone usage during the lockdown, for Health & Fitness related activities. The pandemic has seen consumers focus on health, fitness and wellness, and the latest initiative furthers TECNO’s belief to bring relevant, responsible, and engaging programs for its consumers. TECNO India Virtual Run is being organized in collaboration with leading sports enterprise, YouTooCanRun, which will be led by 100 race ambassadors across India, including Kranti Salvi - Guinness World Record Holder for Running the prestigious Berlin Marathon wearing a Nine Yard Saree in 2018. She has also received several other World Major Running accolades like the Boston Marathon in 2017, NYC Marathon in 2018, Comrades in 2019 & Chicago Marathon in 2019,

Shibani Gulati - the only Indian kidney transplant survivor who runs half marathons, Aakash Nambiar- a Barefoot & Minimal Runner, Adventure Traveler and a TEDx Speaker from Bangalore and many more ace runners.

Commenting on this Fitness initiative by TECNO, Arijeet Talapatra, CEO of Transsion India, said, “TECNO has always strived to bring experiences that are most meaningful for its consumers. TECNO India Virtual Run aims to engage consumers with what’s important to them - health, fitness, and wellness. Last year people have spent months cooped up at home and lifestyle that became suddenly sedentary—with no commuting, no travel, and working from home and remote-learning. This Pandemic has pushed people to think about health more holistically and fitness has become a priority while juggling of various day to day activities. People are getting a head-start on strengthening their overall health thanks to virtual workouts and we strongly believe the future is going to be a blend of both digital & physical.” 

Mr. P. Venkatraman, CEO and founder, YouTooCanRun said, “Health and wellness has become crucial in our lives especially in the post pandemic world wherein people had limited spaces to partake in their workouts or health regimes. This association with TECNO for this virtual run campaign will encourage citizens all over the country to partake in the event for a healthier lifestyle.”

The TECNO India Virtual Run will feature three categories – 2Km Performance Walk, 5Km Speed Run and 10Km Power Run. Over 8000 participants are expected to take part in the run, making it one of the most sought-after initiatives in recent times. Participants will receive a jersey, neckwear & an e-certificate.

How to Participate:

The run is open to all, including fitness enthusiasts, amateur runners, professional runners & beginners, who can participate in the run. Participants will need to register online at <https://tecnoindiarun.com/> or at select retail outlets by 10th March, 2021.

Post entry of registration details, participants will receive a confirmation mail with a link to the TECNO App. The running stats of participants will be recorded via the ‘STRAVA’ App which will then export their activity details to the TECNO App wherein winners will be further notified for steps to be taken. Participants will be required to complete their selected race in one go. Entries with multiple attempts shall be considered invalid.

Enclosed is the categories of winners and prizes:

·  Fastest Time (Top 3): 2k Walk – 1 wireless speaker worth INR 3,499

·  Fastest Time (Top 3): 5k Run – TECNO POVA smartphone

·  Fastest Time (Top 3): 10k Run – 1 TECNO POVA + 1 wireless speaker worth INR 3,499

·  Top 10 creative entries on social media - 1 wireless speaker worth INR 3,499

·  Early birds: First 7 runners to start the race - 1 wireless speaker worth INR 1,299

About TECNO

TECNO Mobile is a premium global smartphone brand from TRANSSION Holdings. TECNO is committed to giving the masses access to latest technology, allowing the consumers to reach beyond their current limitations and uncover a world of possibilities. TECNO understands the needs of consumers from different markets and provides them with localized innovations across a product portfolio featuring smartphones, tablets, smart AIoT products covering smart audio, smart wearables, smart home gadgets. TECNO is a major global player with presence in more than 60 emerging markets across the world. It is also the global Official Handset Partner of Manchester City Football Club. 

