IBM in association with T-Hub and Manipal Hospitals, announced Oxyent Technologies as the winner of its IBM Smartcamp for Health Tech 2016 challenge, an exclusive program aimed at identifying Startups having cutting edge innovations in the healthcare industry in India. UE Life Sciences and DailyRounds were second and third winners respectively.

IBM SmartCamp, which was held in Hyderabad in association with T-Hub, India’s largest startup Ecosystem player and Manipal Hospitals, is a part of IBM’s Global Entrepreneur program initiative. The event was aimed at identifying startups in the B2B and B2C space in India who are poised to redefine the healthcare industry through their technology innovations.

The winners of IBM Smartcamp will be given access to IBM Cloud credits and can leverage the best of IBM technologies around Cognitive, Cloud, Analytics, Mobility, IoT and Infrastructure as a service. All participants will also get an opportunity to learn from IBM’s senior leadership and industry experts. After the great success of the IBM Smartcamp for Fin Tech challenge, the IBM Smartcamp for Health Tech invited startups which use innovative technology to scale their business and launch products to solve real world problems.

Seema Kumar, Country Manager, Ecosystem Development, IBM India & SA said

IBM Smartcamps are designed and aimed at providing opportunities for startups to get mentorship and work with IBM and industry experts to scale up their business quickly, particularly by taking advantage of cognitive and cloud-based technologies. The focus of IBM Smartcamp for Health Tech initiative was to provide the startups in healthcare an opportunity to showcase their products and get inputs first-hand from various stakeholders.

At IBM, we are committed to empowering the next generation of start-ups that develop solutions to solve the most complex problems in the country. We are bullish on the potential of the Indian startup ecosystem to make effective use of technology to rapidly transform and improve the quality of healthcare solutions in the country.

The winners were chosen after multiple level of screenings and panel rounds by the jury members. The winners were judged on various parameters like innovative solution, features & demos, ability to scale, team behind the product, and the market size they are addressing with their solution.

The winner of the IBM Smartcamp for Healthtech 2016, Harpreet Singh, Founder Oxyent Technologies said,

As an offering, we are engaged in developing affordable healthcare products focusing on improving the quality of health of children and providing decision support in their clinical practices. Enterprise technologies like IoT, cloud computing, big data and analytics are a pillar to our solution. IBM Global Entrepreneur program provided us free access to world class proven IaaS via Softlayer and best practices of PaaS in Bluemix. As a startup getting technical mentoring from IBM mentors in utilizing best practices in IoT and building on knowledge base of Watson will provide us an opportunity to be a world-class solution provider in child healthcare.

The Smartcamp organized by the IBM Global Entrepreneur program provided us a platform to interact with top investors and healthcare domain mentors in India. The valuable insights on improving our offering and scale up techniques received from the mentors will makes us more viable for future investments.  We also had discussions with relevant people in the Healthcare for synergies. It was a fantastic experience we had throughout the Smartcamp and it is even more rewarding to be announced as a winner amongst the best Healthtech startups in India. We are also grateful to T-Hub for giving us such a great learning platform.

Jay Krishnan, CEO T-Hub expressed

We are excited to partner with Industry leaders such as IBM and Manipal Hospitals to facilitate events like the Heath Tech Smartcamp Challenge 2016. Such events will benefit startups in the ecosystem working in the area of healthcare innovation. Our mission overall is to lead sector specific collaboration between cutting edge startups and corporates looking for innovations in their domains.

IBM Global Entrepreneur Program is a startup initiative by IBM which engages with the startups and provides them free cloud credits on IBM Cloud Solutions like Softlayer and Bluemix worth USD 24,000 for one year. With this initiative IBM also provides technical mentoring, assist the go to market and work with the accelerators of India. The primary focus for IBM through Smartcamp is to identifying the next gen Startups in different industries and helping them scale.

Next in line in the Smartcamp series is the Smartcamp for Smart City to be organized in New Delhi. IBM Global Entrepreneur program is accepting applications from B2B and B2C Startups less than 5 years having innovations around areas like Energy & Utility, Transportation, Sanitation, Water, Citizen Management, Safety and Surveillance. Agritech startups are also welcome. The link for applying is ibmgepindia.com/smartcity

About T-Hub

T-Hub is a unique public/private partnership between the government of Telangana, three of India’s premier academic institutes (IIIT-H, ISB and NALSAR) and key private sector leaders. It stands at the intersection of the startup, academic, corporate, research and government sectors. T-Hub aims to forge many such partnerships with governments and corporates across the world to setup T-Bridge centers, to strengthen trade relations and attract investment into the state of Telangana.

