All Posts by Himanshu Sheth

|In: Business|Last Updated:

NASSCOM organized the NASSCOM Diversity & Inclusion Summit 2015 with ‘Empowering Inclusion’ as the core theme. The summit witnessed industry leaders share insights on the need to include diversity as a business imperative by energizing with the agenda of inclusive growth.

NASSCOM & NTT DATA also announced the launch of ‘Ntercept’ a mobile based safety application for women, aimed at creating a secure working environment for employees of the sector.

Earlier engineering was considered the exclusive domain of men. However, that has now evolved, with almost 50% of entry level workforce in the IT/ITES companies represented by women. Over the last few years the industry has also been actively pursuing inclusion of people with disabilities as well as encouraging an overall inclusive work culture.

The Summit witnessed speakers from all walks of life sharing best practices on the organizational initiatives that encourage inclusion. A few key thought leaders highlighted innovative programs that have worked in many organizations and shared perspective on driving the inclusivity journey to the next level across the industry.

Speaking at the occasion Mr. R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM

The Indian IT and ITES Industry is a successful model that demonstrates the power of creating an inclusive and diverse work environment. Diversity as we now know is not just about gender and our next imperative is to unravel the various elements that impact the culture of organizations. Knowledge of generational diversity from a cultural point of view is also very important with a deeper understanding of what each generation values at both the individual and organizational scale. We at NASSCOM will continue to work with the government and NGO’s to aid and assist companies in their diversity and inclusion journey and honoring these companies in their endeavors to encourage best practice.

On the sidelines of the event, NASSCOM also declared the winners of the NASSCOM Corporate Awards for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion to recognize and honor companies that have adopted and implemented policies and practices to promote inclusion as well as enabled employees to contribute towards the success of their enterprise across all levels. This year, the nominations were across three different categories i.e.Excellence in Gender Inclusivity, Excellence in Inclusivity for Persons with Disabilities and Excellence in Leadership (Individual) for Promotion of Diversity & Inclusion.

Nasscom_Awards

|In: Review|Last Updated:

Few weeks back, we had reviewed “College Review Website” – CollegeDunia, after which we received lot of requests from our readers which varied from request to connect with the founder[s], asking for specific college reviews etc. with Indian Institute of Science[IISC] & Amity University topping the list. In this article, we review IISC Bengaluru w.r.t user-reviews, fee structure etc.

Note – This review is based on user-request & the author has no affiliations with IISc/CollegeDunia.

Indian Institute of Science [IISc]

Indian Institute of Science [IISc] is a public university for scientific research and higher education located in Bengaluru.. Established in 1899 unofficially with active support from Jamshetji Tata it is also locally known as the “Tata Institute”. It is an institute that has produced scientists and scholars of the highest repute and takes pride in the presence of a faculty that has dedicated its time and talent towards creating individuals who would take India to the peak of success.

IISc is a pioneer in field of research & also has an Entrepreneurship cell. You can read about IISc Admissions at IISc Admissions link & here.

Courses & Fee Structure

IISc offers range of courses in variety of fields from Agriculture, Electrical Engineering, Signal Processing, Telecom etc. Below is the complete list of courses with the complete Fee Structure. The complete list of courses are listed at the Courses offered in IISc link.

PS – [Click on the image to enlarge]

CoursesIISc

To know more about IISc, please follow IISc Group on Quora some interesting questions can be found here, here

For more information, please visit IISc on CollegeDunia.

|In: Books|Last Updated:

Every person in life has dreams & aspirations but many times or should we say, most of the times “Plans remain plans” & finally, things divert into an unplanned direction. But, it all depends on the individual & his/her capability to bounce back !!! Well, if this sounds “interesting & inspiring”, than you should definitely get your hands on Varun Gautam’s novel “The Symbol”. Today, we review Varun’s first novel – The Symbol

About the author

Varun Gautam is an engineer [from Pantnagar University] turned author. He has brief stint of around 8+ years in HCL Technologies. As mentioned on his website, he was always interested or passionate about writing & “The Symbol” is an amalgamation of fictional & factual experiences. Varun is reachable at varungautam13@gmail.com

Detailed Review

SymbolLooking at the book cover, one might mistaken this book as a sci-fi thriller but as mentioned above it is a “mixture of facts & fiction”. The story revolves around three characters – Dhruv, Mohan & Arjun. It is very common that people or more often friends are compared with each other based on multiple factors i.e. salary, house & many other materialistic things.

