Science & Technology

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 sep 2016

According to McKinsey report, India's manufacturing sector will grow six-fold by 2025, to US$ 1 trillion, while creating up to 90 million domestic jobs. Dattatreya Gaur, VP and head of Businesss Unit at Robert Bosch Engineering & Business Solutions, explains the opportunities in India's manufacturing and it's evolution led by digital transformation and smart manufacturing. According to him, 'In manufacturing, the potential for cyber-physical systems to improve productivity in the production process and supply chain is vast; this is an opportunity...The main objective of Industry 4.0 is the task to convert this data into information and then into knowledge in real time, in order to make the process more productive, more flexible, to improve the quality and so on. It is a concept of intelligent value chain organisation where the man, machine and material are connected and talk to each other through enablers such as the cyber-physical systems and Internet of Things (IoT)...In the industry of the future, the product will become an information carrier and pilot its own way through the production process. Industry 4.0 is less of a revolution and more of an evolution.' Explaining Industry 4.0 in India's context, he says, 'Industry 4.0 is relevant for India; it is completely in concurrence to 'Make in India' campaign. The number of people using a smartphone in India is huge. This, for us, is a big opportunity. India is the third largest user base for internet and second largest for smartphones. India is also the IT hub. The huge number of software engineers plus the affinity of Indians towards mathematics and technology should provide the perfect recipe for Industry 4.0.' Read on...

The Financial Express: Smart manufacturing in India
Author: Dattatreya Gaur

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 sep 2016

In the fast paced technology industry, knowledge and skills get obsolete as soon as anything new, effective and valuable comes into the market. Job candidates should continuously update and upgrade their skillset to stay relevant and get hired in the better paid bracket of the technology market. They also have to anticipate the shifts and trends in technologies and acquire the know-how from the best sources. Online courses in many technological domains are just a click away. With just a reasonable internet access, anyone in India can access courses from around the world. Key is when to select what course from which provider. According to Kabir Chadha of Coursera, 'We see a lot of demand for high-tech skills and certifications. Technology and computer science courses register more than half of all the enrollments in India. Computer Science and Data Science lead the pack at 25% and 18% respectively...Most Indian learners associate such courses as a medium to gain skill sets for a new job or enhance their existing job profiles. A lot of users also use our courses to enhance their application for higher education...' Following are some tech courses that can help get a better job in India - (1) R Programming: It is the next programming language that is used in a variety of domains including software development, business analysis, statistical reporting and scientific research. (2) Machine Learning: According to Packt, Machine Learning is one of the most in-demand skills in 2016. (3) Python Programming: IT experts suggest that Python should be the first programming language of a programmer. (4) How to create a website in the weekend: According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, employment of web developers is projected to grow 20 per cent from 2012 to 2022. (5) Data Science: Harvard Business Review considers the job of data scientist as the 'Sexiest Job of the 21st Century.' Read on...

GIZMODO: Top 5 tech courses that can get you a job
Author: Diksha Gupta

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 15 aug 2016

The competition is heating up between the US technology giants, Google and Facebook, to provide internet access to India's substantially untapped market of 1.25 billion people. Google has already taken a slight lead by clinching a deal with Indian Railways to provide high-speed Wi-Fi services at railroad stations. These services are currently free but would become paid eventually. The number of users is presently about 2 million for the 23 stations that have the hot spots and is expected to increase to 10 million for 100 in future. After the earlier setback in 2015 for its Free Basics scheme that was struck down by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Facebook is getting back in the race by initiatives that provide internet services in the rural parts of India. The scheme is called Express Wi-Fi and streamlines the process through which people buy data allocations from local Internet service providers. Currently, it allows people to use their purchased data bundles through one of 125 rural Wi-Fi hot spots. Both companies seems to be looking at long-term stay in the Indian market and will monetize their services at the right time. The strong advertising model that both these companies have will finally make their efforts and investments profitable in future. Read on...

MIT Technology Review: Facebook and Google Are Racing to Supply India with Internet Access
Author: Jamie Condliffe

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 jul 2016

Team of researchers from IIT-Madras (India) and University of Nebraska at Lincoln (USA), are developing an ingestible capsule, that can stay in human body for close to a week, with sensors that will take readings of an individual's calorie intake, that can eventually help in diagnosis of diseases like cancer and permit sustained delivery of drugs. According to Prof. Benjamin Terry of UNL, 'The capsule, made of biocompatible materials, works like a parasite by latching on to the intestinal wall.' The sensors communicate their readings to an external device through low-intensity radio waves. Prof. P. V. Manivannan of IIT-M, says, 'The device is kept a metre away from the body. We use only low intensity waves that don't harm the body.' According to experts, biosensors could help monitor factors that influence digestive health. Prof. Terry adds that the mechanism could also serve as a long-term vessel for capsule endoscopes, the ingestible pill-shaped cameras that permit physicians to record images of the gastrointestinal tract. Read on...

The Times of India: From IIT-M - Capsule in body to count calories, diagnose cancer
Author: Ekatha Ann John

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 may 2016

According to the latest Elsevier Report 2016, India's scientific publications grew 13.9% as against the global average of 4.1%. The study sifted through the publication output of researchers covered under Elsevier's Scopus database, that covers 60 million documents published in over 22000 journals, book series and conference proceeding by nearly 5000 publishers. It looked at the work of 366455 active researchers who are working with or are affiliated to Indian institutions. But this increase in publications hasn't made much impact on scientific progress or commercialization, considering their limited citation by other researchers. Prof. Anshul Kumar of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, explains, 'There is pressure to publish, but not much scrutiny of where papers are published. Since promotions are tied to the volume of output, academics feel the need to show published output, even if it is not in very well-known publications. Moreover, spending on research and development is low, and this further serves as an impediment to producing original research that has the potential to have a higher impact.' Prof. Nirmalya Bagchi from Administrative Staff College of India, points out, 'A paper has a high impact when it is published in a prestigious journal, and it is difficult for an unknown researcher to publish in such places. Prestigious Western journals prefer to publish research from highly-ranked institutes, and it is well-known that most such institutes are in the West. Thus, Indian scientists who move abroad to work with well-known institutes do not face such difficulties in publishing. It also helps that the research infrastructure is well-developed abroad.' India also have to ramp up its knowledge sharing i.e. increase number of citations in patent documents and collaboration between industry and academia. Read on...

Livemint: In Indian science and technology research, quantity trumps quality
Author: Ragini Bhuyan

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 mar 2016

TechGig Geek Goddess - Celebrating the Code Divas/Women in Technology of the Indian IT Industry (TG3), a 14-day engagement program where women coders got a chance to show their skills, concluded today on International Women's Day. The following were the top 3 winners and their brief comments - (1) Janani Anbarasan from CISCO: 'Considering the limited exposure women have towards programming, this level of competition targets women who aspire to become good programmers...' (2) Rijutha N. from CISCO: 'TG3 is a wonderful opportunity for working women to compete...' (3) Rashmi Kejariwal from Sapient: 'I would like to recommend people to take time off from their expected deliverables and pursue their interest and enhance their expertise in coding as TG3 provides a great platform...' While speaking on TG3, Puja Mehra (VP of Sapient Global Markets) said, '...TG3's tech webinars, AMA (Ask Me Anything) and empower sessions, for promoting our women in tech, helped us push our charter of making women's voices count. I personally liked the coding contest a lot. It was encouraging to see our leaders, encourage our women employees to participate...' TechGig.com website also mentions winners that got 4th and 5th place as, Priyanka Naik (CDK-Global) and Tarvinder Kaur respectively. Read on...

GIZMODO: Top women coders shine at TechGig Geek Goddess
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 jan 2016

A panel of health experts from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), the Public Health Foundation of India and the National Institute of Nutrition, recently demanded pictorial and health warning on junk food packets in order to provide information to people on health issues caused by them. According to Prof. Vandana Jain, in-charge of Division of Pedriatrics Endocrinology at AIIMS, 'We have recommended pictorial warnings on junk foods...or health warnings saying that this product contains fat and salt in excess of what is recommended or even a picture of liver may be put on pack indicating that consuming them may lead to fatty liver in children and adults.' Consumption of products with high sugar, fat and salt have adverse health implications and World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the best way to prevent obesity among children is to put restrictions on marketing of unhealthy foods. Read on...

The Economic Times: Health experts demand pictorial warnings on junk food packets
Author: NA

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 jan 2016

Technology-driven healthcare startups are finding new opportunities in India's mostly traditional healthcare system. But it is not an easy ride, with lack of digital orientation, policy and regulational scenario, slow pace of change in the healthcare industry etc. Simply put, these healthcare pioneers in India face more challenges than what the normal startups actually do. Mudit Vijayvergiya, Co-founder of Curofy, provides five most relevant challenges that all healthcare startups are broadly facing in India - (1) Slow Growth: Sluggish pace of growth of the industry is hard for survival. (2) Complex Industry: Complex rules and regulations can be obstacles for entrepreneurship and innovative thinking. Various policies are unclear and cause confusion at workplace. (3) Doctors are Tough: Miserable doctor patient ratio of 1:1700 and horrible 1:60000 in rural areas, make availability of doctors rare. Moreover digital healthcare is last on their mind. (4) Monetization: Slow growth of sector makes startups hard to monetize and to have a sustainable revenue model. Moreover social nature of the market and lack of financial ability of patients make it hard for private startups to make money. (5) Lack of Healthcare Mentors in India: Although India has large pool of trained medical professionals, but it has very few seasoned mentors and investors in the health-tech space to share their experience with entrepreneurs. Moreover track record of startups in healthcare is not very good either. Thus India currently lacks a win-win scenario for mentors, investors and entrepreneurs. Read on...

iamwire: 5 Biggest Challenges All Healthcare Tech Startups are Facing in India
Author: Mudit Vijayvergiya

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 dec 2015

The technology-enabled interactions of consumers and businesses have provided opportunities to capture data and utilize analytics to improve business processes and enhance products and services for customers in variety of industries. The analytics industry ecosystem is mushrooming with numerous vendors, from niche providers to one-stop solutions that include capture, storage, access and study of data for valuable insights. Suhale Kapoor, Co-founder of Absolutdata Analytics, captures various aspects of the analytics industry and its evolution in 2015 and explains what are the expected trends in the year ahead. Trends in 2015 - Growth of new startups and digital marketing tools; Increased use of analytics and Business Intelligence (BI); Rise in use of social media and social advertising on mobile; Rapid expansion of Internet of Things (IoT); Video content; Content marketing and predictive analytics; End-user experience and integration of online and offline content to improve service standards. Trends for 2016 - Shift towards cloud; Streaming architectures will hasten data computations; Visuals will come to rule; Data integration tools will assume more importance; Centre of Excellence (COE) will equip a business in understanding the peculiar needs and challenges for a data scientist; The Internet of Things (IoT) is all poised to bring about a data revolution; Non-analysts will start to dabble in data. Read on...

DATAQUEST: The Analytics Sector - Emerging trends and forecast for 2016
Author: Suhale Kapoor

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 dec 2015

United Nation's '2015 Climate Change Conference' is being held in Paris (France) where 196 countries are on the table to reach consensus on tackling climate change and contain global temperature rise and keep it below 2°C. The recent study, 'Climate Change and India: Adaptation Gap (2015) - A Preliminary Assessment', conducted by Prof. Amit Garg of IIM Ahmedabad, Prof. Vimal Mishra of IIT Gandhinagar and Dr. Hem Dholakia of Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), found that India would need over US$1 trillion from now until 2030 to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change. The study identifies India's preliminary financial, technology, and knowledge gaps in adaptation, as well as capacity building and institutional needs. The study also estimates that about 800 million people living across nearly 450 districts in India are already experiencing significant increases in annual mean temperature going above 2°C warming pathway. For the whole of India the estimated increase will be 1-1.5°C in the near term (2016-2045). The implications would be disastrous for agriculture and crop production, and the effects could be more pronounced due to estimated increase in extreme precipitation events, resulting in flooding and significant damage to infrastructure. While commenting on the importance of the findings, Mr. Ashok Lavasa (Secretary at the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change), said, 'Supporting and enhancing the sustainable development of 1.25 billion people is at the heart of India's adaptation gap filling strategy. The fruits of development should not be lost due to increasing adaptation gap in the future.' Read on...

CEEW: India's Climate Adaptation Gap Amounts to USD 1 Trillion, reveals CEEW, IIM-A, IIT-Gn study
Author: NA

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