T-Hub is one of the largest startup ecosystems in India today with over 2000 startups in its database. The members of T-Hub are clustered into various stages of growth across sectors of specialization, a model of community development which is unique to Hyderabad. For more information, please visit T-Hub

Intex Technologies further strengthened its LED TV segment with the foray into the Smart LED TVs today. With the commitment to provide ultimate customer satisfaction, this new category launch and its incredible features are sure to take the market by storm this festive season. Intex Smart LED TV range is available in four models and sizes: 32-inch HD (Rs. 27,999), 43-inch Full HD (Rs. 47,999), 50-inch Full HD (Rs. 54,999), 55-inch Ultra HD-4K (Rs. 89,990).

The lowest model LED 3201SMT is High-Definition (1366X720) whereas the 4301 and 5001 SMT models are FHD (1920X1280). The 5500 SMT model is the Ultra HD (UHD)/4K model with E-LED technology. The 55-inch UHD LED TV has an aluminum body giving it an ultra-slim edge look with 9.9mm thickness and is powered with 4K PRO 3 processing unit.

The key features in the Smart LED TV models include T-cast feature that builds upon WiFi to give users the freedom to display smart phone content of their choice on the big HDMI screen, be it, favourite video game or TV series. The N-Screen Wireless Mirroring feature uses WiFi connection to deliver audio and video content from smart phone to TV and also enables control on TV via smart phone. Intex Smart LED TVs have Digital Noise Reduction and a built-in Hi-Fi system that enables Sound Alone Effect where one can listen to the sound even when the display goes off.

Speaking about the launch, Nidhi Markanday, Director & Business Head, Consumer Durables & IT Accessories, said

Brand Intex is all about fulfilling aspirations, offering consumers the best of design & technology at very competitive pricing. We are excited to announce the exclusive launch of four new smart TV models this year. We are sure this will leave a lasting impact on our consumers and they will be delighted. With the upcoming festive season and so many auspicious days, we expect a great response to the new TV range.

Intex LED Smart TVs come with popular built-in applications such as YouTube, Facebook, Netflix, Twitter and up to 200 apps in the customised app store. The built-in WiFi, HDMI and USB ports make connectivity easy and quick. The smart TVs operate on various Android OS, allowing user to download apps from the Play Store and one can also access data on all other Android devices. The high end models have built-in high speed through 2T/2R i.e. Two Transmit & 2 Receive providing strong network and high speed access. So, now one can download apps, stream movies, browse videos and check emails – all on Intex Smart LED TV.

The Smart LED TV range will be available through company’s vast distribution network across India.

Few days back, a reader commented on an article where we reviewed the performance of a company that was listed on BSE and why it was a good buy in the current scenario. The comment read – Wish I had stumbled upon this article sooner. This stock is trading at double of 250. On further discussion with the reader, it was learnt that he was a newbie in trading and was used to less risky investment options. Every investor is different and their asset allocation strategy primarily depends on factors like age, net worth, financial goals, existing portfolio and most important of them all is Risk Appetite.

Image Source – Investment

There is a very famous saying – ‘Don’t put all your eggs in the same basket’ which means that it is very important to have a balanced investment portfolio. It becomes to important to create a checklist of what has helped you make money and loose money. Though in today’s digital era, market information like Stock information, Mutual Fund performance, etc. is readily available, keeping a constant check on it becomes impossible. Hence, irrespective of whether you are a novice or seasoned investor, having an ideal asset allocation strategy by considering all the factors discussed above is critical to maximise returns (by taking calculated risks).

Asset allocation funds follow either fixed asset allocation or dynamic asset allocation strategy. Since investor needs as well as market changes are dynamic in nature, following fixed allocation strategy may not work! Dynamic allocation fund fits the needs of the investors (novice as well as seasoned) since the investor’s money is invested as a mix of Debt & Equity and is an ideal investment option for long-term wealth creation.

One such investment fund is from ICICI Prudential – ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund. ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund is an open-ended equity oriented fund that brings multiple benefits to your investments. It strives for growth by investing in equity markets, while providing relative safety through investments in debt instruments. As famous investor Warren Buffet says- When the amount to be invested is small,then it is better to run a concentrated portfolio and this fund can be a beginning for an investor to create a diversified portfolio.