Mohan & Arjun – two friends have their own plans & priorities; but as they say in Hindi “Allah Meharban to Gadha Pehalwan”, Mohan gets more than what he deserves. Arjun’s life takes a drastic twist when he fails to clear his IMS entrance exam & life becomes completely directionless !!! With life going no-where & Arjun completely dejected, he comes across a device “Symbol” & than starts a series of twists & turns !!!

Would the “Symbol” prove instrumental in solving Arjun’s problems or it would bring-in more problems ??? This is what 230 pages long power-packed novel is all about… We could draw a parallel-comparison with “Aftab Shivdasani’s short story in Darna Mana Hain” 🙂

Dhruv is Arjun’s cousin brother & he is narrating the story. It is a breezy read & it surely keeps readers hooked & also motivated !!! While reading the novel, I could feel myself in Arjun’s shoes since, failures & successes are part & parcel of “everyone’s” life.

Closing Thoughts

The book provides an “Edge Of the Seat” thriller experience & the “Plot” creates this experience !!! However, the details of the central character i.e. Symbol [whether it is a time-machine/some other gadget etc.] that changed Arjun’s life is not disclosed, it is left upto reader’s assumption !!!

Apart from this; the story, characters & perfect ending were well-thought off & were detailed to perfection. This is the first time we reviewed a book of this genre on our blog & we really enjoyed the whole journey :) At around 230 pages, “The Symbol” is a breezy read & surely provides “dose of inspiration” !!!

Final Verdict – 3/5

Thanks to Varun Gautam for sending a review copy of “The Symbol” !!!

Buy “The Symbol” from Flipkart by clicking the below link

|In: General|Last Updated:

Handling elevator maintenance is a job that often requires a professional with ample experience and certification. If you do not properly service these interior vehicles, you could be putting your visitors at risk. You would service your car. You would make sure that the entire vehicle was working properly. Why wouldn’t you do the same thing for the elevators in your building? If you don’t, you could be putting many people’s lives on the line as a result. The good news is there are professionals who can help you with this process.

Learn About Training

Hiring someone to handle elevator maintenance means you are turning to a professional with ample education and training. Most will need to be certified. Look for those who have IUEC certification. You need to ensure that these professionals are able to provide service to your building. Most often, this is a requirement of your city’s building code. However, each city has different requirements for those it allows to perform any type of repair or to work to maintain these systems. Be sure that the company you hire is able to verify that the professionals working for it have the proper certification and training.

Another important step to look for is ongoing training. The National Elevator Industry Educational Program, or NEIEP, is an organization that ensures that individuals who are working in this industry have proper training and education. However, this is not a one-time situation. Rather, you will want to ensure that anyone who is going to work on these systems for you is getting the recurring training they need through this program or an in-house program. This is not something that you want to see the corners cut on.

Look for Expertise

Just because he or she has training does not mean the professional is experienced. There are various types and models of elevators available today. You want to make sure that the person or people you bring into the business to handle your needs actually have expertise with the type of system you have. Generally speaking, if you have a very old system, you need someone who has experience to know how to handle the repairs. Yet, you may have something that is very new, too. That also requires an experienced professional.

When it comes down to it, elevator maintenance is not something you can put off or avoid. If you do, the building department is likely to shut your elevators down, and that would cause a problem for anyone who is using them on a regular basis. You cannot handle this maintenance on your own. Have a professional elevator consultant team come in and help you to do it.

|In: Business|Last Updated:

IndiaMART, India’s leading online marketplace for businesses, announced the launch of its Mobile Application for Windows operating system. The Mobile App would assist the Windows users in finding the right business partners, even while on the move. Buyers could easily fulfil their requirements by searching for relevant suppliers, comparing prices, sending enquiries, posting requirements, etc., any-time and anywhere, by using a smart and intuitive, yet simple interface. The Mobile App is available for download on the Windows Store and has been designed for Windows 08 and above.

According to Dinesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO, IndiaMART

The industry has been evolving each day, to drive the customer experience a notch higher every time. As per statistics, India is the second biggest user of Windows phone in the world, with a user base of 7.5%. Having registered over 5 lakh App downloads on the Android & iOS platforms, we strongly felt that the launch of the Windows App was important and inevitable. We are extremely confident that our new initiative would open up an array of business opportunities for Windows users.

 

Mobile has proved to be an important medium for our business, with about 40% of the traffic on IndiaMART coming through mobile. Also, we have found that the average time being spent on IndiaMART Mobile App is more than the average time spent on our mobile site, clearly pointing towards a growing importance and usage of Apps. We are delighted to see a good response for our Windows App so far, with over 20,000 installations already witnessed within a few days of its launch. We expect this to grow further, and help more and more buyers and sellers grow their businesses.