About YouTooCanRun

YouTooCanRun is founded by Mr. P. Venkatraman, the only LEVEL II RRCA certified running coach and race director in India, out of a sheer passion for running. YouTooCanRun was formed as a Social Entrepreneurship with a mission ‘To Promote Running for Good Health,’ it has notched up several firsts in a short span of 7 years. As YouTooCanRun is India’s only full spectrum back end partner and race management partner for running event organisers all over the country, this makes YouTooCanRun the dominant service provider for running events across the country. It has successfully managed over 1800 Running events in several capacities with Two Guinness World Records in the Individual capacity of the founder and Three for YouTooCanRun. 

ekincare Partners With Health-Insurance Companies To Build Wellness-Based Products

* The digi-health start-up recently collaborated with Bharti AXA to launch “Bharti AXA Wellness Cuppa”

ekincare, a health benefits platform that helps companies administer benefits efficiently, optimize healthcare spends and show real health outcomes has now announced capabilities to partner with health-insurance companies through white-labeled platforms. The Hyderabad-based, start-up recently collaborated with Bharti AXA General Insurance, a leading non-life insurer to launch “Bharti AXA Wellness Cuppa.”

A growing trend has been observed to embrace well-being through health insurance. Until recently, health insurance premiums were the same irrespective of individuals having better health parameters than the rest. However, this trend is slowly beginning to change with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDA) laying a strong emphasis on customer wellness and encouraging health insurers to create offerings that cater to preventive healthcare needs of their customers.

At ekincare, regular assessment of an individual's health provides valuable insights on their current and potential medical issues, risk for chronic preventable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and hypertension, and helps identify strategies for improved health and well-being. These assessments provide important information that helps to shape the direction of their internal health and well-being initiatives, which in turn affect the bottom line by selecting better and more appropriate health premiums.

Benefits of collaborating with ekincare

ekincare’s “flexi care” policy engine that can be customized 30,000+ ways facilitate health interventions (part of the policy).

ekincare’s “care link” provides cashless OPD facilities across 10,000+ healthcare service providers across 150+ cities.

ekincare’s “data sense” tracks and validates the utilization, health statutes to auto adjudicate OPD claims, gives reward points and prevents frauds.

ekincare’s AI-based “care ngage” personalizes a policy holder’s health journey and nudges them towards positive health.

ekincare and Bharti AXA launch “Bharti AXA Wellness Cuppa”

Bharti AXA General Insurance, a leading non-life insurer, announced the launch of its fitness app - “Bharti AXA Wellness Cuppa'' for its esteemed customers in partnership with ekincare. This wellness portal and app will help customers keep track of their daily fitness levels, manage dependents, provide personalized content and have active challenges to participate in. It will also provide them with their health scores and rewarding points. Customers can then collect these points and redeem them for a reduced insurance premium at the end of the year.

By virtue of this collaboration, Bharti AXA’s customers can download the newly launched app(iOS/Android) through which the customers can input all key metrics pertaining to their health. Through the wellness portal and app, the policyholders can avail the entire gamut of wellness features and services in one place. Apart from health rewards, some of the features also include video/teleconsultation, pharmacy, and diagnostic services, online chat with doctors, doctor’s appointment, doctor on call, and medical second opinion. All these services are handled digitally by the ekincare platform.

Kiran Kalakuntla, CEO and Founder, ekincare, said, “In India, the concept of personalized health insurance premiums basis an individuals’ health conditions is extremely nascent. Over the last few years, there has been a significant increase in uptake of health insurance premiums among customers under the age of 35 years. However, it continues to be a discretionary purchase among the younger population as they tend to undermine health risks and foresee limited need for hospitalization. By working with health-insurance companies to offer our AI driven platform, we can definitely help Young India to understand the importance of having a health insurance. We are happy to kickstart our services with Bharti AXA to help customers track their health and fitness levels with this newly launched app; this marks a whole-new beginning to the health-insurance segment.”

About ekincare:

Founded by Kiran Kalakuntla and Srikanth Samudrala, ekincare is a health benefits platform that helps companies administer benefits efficiently, optimize their healthcare spends and show real health outcomes. ekincare’s patent-pending AI powered health assistant reads medical data from disparate data sets to create a health graph, predicts health risks, and provides timely personalised recommendations to beat those risks.