As seen in the ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund factsheet, the fund caters to spectrum of investors who have low/mid/high risk appetite. The Riskometer makes it very easy for investors to invest their buck at the right place 🙂 One of the primary reasons to invest in them is their fund performance and their investment strategy (as seen in the snapshot below)

Though the returns can vary, the Absolute Returns (%) on investment (ending June 30, 2016) are much better than the returns offered by much safer investment vehicles like FD/RD/Post, etc. The fund is ideal for investors who are looking at short-term, mid-term or long-term wealth creation! It also comes with options like MoneyBack & Monthly Dividend Feature.

Features of ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund
Features of ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund

So, irrespective of whether you are a novice/seasoned investor or have idea about MF/Stock Market, ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund can be an ideal investment option since it brings in mix of investment in Debt & Equity Markets. Since income doesn’t have holidays, ensure that your money is invested in the right place at the right time! We sign-off with this famous quote

Money is always made by the people who go against the cycle, never go with the cycle.

If you have invested in ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund, please leave your feedback on the fund in the comments section…

Disclaimer – Mutual Fund investments are subject to market risks, read all scheme related documents carefully

eBay India will celebrate its Loudest Diwali Ever by hosting the first ever fb live gaming event for its consumers called Dhanbola (online tambola). Hosted by India’s best stand-up comedian Zakir Khan, Dhanbola will be live on Tuesday, October 25, 2016 from 4:00-5:00 pm on eBay India fb page.

Over 5.6 million consumers on ebay.in will get codes that will entitle them to participate in live Dhanbola event and stand a chance to win a MacBook Pro, an Apple iPhone 7 or a Philips Bluetooth speaker.

Dhanbola is also an opportunity for eBay India to reinforce its TVC campaign #ThingsDontJudge, as Zakir Khan will be hosting his Diwali party on the fb page of eBay India.

Commenting on this initiative, Shivani Suri, Director Marketing, eBay India said

Our recently launched TVC campaign #ThingsDontJudge struck a chord with consumers from different walks of life. Dhanbola is yet another industry first from eBay India to not only deepen our engagement with consumers on a platform which is preferred by them but also to celebrate the spirit of the upcoming festivities.

Apart from ‘Dhanbola’, eBay shoppers will be given a chance to engage with Zakir Khan through several additional activities.  Consumers can challenge the host for either a ‘Truth or Dare’, and/or a real time “Roast the Host”.

eBay offers consumers the option to make purchases via EMI through ICICI, Citibank and HDFC credit cards. All purchases are covered under the eBay Guarantee which ensures refund or replacement in case a consumer is unhappy with the purchase.

About eBay India

eBay India is a leading online marketplace and shopping destination in India where thousands of entrepreneurs list over 10 crore products across Electronics, Lifestyle, Collectibles and Media categories. eBay India is a 100% subsidiary of eBay Inc.

Intex Technologies expanded its Consumer Durables portfolio with the launch of environment and health friendly Air Purifiers. Christened Good Air, these air purifiers will not only keep a control on the harmful particulate matter especially PM2.5 that causes fatal respiratory disorders, but also remove bacteria and viruses from the surrounding. This is the fourth product category to be launched by Intex in the Consumer Durables segment after LED TVs, Washing Machines and Refrigerators.

Intex Air Purifiers come in 4 models – AP 215, AP 330, AP 380 & AP 450. They will be available exclusively on Amazon at a competitive price range of Rs. 11,999 to Rs 25,999.

Key features include UV Sterilization technology that eliminates bacteria and viruses, removes up to 99.99% of Pollen, Allergens, Fine Dust and clinging odors and purifies polluted air. The purifier comes with a Pre-Filter, which stops larger particles along with HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arrestor) dust collection technology and an in-built ionizer. In the high-end models, consumers can view real-time PM2.5 digital display to gauge pollutants levels in the room.

Nidhi Markanday, Director & Business Head, Consumer Durable & IT Peripherals, Intex Technologies said

Entering into the air purifier segment is driven by current environmental situation and consumer demand to live smart and breathe fresh. At Intex, we are always on the lookout for growth opportunities in the market which can be complemented with our consumer demand. We have been aggressively expanding our consumer durables portfolio and Good Air is one of the unique additions to this segment.Happy to partner with Amazon for bringing Intex Air Purifier exclusively to consumers and are sure of expanding our online reach.