The App also provides various benefits to the sellers, especially to the small and medium enterprises, by facilitating on-the-go business for them. IndiaMART Windows App supports exclusive features for individual seller accounts, as well as detailed product listing view as per categories and sub-categories, among many interesting aspects.

With this new App on Windows, IndiaMART is the only online marketplace, with its mobile application available on all major platforms, including Android, iOS, and Blackberry.

Do give IndiaMart Windows App a spin & share your feedback/comments.

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated:

Nasscom_10000Startups

With more than 3,000 tech start-ups, India is the fourth largest base for young businesses in the world and it is expected that by 2020 the base will increase to 11,500 tech start-ups. This along with other interesting findings were revealed in ‘Tech Start-up in India: A Bright Future’ a study report by National Association of Software and Services Companies [NASSCOM] and Zinnov.

The report suggests that the Indian start-ups with their unique solutions are witnessing increased traction in global whitespace opportunities such as Internet of Things, Augmented Reality, Smart hardware, Business Intelligence & many more.

With technology spreading its wings into different domains, “Domain+Tech’ solutions are taking over other trends”. The emerging niche technology solutions are primarily focused on Ad-tech, Edu-tech, Health-tech, Agri-tech & many more. Geographically, Bangalore & National Capital Region [NCR] tops the chart for being home to maximum number of young businesses.

The findings also highlight that many trends are maturing in the ecosystem, especially funding aspect. Multiple and easily accessible platform like VC/PE, angel investors, incubators, financial institutes and even banks, are the driving force for the same.

Commenting on the new evolution of the ecosystem, Mr. Rajat Tandon, Senior Director, NASSCOM 10,000 Startups, added [Note : We in the article refers to NASSCOM 10,000 Startups]

These latest findings clearly indicate the beginning of the golden era for young tech-based businesses where opportunities for growth are much larger than the challenges in the ecosystem. We are proud to be once again at the cutting edge in helping to support a growing niche within this field and we are excited to ink new partnerships as we close the year to accelerate our efforts in that direction.

NASSCOM’s 10,000 Start-ups program has successfully paved way for 3 inevitable trends that are shaping the Indian economy with the potential to shake things up: Digitalization, Faster innovation cycles &the rise of young, ambitious talent. Start-ups are both a consequence and an accelerating catalyst of these trends. It’s exciting to be here, but we have much to do. This ecosystem is growing in scale and strength and as we move forward, we are focused towards domain specific strategic partnerships to drive it to the next level of maturity in FY 2015.

  1. The Program is partnering with AstroLabs Dubai, to navigate Indian Tech Startups to the MENA region. This association will give a tangible edge to support tech entrepreneurs emerging from the 10,000 Start-ups program, both with the physical space and with formal training programs.
  2. The Program’s partnership with ValPro, an investment banking & financial advisory services to leverage a web based platform “Enablers” which facilitates start-ups & SME’s to connect with HNI’s, Angels and VC’s for fund raising. It is a tool that makes entrepreneurs investor-ready and handhold them through various stages of fund raising.
  3. The Program inked another association with CampusEAI Consortium, a leader in the world of higher education information technology services. CampusEAI EduTech Venture Fund invests in early stage enterprise software, Internet and Mobile companies that target the education market or companies created from intellectual property technology transfer from colleges and universities.
  4. To support early-stage companies in Healthcare and Life-sciences domain, we partnered with Escape Velocity Accelerator to review applications for selecting entrepreneurs into its incubation program.

Speaking about the partnership, Anjli Jain, CEO of CampusEAI and Managing Director of CampusEAI’s EduTech Venture Fund stated

Our partnership with NASSCOM’s 10,000 Start-ups program gives us an opportunity to expand our portfolio and existing investments in India-based start-ups and provide early-stage entrepreneurs with the mentorship, guidance and funds they require to be successful. We look forward to working with NASSCOM and accelerating the mission of the 10,000 Start-ups initiative.

Speaking about the partnership, Mr. Muhammed Mekki, Founding Partner, AstroLabs stated:

We look forward to welcoming members of 10,000 Startups at AstroLabs Dubai, enabling their expansion into the growing Middle Eastern market and providing direct access to a region that has the highest smartphone penetration in the world.

Interesting info-graphic giving an in-depth view about the “Startup Landscape in India”

[Note : Click on the image to Enlarge]

Indian Startup Ecosystem - Click on the image to enlarge

*10,000 Start-ups is a NASSCOM initiative supported by Google for Entrepreneurs, Microsoft Ventures, Verisign, & Intel

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated:

Deshpande Foundation’s Sandbox Startups Incubator today announced the opening of applications for the Incubation Program. Designed in association with Microsoft Ventures the program will help accelerate growth for Tier-II & Tier-III cities based startups in the social and for profit space. The program will commence on March 1, 2015.

new-microsoft-logo-square-large

Applications will be accepted online through Sandbox Start-ups’ website. Deadline for submitting application is January 31, 2015.