DRDO Hands Over Licensing Agreement For Transfer of Technology (LAToT) To Godrej & Boyce

* For the production of Mechanical Mine Layer – Self Propelled (MML SP), at Aero India 2021

* The LAToT will help in providing impetus to the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat drive

* Set to help in boosting the defence manufacturing sector with an emphasis on self-reliance and enhancing the capabilities of Armed Forces

Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group announced that its business, Godrej Precision Engineering received the coveted Licensing Agreement for Transfer of Technology (LAToT) for the Mechanical Mine Layer, Self Propelled (MML – SP) from the Ministry of Defence’s DRDO Laboratories at the ‘Bandhan’ ceremony at Aero India 2021. Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, three Services Chiefs, Secretary Department of Defence R&D and Chairman DRDO Dr G Satheesh Reddy and Secretary (Defence Production) Shri Raj Kumar along with other senior officials from Ministry of Defence and Karnataka Government and industrialists from the entire country were present.

The MML-SP has been designed for laying Anti-tank Bar Mines in varying soil conditions, camouflaging and recording their position accurately. It would play a crucial role in the defence and protection of India’s borders. Godrej Precision Engineering’s state of the art production facilities, stringent quality control and testing systems, coupled with decades of experience in building several ‘first-in-India’ products for defence applications will enable quicker roll out and induction of this product.

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh in his address to the public said that Bandhan exemplifies the spirit of ‘public-private partnership’. He added that the fountain head of any capability emerges from its foundation and the foundation of our vision rests on three pillars namely, research and development, public and private defence production and defence export. He mentioned that with an aim of encouraging the manufacture of defence related items in India, our endeavour will remain to bring down the defence imports by at least two billion dollars by 2022. He highlighted that the negative list of items for import is also meant to provide opportunity to the domestic manufacturing sector to strengthen their base and contribute to Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Dr. Mayank Dwivedi, Scientist G and Director DIITM, DRDO HQrs added, “Godrej has been an important industry partner in various programs/projects of DRDO. DRDO values its contribution in various projects/programs. DRDO is confident that this LAToT will not only greatly strengthen the home-grown defense manufacturing capability of our country, but also will strengthen this partnership spanning a few decades.”

Kaustubh Shukla, Chief Operating Officer, Industrial Products Group, Godrej & Boyce, said, “We are proud to have partnered with the DRDO for more than three decades, and are deeply honoured by their confidence in us for manufacturing such a critical system. We have always considered it our foremost and sacred duty to contribute towards the defence of our Nation using our state-of-the-art technology coupled with our decades of expertise in this area. This LAToT for the Mechanical Mine Layer – Self Propelled will further strengthen our partnership with them, and we remain committed to achieving an Atmanirbhar Bharat.”

Over the years, Godrej & Boyce has successfully partnered with DRDO for various projects. Godrej Precision Engineering has successfully executed orders for defence land systems like Brahmos Missile Launchers, Missile carriers and Naval systems like Diving and Surfacing Mechanism, Hull Equipment, Life Raft Container Ejection Systems, Steering Gear and so forth.

Godrej Aerospace, another business of Godrej & Boyce works closely with DRDO for developing mission critical systems. The business has the rare honour of having received the Defence Technology Absorption Award twice, first for developing Brahmos Airframes and the second time for Power Take Off (PTO) shafts for LCA.

The association with DRDO is beyond just defence equipment. During the pandemic, Godrej developed and delivered Proportional Solenoid Valves -- a critical component for making ventilators.

About Godrej Precision Engineering

Godrej Precision Engineering (GPE), a business of Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co. Ltd., a Godrej Group Company, builds custom equipment with an integrated capability in design, manufacturing & testing of complex and sophisticated systems for several mission-critical applications in nuclear power generation, land & naval systems, steel industries etc. Each high precision, custom-built equipment order is manufactured to stringent quality requirements of its customers.

About Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd. 

Godrej & Boyce (‘G&B’), a Godrej Group company, was founded in 1897, and has contributed to India’s journey of self-reliance through manufacturing. G&B patented the world’s first springless lock and since then, has diversified into 14 businesses across various sectors from Security, Furniture, Aerospace to Infrastructure and Defence. Godrej is one of India’s most trusted brands serving over 1.1bn customers worldwide daily.

Power Of Living Organisms! Can Bacteria Make Stronger Cars Or Airplanes?

* USC researchers harness the power of living organisms to make materials that are strong, tolerant and resilient.

Biological systems can harness their living cells for growth and regeneration, but engineering systems cannot. Until now.

Qiming Wang and researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) Viterbi School of Engineering are harnessing living bacteria to create engineering materials that are strong, tolerant, and resilient. The research is published in Advanced Materials.

“The materials we are making are living and self-growing,” said Wang, the Stephen Schrank Early Career Chair in Civil and Environmental Engineering and assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering in the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). “We have been amazed by the sophisticated microstructures of natural materials for centuries, especially after microscopes were invented to observe these tiny structures. Now we take an important step forward: We use living bacteria as a tool to directly grow amazing structures that cannot be made on our own.”

The researchers work with specific bacteria— S. pasteurii—known for secreting an enzyme called urease. When urease is exposed to urea and calcium ions, it produces calcium carbonate, a fundamental and strong mineral compound found in bones or teeth. “The key innovation in our research,” said Wang, “is that we guide the bacteria to grow calcium carbonate minerals to achieve ordered microstructures which are similar to those in the natural mineralized composites.”

Wang added: “Bacteria know how to save time and energy to do things. They have their own intelligence, and we can harness their smartness to design hybrid materials that are superior to fully synthetic options.

Borrowing inspiration from nature is not new in engineering. As one would suspect, nature has great examples of complex mineralized composites that are strong, fracture resistant, and energy damping—for example nacre or the hard shell surrounding a mollusk.

Wang said: “Although microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi and viri are sometimes detrimental in causing diseases—like COVID-19—they can also be beneficial. We have a long history of using microorganisms as factories—for example, using yeast to make beer. But there is limited research on using microorganisms to manufacture engineering materials.”

Combining living bacteria and synthetic materials, Wang said this new living material demonstrates mechanical properties superior to that of any natural or synthetic material currently in use. This is largely due to the material’s bouligand structure, which is characterized by multiple layers of minerals laid at varying angles from each other to form a sort of “twist” or helicoidal shape. This structure is difficult to create synthetically.

Wang worked in collaboration with USC Viterbi researchers An Xin, Yipin Su, Minliang Yan, Kunhao Yu, Zhangzhengrong Feng, and Kyung Hoon Lee. Additional support was provided by Lizhi Sun, professor of civil engineering at the University of California, Irvine, and his student Shengwei Feng.

What’s in a Shape?

One of the key properties of a mineralized composite, Wang said, is that it can be manipulated to follow different structures or patterns. Researchers long ago observed the ability of a mantis shrimp to use his “hammer” to break open a muscle shell. Looking at his “hammer”—a club-like structure or hand—more closely, they found it was arranged in a bouligand structure. This structure offers superior strength to one arranged at more homogenous angles—for example alternating the lattice structure of the material at 90 degrees with each layer.

“Creating this structure synthetically is very challenging in the field,” Wang said. “So we proposed using bacteria to achieve it instead.”

In order to build the material, the researchers 3-D printed a lattice structure or scaffolding. This structure has empty squares within it and the lattice layers are laid at varying angles to create scaffolding in line with the helicoidal shape.

The bacteria are then introduced to this structure. Bacteria intrinsically like to attach to surfaces and will gravitate to the scaffolding, grabbing on to the material with their “legs.” There the bacteria will secrete urease, the enzyme which triggers formations of calcium carbonate crystals. These grow from the surface up, eventually filling in the tiny squares or voids in the 3-D printed lattice structure. Bacteria like porous surfaces, Wang said, allowing them to create different patterns with the minerals.