For convenience, Intex Air Purifiers are pre-equipped with filter replacement indicators. Good Air, with four models, will cater to room sizes from up to 250 sq.ft. to 500 sq.ft. and can be operated through a remote control for convenience.

With air pollution levels in India touching alarming heights, Air purifiers are not a luxury anymore but rather have become a necessity. Air Pollution is the fifth largest killer in the world and due to leaks in windows and doors, the air in our homes is replaced by the hazardous outside air every few hours. This exposure causes problems such as aggravation of asthma, lung cancer and other respiratory symptoms. Air Purifiers are the perfect solution to fighting this menace and saving precious lives.

Good Air will be available Exclusively on Amazon

Snapdeal, India’s largest marketplace announced another exciting offer on the iPhone 7, with a whopping Rs. 7000 discount. The phones will go on sale at noon today, and will continue till noon 21st October or until the stocks last.

Image Source – ET

As Diwali inches closer, home products and large appliances continued to fly off the shelves with LED TVs, two-in-One Notepads and Air Conditioners being sold in large numbers. With winters fast approaching, Geysers, Room Heaters and Quilts were also a popular choice. The concerns about pollution, with the onset of winters, were reflected in the heavy purchases of Air Purifiers, with Delhi residents among the top buyers.

Additionally, Snapdeal Puja Store items attracted large scale buying interest, with Lakshmi Yantras being the most sought after products. Among religious items, havan kunds, rudrakash beads and lakshmi yantras were the best sellers. Over 2 lakhs decorative LED lights and lanterns were sold on 19th October – day 1 of the 3-day sale.

Travel related merchandize showed an uptake, with over 8142 people buying luggage items and suitcases on Snapdeal on day 1 of the sale. Property options were popular across metro hubs like Mumbai Metropolitan Region, followed by Noida and Bangalore. Apartments less than 1 crore in value generated maximum consumer interest.

Speaking about the offers, Saurabh Bansal, Vice President & Head, Category Management said

The response to Unbox Diwali continues to get bigger and better with every sale event. This is a big validation of the Diwali special assortment we have been able to create for our customers, our superior customer service, and a range of attractive offers. We are thankful to our customers for the continuing tremendous response.

During the last two days of the sale, Snapdeal customers can look forward to attractive offers on a range of popular products across categories with tempting deals across:

  • Panasonic Full HD LED Television
  • Maharaja Whiteline Water Heaters
  • Oppo A37 (16GB) phones
  • Hindware Chimneys with free installation
  • Lenovo Power Banks
  • Watches – Guess, Daniel Klein & more
  • Handbags: Lavie| Caprese | Diana Korr and more
  • Philips Hair Straightners

 

About Snapdeal

Snapdeal’s vision is to create India’s most reliable and frictionless commerce ecosystem that creates life-changing experiences for buyers and sellers. In February 2010, Kunal Bahl along with Rohit Bansal, started Snapdeal. Today Snapdeal is India’s largest online marketplace, with the widest assortment of 50 million plus products across 1000+ categories from over 125,000 regional, national, and international brands and retailers. With millions of users and more than 300,000 sellers, Snapdeal is the shopping destination for Internet users across the country, delivering to 6000+ cities and towns in India. For further information please visit visit Snapdeal

With the onset of the festive season, dreading to drive yourself on the roads due to crazy traffic and parking problems? Fret no further, Google today announced that users can now find directions and choose from a menu of ride service options straight from its Google Search App or through the mobile search browser.

Image Source - TaxiMobility
Image Source – TaxiMobility

This feature was made  available on the latest version of Google Maps earlier this year- featuring a dedicated tab with information for cab services in addition to the existing driving, public transport, or walking options.

Now with this integration, commuters across the country can ask Google for directions, and book ride services directly from Google Search. They will get to see a tab for ride services, both Uber and Ola, with fare estimates and pick up times if a car is available near their location.

On request for specific information such as Taxi to Bangalore airport or more specifically Uber to Bangalore airport or Ola to Bangalore airport, the app/browser directs the user to select a service and automatically opens the app to book the ride, all in just one tap. In cases where the app is not installed on the device, Google Search will show a link to install the app.

Sanket Gupta, Program Manager, Google said

Choosing the best transit option can be a task at times, our aim is to help users simplify their everyday travel. With this, users will be able to order, explore and make quick comparisons about the best estimated taxi fare directly from Google Search results on their mobile

If you have tried booking a cab through Google Search, do share your experience in the comments section.

