Category: Information Technology (IT & Software)

NATIONAL: KARNATAKA / BUSINESS & ECONOMY, : 3 Bengaluru Startups Win at Conquest a BITS Pilani Students Run Event – Green Tiger Mobility, Daffodil Health and StreamMoney

Green Tiger Mobility, the cleantech firm, and Daffodil Health, a healthcare startup, won in the Pan India Track, where participants were invited from across the country.

Of the 15 startups, shortlisted from over 1,500 applications, four have been selected to receive an equity-less grant of Rs 30 lakh each. Of these, three are from Bengaluru. Winners were chosen based on three categories or tracks — Pan India, BITSian and Web3.0. 

Green Tiger Mobility, the cleantech firm, and Daffodil Health, a healthcare startup, won in the Pan India Track, where participants were invited from across the country.

Green Tiger is working on developing a hybrid vehicle, while Daffodil Health is a behavioural healthcare platform aimed at children.The latter aims at giving parent-mediated therapy to children with behavioural and developmental disorders like autism, ADHD, dyslexia and others.

Conquest, run by around 30 engineering students from BITS Pilani’s Centre of Entrepreneurial Leadership, is the first and largest student-run startup accelerator, hosting programmes every year to help startups get funding and mentors. 

The Demo Day for the 18th edition of the accelerator programme was held in Bengaluru on Sunday, with 15 startups shortlisted to pitch their ideas to a panel of investors, industry leaders and others. Another Bengaluru-based company StreamMoney won in the Web3.0 Track, where the focus is on startups developing or utilising technology related to Web3.0. StreamMoney focuses on the ability to transfer conditional ownership of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

The startup is working towards making a utility protocol, allowing NFT owners to rent out or allow ticketing or subscriptions of their NFTs. This allows owners to add in a utility contract with their NFTs that allows access to their tokens for a limited period of time.

Green Tiger Mobility, the cleantech firm, and Daffodil Health, a healthcare startup, won in the Pan India Track, where participants were invited from across the country.

 A clean technology firm, focusing on building hybrid cars that allow you to switch between electric and internal combustion engines at the switch of a button, was one of the three Bengaluru startups that won big at BITS Pilani’s Conquest.

Of the 15 startups, shortlisted from over 1,500 applications, four have been selected to receive an equity-less grant of Rs 30 lakh each. Of these, three are from Bengaluru. Winners were chosen based on three categories or tracks — Pan India, BITSian and Web3.0. 

Green Tiger Mobility, the cleantech firm, and Daffodil Health, a healthcare startup, won in the Pan India Track, where participants were invited from across the country. Green Tiger is working on developing a hybrid vehicle, while Daffodil Health is a behavioural healthcare platform aimed at children.

The latter aims at giving parent-mediated therapy to children with behavioural and developmental disorders like autism, ADHD, dyslexia and others. Conquest, run by around 30 engineering students from BITS Pilani’s Centre of Entrepreneurial Leadership, is the first and largest student-run startup accelerator, hosting programmes every year to help startups get funding and mentors. 

The Demo Day for the 18th edition of the accelerator programme was held in Bengaluru on Sunday, with 15 startups shortlisted to pitch their ideas to a panel of investors, industry leaders and others.

Another Bengaluru-based company StreamMoney won in the Web3.0 Track, where the focus is on startups developing or utilising technology related to Web3.0. StreamMoney focuses on the ability to transfer conditional ownership of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

The startup is working towards making a utility protocol, allowing NFT owners to rent out or allow ticketing or subscriptions of their NFTs. This allows owners to add in a utility contract with their NFTs that allows access to their tokens for a limited period of time.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

INVESTMENT INTO INDIA: BUSINESS & ECONOMY/ IT & eCommerce: Japanese Company Rakuten Opens Office in Bengaluru.

Rakuten India is a global product and innovation centre for Tokyo-based Rakuten Group that focuses on electronic commerce and online retailing.

Rakuten India, a global product and innovation centre for Tokyo-based Rakuten Group that focuses on electronic commerce and online retailing, has opened an office in Bengaluru to grow its customer base in India.

Rakuten’s new office is situated near Cubbon Park. The 20-storey building, Rakuten-Crimson House, has office space of 3 lakh sq.ft. with a capacity to accommodate over 3,000 persons.

The office is expected to enhance the company’s capability for deep-tech innovation and R&D in e-commerce, fintech, content and entertainment, as well as AI in computer vision, speech, and natural language processing (NLP).

“India is and has been central to our growth strategy. Our new R&D centre will build on the high value-added engagements that Rakuten has been delivering from India in deep tech and product innovation,’‘ said Yasufumi Hirai, CIO, CISO, Group Executive Vice President of Rakuten Group, Inc.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: TECHNOLOGY, IT & DIGITAL: Catch Them Young: HCL’s TechBee Career Programme to Hire 2,000 Class 12 Students in Karnataka

HCL Technologies is currently conducting walk-in training interviews across four cities – Bengaluru, Shivamogga, Hubballi and Mysuru – to hire Class 12 students.