The Trifecta

“We did mechanical testing that demonstrated the strength of such structures to be very high. They also were able to resist crack propagation—fractures—and help dampen or dissipate energy within the material,” said An Xin, a CEE doctoral student.

Existing materials have shown exceptional strength, fracture resistance, and energy dissipation but the combination of all three elements has not been demonstrated to work as well as in the living materials Wang and his team created.

“We fabricated something very stiff and strong,” Wang said. “The immediate implications are for use in infrastructures like aerospace panels and vehicle frames.”

The living materials are relatively lightweight, also offering options for defense applications like body armor or vehicle armor. “This material could resist bullet penetration and dissipate energy from its release to avoid damage,” said Yipin Su, a postdoc working with Wang.

There’s even potential for these materials to be reintroduced to bacteria when repairs are needed.

“An interesting vision is that these living materials still possess self-growing properties,” Wang said. “When there is damage to these materials, we can introduce bacteria to grow the materials back. For example, if we use them in a bridge, we can repair damages when needed.”

World Leadership Congress Recognises Kamal Nath Of Sify Technologies As ‘CEO Of The Year’

Sify Technologies Limited (NASDAQ: SIFY), India’s most comprehensive ICT solutions provider with global service capabilities spanning Networks, Data Centers, Cloud, Applications Management, Managed services and Systems integration announced that Chief Executive Officer, Kamal Nath, has been named  ‘CEO of the Year’ by The World Leadership Congress.

This coveted award is the premier category under ‘Business Leader of the Year’ instituted by World Leadership Congress. This year Business Leader of the Year celebrated its 19th Global edition of the award and the 4th India edition.

This year the award recognises leaders who have seamless steered their organisations in the face of adversities by demonstrating capability & credence, first-hand. The eminent panel of jurists also recognised Kamal’s foresight in re-engineering Sify into the Enterprise and Digital Transformation leader that it is today.

Kamal Nath joined Sify in 2012 and quickly transitioned it into the most comprehensive ICT Solutions and Services provider in India. Sify has consistently grown in revenue and profitability and has emerged as a preferred Service Provide Partner for Enterprises, Public Sector & Government in India.

Congratulating him, Mr. Raju Vegesna, Chairman, Sify Technologies, said, “Kamal has earned this one, hands down. He is the architect of our converged ICT play and our ‘cloud@core’ strategy. Our emergence today as India’s most courted Data Center, Cloud and Network player is a testimony to his foresight on the upcoming demand in the market.”

“I’m delighted to receive this award by World Leadership Congress. I’m thankful to my Sify family, which has made this possible. It is not an exaggeration to say that we at Sify, were well prepared to face a situation like the pandemic. For the entire Sify team, the learning curve during COVID-19 was shorter and angular, than steep. I think this award is a recognition of all of our efforts and I will strive to keep moving the goal post.” said Mr. Kamal Nath, CEO, Sify Technologies.

About Sify Technologies

A Fortune 500 India company, Sify Technologies is India’s most comprehensive ICT service & solution provider. With Cloud at the core of our solutions portfolio, Sify is focussed on the changing ICT requirements of the emerging Digital economy and the resultant demands from large, mid and small-sized businesses.  Sify’s infrastructure comprising the largest MPLS network, top-of-the-line DCs, partnership with global technology majors, vast expertise in business transformation solutions modelled on the cloud make it the first choice of start-ups, incoming Enterprises and even large Enterprises on the verge of a revamp, More than 10000 businesses across multiple verticals have taken advantage of our unassailable trinity of Data Centers, Networks and Security services and conduct their business seamlessly from more than 1600 cities in India. Internationally, Sify has presence across North America, the United Kingdom and Singapore.  

Sify, www.sify.com, Sify Technologies and www.sifytechnologies.com are registered trademarks of Sify Technologies Limited.