National Instruments (NI), the provider of systems that enable engineers and scientists to solve the world’s greatest engineering challenges, successfully hosted the 13th edition of NIDays – an annual conference on graphical system design – in Bangalore. The event was attended by over 500 engineers, scientists, and experts from Industry and Academia who discussed the trends, opportunities and challenges that lie in the future of connected systems.

At the seminar, NI India launched the latest version of its flagship product, LabVIEW 2016, with enhancements in acquiring, processing and managing data from remote data acquisition systems. NIDays offered 21 technical sessions and tutorials along with a wide range of products and application demonstrations. Speakers and exhibitors from various industries joined the event. The diverse set of panellists shared their ideas on trends in communication systems, embedded electronics, security and automated test systems that address the challenges and opportunities for the next generation of connected systems.

Addressing the media at the event, Jayaram Pillai, Managing Director – National Instruments, said

Over the last 18 years in India, we have built a strong ecosystem of partners, proficient developers and successful customers and this ecosystem has enabled our customers to innovate. It’s inspiring to see the amount of innovation and true technological advancements at this year’s NIDays. The continuous dedication and leadership I’ve seen from the engineering community is awe-inspiring and I’m excited for the future of engineering.

Commenting on the success of the event, Ajit Gokhale, Senior VP Global Marketing, National Instruments, said

As the world becomes more and more connected, the immense amount of data available today provides the engineers and scientists with a wide variety of insights, but getting the right insight can be a challenge! We continue to help our customers stay ahead of the curve through our platform-based approach and cutting-edge technology advances in application areas such as the Internet of Things (IoT) or the development of 5G networks by creating tools that help engineers solve real world challenges, accurately, efficiently and rapidly.

NI’s tools have proven to be instrumental in the success of a lot of Indian customers and their applications. This year, NI added various new products to the list of these tools aimed at accelerating the productivity of engineers and researchers working in the areas of IoT, 5G, industrial automation, etc. Some of these tools enable applications that previously seemed too ambitious because of their complexities.

The new range of products launched at the event includes:

  • High-performance PXI instrumentation for processing and sensing at the edge
  • MIMO Application Framework which provides wireless researchers with a fully open reference solution to accelerate 5G prototyping
  • Early access technology platform for TSN which delivers mechanisms to create distributed, synchronized, hard real-time systems over standard Ethernet
  • NI Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) Simulator which helps drive down the cost of test for customers
  • Software-centric NI PXI Digital Pattern Instrument used by semiconductor characterization and production test engineers to drive down the cost of their tests and ensure product quality

 

To accelerate engineering skills development in India, NI also hosted its annual Engineering Impact Awards 2016 aimed at recognizing the most innovative projects based on NI software and hardware and NIYANTRA awards 2016 recognizing the best graphical system design created by budding engineering students.

Engineering Impact Awards

NI’s annual technical application contest – Engineering Impact Awards, enabled NI customers to showcase innovative projects based on NI software and hardware. The contest this year had a total of 40 teams and the winners got a chance to participate in the Global Engineering Impact Awards held in Austin annually during NIWeek.

This year, Captronics won in the ‘Application of the Year’ and ‘NI Alliance Partner of the year’ categories. They developed an application to determine the location of a bullet on a target system using NI CompactRIO Platform. National Aerospace Laboratories won in the ‘Systems Category’ for their design and development of structural health monitoring system comprising of SyncVIEW, DiagnoseVIEW, QuickVIEW for aircraft composite structures. Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad won in the ‘Academic Category’ for developing a closed loop control of three phase inverter voltage using NI LabVIEW FPGA and cRIO.

Niyantara Awards

In order to foster the spirit of innovation in engineering students and expose them to the essence of experiential education through a contest, NI hosted its annual student design contest NIYantra 2016. This contest, held over a period of six months, helped the undergraduate engineers design their project ideas and convert them into working models using NI hardware and software. 

This year, NIYantra 2016 witnessed submissions from more than 950+ teams, out of which 18 teams made it to the finals. The results of the competition were announced at NIDays 2016. Sri Eshwar College of Engineering won the NIYANTRA 2016 awards for creating an innovative path detector designed for visually challenged. Teams from Vivekanand Education Society’s Institute Of Technology and K.J. Somaiya College of Engineering were the runners-up. The team from Kumaraguru College of Technology was also recognized for their efforts.