HCL Technologies, an IT services and digital transformation solutions provider, is planning to hire over 2,000 fresh talent from Karnataka, under its ‘catch them young’ drive.

As part of its early career programme, TechBee, the firm is currently conducting walk-in training interviews across four cities — Bengaluru, Shivamogga, Hubballi and Mysuru — to hire Class 12 students. Students who have completed Class 12 in 2021 or 2022 with a minimum of 60% with Mathematics or Business Mathematics in their curriculum would be eligible to be part of this programme, the company said.

Bespoke training and mentoring

To offer bespoke training and mentoring initiatives, HCL has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Karnataka Skill Development Corporation (KSDC) to train tech-savvy, enthusiastic individuals seeking to accelerate their careers in IT.

Subbaraman B, Vice President, HCL Technologies, said, “Under TechBee, we aim to hire the best talent, train them and enable them to achieve financial independence at the start of their career. So far, over 8,000 students have been selected for the TechBee programme across the country and are in various stages of their career journey with HCL.’‘

“We, at HCL, observed a lot of interest and potential in students in Karnataka as well. That is why we chose to do these walk-in drives in the state,’‘ he told The Hindu.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: BUSINESS & ECONOMY / I.T: Orchids Network & Systems (OBSIPL) Wins Govt of India’s ‘ Top 100 Small & Medium Enterprises Award’

The Orchids Network & Systems (I) Pvt Limited (ONSIPL) has been awarded the Top 100 Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) of India by the Govt of India at an award ceremony organized by India SME Forum at Taj Palace, New Delhi on 13 April 2022.

The chief guest was Narayan Rane, Union Minister for MSME and the award was presented by Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, minister of state for MSME. Orchids was shortlisted from among 42,268 applicants after undergoing a stringent evaluation process.

An Indian-based IT Infrastructure company envisioned by Mangalurean Sairam Shetty, he propelled it to its current success, contributing significantly to the highly vibrant and dynamic sector of Indian entrepreneurship thus winning an award for excellence today.

Founded in the year 1999 at Bengaluru as an IT Networking company, Orchids Networks went on to grow and diversify into various specializations such as servers and storage, open source software solution, HPC, AI, ML, DL, HPC & IoT Solutions in the IT sphere.

Today it claims that it has design, supply and integrate everything on infrastructure IP. Having over two decades of IT infrastructure expertise, Orchid’s dedicated expert team of in-house trained designers study and analyze each requirement from simple to complex and provide solutions which are most ideal and future proof as per industry best standards.

source/content: daijiworld.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL, IN INDIA: KARNATAKA: HEALTH & MEDICAL SERVICES / SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: GE Healthcare launches its first ‘5G Innovation Lab’ in India and the First for GE across the Globe.

GE Healthcare on Thursday announced the launch of its 5G Innovation Lab in India, the first for the company across the globe.

With the advantage of massive bandwidth, high data speeds, low latency and highly reliable connectivity, 5G has the potential to disrupt the patient care continuum, transforming diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis, the company noted.

“The 5G Innovation Lab is designed to position GE Healthcare at the forefront of these groundbreaking advances in patient care, including potentially bringing cutting-edge technology to rural and suburban regions,” a company statement said.

Situated at the John F.Welch Technology Centre (JFWTC) Bengaluru, GE Healthcare’s largest R&D centre outside of the USA, the lab will serve as a testbed to develop future-ready products and solutions, turning a new corner in innovation, it said.

5G in Healthcare was valued at an estimated USD 215 million in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 3,667 million by 2026.

“India is an important market for us globally and it is indeed the right time to venture into 5G, which will open a realm of exciting opportunities, driving the next wave of growth in Healthcare,” said Jan Makela, President & CEO, Imaging at GE Healthcare.

The GE Healthcare 5G Innovation Lab will serve as a conduit for the interplay of exponential technologies like AI/ML, IoT, Big Data, Edge Computing and Cybersecurity, the statement added.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

INDIA RECORDS: KARNATAKA: Bengaluru is Key Driver in GST Backend Operations Contributing to its Nationwide Operation Driven by NIC.

E-way bill and e-invoice is driven from the city by a small team from National Informatics Centre.

As the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime is set to complete five years in a few days, Bengaluru has contributed to its nationwide operation. The backend operations for the crucial e-way bill, mandatory to move goods across the country, and the e-invoice that helps in input credit, is driven from the city by a small team from the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

In the four years since its inception, the country has seen over 273 crore e-way bills being generated to move goods and over 163 crore e-invoices having been generated. While the transition from the Value Added Tax (VAT) regime to GST regime took place on July 1, 2017, the e-way bill was introduced on April 1, 2018, while the e-invoice was introduced in October 2020. In fact, the e-Sugam launched by the Karnataka Commercial Tax in 2010 morphed into the e-way bill under the nation-wide GST regime. In the VAT regime, Karnataka was generating 1.2 lakh e-way bills a day.

36% increase

Since its introduction in 2018 April, the number of e-way bills generated daily has seen a 36% increase from about 22 lakh a day to 30 lakh a day. If 55.8 crore e-way bills were generated in 2018-2019, it has shot up to 77.4 crore in 2021-2022.