Deshpande Foundation along with Microsoft Ventures will mentor the startups under this incubator and give them access to their well-established resources, opportunities & a pool of investors, experts, professionals & inspiring entrepreneurs.

Summing up the aims of the incubator program, Naveen Jha, CEO, Deshpande Foundation India said

Sandbox Startups is a living laboratory and test bed for promising new ideas. It essentially gives contextual understanding for startups, so they can create innovative products particularly relevant to India. We provide budding entrepreneurs with a launch pad to help them realize the potential for entrepreneurship, all the way from testing product ideas and building prototypes, to setting up a viable enterprise. Nanopix-ISS, Safehands24x7, Nextdrop, Aquasafi and Logistimo are some startups that have grown multi-fold with support from Sandbox Startups.

Speaking at the occasion, Rajinish Menon, Director, Microsoft Ventures, India mentioned

When it comes to startups, today entire India is buzzing with innovation, not just the Metros. Microsoft Ventures and Deshpande Foundation have designed this program to ensure these startups have a level playing field and same opportunities which is available to a startup in Bangalore or Delhi. In last few years, under the Partnered Accelerator Programs, Microsoft Ventures has joined hands with various incubators and accelerators in India to develop initiatives and boost the Indian startup community and extend Microsoft’s offering to a wider audience. This program has already enabled and empowered hundreds of startups in India. Through our Partner Accelerator Program and other initiatives, we are working towards accelerating the startup ecosystem in India and Deshpande Foundation is one of our key partners in realizing that vision.

30 startups will be selected for incubation at Sandbox Startups’ incubation centres in Hubli [Karnataka] & Nizamabad [Telangana]. The incubation program looks to support for-profit or social startups with innovative product/service with a potential to disrupt markets and create impact on masses. The program is open for startups from all sectors.

About Sandbox Startups

Founded in early 2009, Sandbox Startups is being nurtured by visionaries and successful entrepreneurs. Over the years, Sandbox Startups has become a hotbed for startups and it has supported over 100 ideas scale.

About Deshpande Foundation

The Deshpande Foundation, founded by global business leader and philanthropist Dr.Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande and Mrs. Jaishree Deshpande, has operations in India, Canada and the USA. The Foundation is building an ecosystem of resources to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. The Foundation’s efforts surround around the unique “Social Innovation Sandbox” in Hubli, Karnataka & Nizamabad, Telangana to create an ecosystem similar to Silicon Valley with focus on Social Entrepreneurship.

In the last eight years, the “Sandbox” has gained remarkable success having supported over 100 Non-profit & Social organisations, proved over a dozen proofs of concepts for social innovation and impacted over six million people. For more information, visit Deshpande Foundation website.

|In: Embedded|Last Updated:

IntelLogo

Intel India hosted its first ever two-day “Intel India Innovation Conclave” in Bengaluru to reiterate its commitment towards accelerating innovation in the country and as part of its valedictory session announced the winners of the Intel India Embedded Challenge 2014 [Intel IEC 2014]

Key Highlights

  • 4th Intel India Embedded Challenge completed
  • 2400 registrations received, 650 innovative ideas shortlisted and 40 prototypes displayed at Intel India Innovation Conclave
  • Intel IEC finalists mentored by over 50 technologists from Intel India
  • Introduced “IoT devices & Intelligent Systems” as a new category; other categories include “Smart Solutions for Social Causes” & “Wearable Computing”.

The Intel India Innovation Conclave offers a collaborative platform to enhance synergy amongst Government policy makers, academia and industry; to share knowledge and promote innovation which is a key imperative to foster national competitiveness & growth. This year’s conclave included discussions and deliberations on the importance of innovation and its role in nation building.

The Intel IEC 2014, set within the framework of the Conclave helped stimulate an environment of exciting innovation as it showcased 40 new ideas from young innovators through prototype demos displayed over two days. These projects have potential to evolve into useful business models in the near future.

The focus of Intel India Embedded Challenge is on designing embedded solutions around a wide range of application areas.  As a part of the Intel Higher Education Program, this competition enables and mentors young innovations to scale up their level of thinking and creativity. Moreover, Intel IEC offers a strong mentorship platform where Intel technologists volunteer their time and expertise to mentor each team to develop and prototype their innovation using hardware platforms provided by Intel. The participants in this contest get to architect, design and develop novel embedded applications in areas such as – Consumer Electronics, Digital Security Surveillance, Medical, Education, