June 2015

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 jun 2015

In addition to 'Make in India' initiative, it would be the right opportunity and strategy for India to also promote arts, design, and other creative concepts and activities. The creative community in India holds a view that 'Make in India' campaign should be complemented with participation in international art shows and cultural reach-out campaigns and also an upgrade of India's design standards. Feroze Gujral, philanthropist and art enthusiast, says 'The world now considers India to be the most important market for art and it would be prudent to participate in art fairs and organise cultural reach-outs that would tell the world about contemporary India.' Peter Martin of APCO Worldwide considers India's soft power potential as significant and suggests that more emphasis should be given to tap it. According to Latheesh Lakshman, artist and designer, 'India needs to set up art fairs and participate in such events abroad...such events would also promote a design revamp in India. There is a significant lag in the design potential of India and the standards that are in operation today.' Product designer Satish Gokhale says, 'Make in India campaign must have a design component that will focus on making manufacturing design-centric. In India, we have not fully understood the significance of design and application of design thinking. The Make in India campaign can even change the way of green growth of our country if synced with design and design thinking.' He further points out that India's creative potential will get a boost by adding a cultural reach-out and design platforms as part of the campaign. Although national design policy was brought out in 2007 that considered a need for design overhaul in India to improve manufacturing competitiveness, there is a lot that is expected from the present government to lead India towards a design-enabled economy. Read on...

The Economic Times: Why 'Make in India' should be complemented with participation in global art shows & upgrade of design ecosystem
Author: K. P. Narayana Kumar

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 jun 2015

Developing a design ecosystem in India is critical for the effective implementation of the 'Make in India' concept. Recent announcement by the Government of India regarding smart cities and housing for all by 2020 will provide a boost for the design industry. In an interview, Pradeep Nair of Autodesk, explains how his company would participate in 'Make in India' and Digital India' initiatives, what are opportunities in India in the design space and how the company plans to evolve in the Indian market in future. According to him, 'Our go-to-market strategy constitutes of having a strong and expansive partner ecosystem spread across multiple cities. With the aim of democratising technology, we provide the best of design innovation solutions to large, mid-size and SMBs. We also ensure that our partners are trained requisitely with the apt skills to provide these solutions to the customers.' While mentioning the company's focus in India he explains that automobile design, manufacturing, architecture, infrastructure and the media & entertainment sectors, will be the main thrust areas. He further elaborates, 'We have been advocating Distributed Manufacturing as the key to the Next Industrial Revolution and encouraging companies, individuals to developing groundbreaking hardware, software, materials, marketplaces and maker spaces through 3D technology.' He sees cloud as the future of design. According to him, 'Leveraging the power of cloud can help in democratising design technology and enable the future of making things. Every software provider, whether it be design or IT, is undergoing a massive transformation where users are opting for cloud as the preferred platform for computation. Pervasive connectivity enabled by software that tap into cloud, lets project teams tap expertise globally...we're seeing the digital and physical sides of products and projects become more deeply entwined. Autodesk will be playing a pioneering role in driving this evolution by harnessing the power of cloud, leverage connected desktops and cloud experiences tailored for designers, engineers, visual artists worldwide.' Read on...

The Financial Express: We see cloud as the future for the design industry - Pradeep Nair
Author: Sudhir Chowdhary

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 jun 2015

India's technology industry landscape was earlier driven by export of software and services, but now it is undergoing accelerated transformation through mobile phones. There are 969.89 million wireless phone subscribers in India at the end of March'2015, with 862 million of them being 'active users'. About 100 million access internet through mobile devices like smartphones. Tech-driven companies attracted US$ 2.36 billion during first quarter of 2015. Recently there has been high profile mergers and acquisitions in the mobile and internet space. E-commerce is going through a boom and disruptive phase with dynamics of industries being reshaped and remodelled. Millions of users are thronging on to online marketplaces to buy whole gamut of products and goods, and avail various services with just clicks and swipes. Professor Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University says, 'India will see a technology boom over the next 5 years that will make the US dotcom boom look lame.' Software product business ecosystem is taking shape in India. iSpirt (Indian Software Product Industry Roundtable) is a step to nurture software product ideas and entrepreneurs. India evolved new ways of bridging the digital divide and create domestic demand for applications and services. This can be a lesson for companies that serve the digitally poor around the world. Read on...

Outlook: The Changing Landscape of India's Tech Industry
Author: Dinesh C. Sharma

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Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 jun 2015

With 55% increase in smartphones and numbering 140 million in 2014, India is rapidly transitioning into a smartphone driven internet and ecommerce market. According to report 'Internet Trends 2015' by Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, smartphones are the main source of 65% of the internet traffic and 41% of e-commerce in India. Professor Vivek Wadhwa of Duke University explains how the next technology revolution is brewing in India with smartphones as the main catalyst. India's mobile leap is more direct and speedy as compared to the evolved transition of technologies in US, from mainframes to PCs to tablets and then finally to smartphones. According to him, 'The capability of these devices will keep increasing as prices drop. Indians will benefit from the same developments in technology as the West, with smart watches and fitness-tracking wristbands and smart glasses and connected contact lenses. Smartphones will be used to order goods, read news, monitor crop growth, access government services, report corruption and crime, and manage smart cities and health. Mobile computing will be everywhere.' To benefit from this wave of smartphone penetration, Indian developers and entrepreneurs have to find innovative solutions to old problems. He suggests, 'They need to take advantage of the unique properties of smartphones and tablets, such as the ability to gather data via sensors and lightweight user inputs, and hyper-personalisation of content and operation.' Read on...

The Economic Times: India, now get ready for next tech revolution
Author: Vivek Wadhwa

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