In case of e-invoice, the numbers have shot up by 92% since October 2020 when 26 lakh invoices were generated daily to about 50 lakh invoices daily now. If 4.95 crore e-invoices were generated in October 2020, it has reached 12.18 crore in April 2022. The numbers have also increased as the e-invoice mandate has been extended to those reporting above ₹500 crore turnover annually when the e-invoice was introduced in October 2020 to include those reporting turnover of over ₹20 crore in April 2022.

The NIC, sources in Commercial Tax Department said, has been managing the entire operations from Bengaluru with a staff of around 50. Sources also said, “It is heartening that the 24/7 software and hardware support from Bengaluru has been such that there has been no incident of the software glitch where an e-way bill generation has been delayed over the past four years.”

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INDIAN RECORDS: KARNATAKA: HEALTH & MEDICAL SCIENCES / SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: Researchers at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Develop Algorithm called (ReAl – LiFE) to Study Connectivity in Brain

Researchers at Indian Institute of Science (IISc.) have developed a new graphic processing unit (GPU) based machine learning algorithm called Regularised, Accelerated, Linear Fascicle Evaluation (ReAl – LiFE), which will help to obtain a better understanding and in the prediction of connectivity between different regions of human brain.

This algorithm can help analyse extensive data generated from diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) scans which helps scientists study the connectivity in the brain at a speed, which is 150 times higher than a regular desktop computer or existing state-of-the-art algorithms. The study has been published in the journal Nature Computational Science.

“Even though it is difficult to pinpoint the connectomes, we are trying to infer information highway network by looking at traffic flow patterns (if molecules are like cars). We look at the movement of water molecules in the brain and we try to infer where the wires are. The water molecules have to travel along the length of the cables (axons), which have connected various parts of the brain. By measuring these lengths of water molecules, we are able to infer which areas are connected,” explained Devarajan Sridharan, Associate Professor at the Centre for Neuroscience (CNS), IISc., and corresponding author of the study. 

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INDIA RECORDS: KARNATAKA RECORDS : SOFTWARE & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, SECURITY: IISc-Bengaluru Develops Device to Improve Data Encryption

‘This will provide better protection for digital data such as credit card details, password  etc.’

A team at the Department of Electrical Communication Engineering (ECE), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has developed a true random number generator (TRNG), which, the team says, can improve data encryption and provide improved security for sensitive digital data such as credit card details, passwords and other personal information. The study describing the device has been published in the journal  ACS Nano.

“Almost everything we do on the internet is encrypted for security. The strength of this encryption depends on the quality of random number generation,” explained Nithin Abraham, a PhD student who is a part of a team led by Kausik Majumdar, Associate Professor at ECE, which has developed the device.

Encrypted information can be decoded only by authorised users who have access to a cryptographic ‘key’. But the key needs to be unpredictable and, therefore, randomly generated to resist hacking. Cryptographic keys are typically generated in computers using pseudorandom number generators, which rely on mathematical formulae or pre-programmed tables to produce numbers that appear random but are not. In contrast, a TRNG extracts random numbers from inherently random physical processes, making it more secure, the IISc release explained.

source/content: thehindu.com (edited)

KARNATAKA RECORDS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: PES University Students Shining ‘Sitara’, Awarded for Kanglish Content, at 6th edition Azim Premji University’s National Level Science Enterprise Idea Challenge

‘Kanglish’ content on YouTube through Akkas and Annas, developed by a team of nine engineering students from PES University in Bengaluru has come as a blessing to children from 27 districts in Karnataka.

On Saturday, the team ‘Sitara’, which has developed content to teach Maths and Science to Class 10 students, has won the 6th Edition of Azim Premji University’s National Level Science Enterprise Idea Challenge in which 100 teams across the country participated.

The trio–Ananya V, Shriya Shankar and Srushti Jayaramu– who will be graduating in the next one and half months will quit their careers in engineering and continue full time with ‘Sitara’. Srushti tells TNIE, “The children’s hunger to learn motivated me, and pushed me to work harder.” The content has been appreciated and well received.”

source/content: newindianexpress.com (edited)

GLOBAL INVESTMENT : KARNATAKA RECORDS. INDIA : California-based Applied Materials, USA Acquires Land in Bengaluru for ₹350 crore

California-based Applied Materials has invested ₹350 crore ($50 million) to purchase land in Whitefield in Bengaluru where it is planning to expand its engineering infrastructure.

The company said the expansion would boost its next phase of growth in India.

“We expect this investment to support future product development and R&D, as well as benefit the development of the local supply chain,’‘ said Srinivas Satya, country president and Managing Director, Applied Materials India at Semicon India 2022 in Bengaluru on April 29.

Indian Government’s mission mode approach to evolve the country’s semiconductor sector, together with the ease-of-business initiatives and scaling up of indigenous electronics end-manufacturing, were positive and practical steps to enable its Semiconductor Mission, he added.

Applied Materials supplies equipment, services and software for the manufacture of semiconductor (integrated circuit) chips for electronics, flat panel displays for computers, smartphones, televisions, and solar products.

source/content : thehindu.com (edited)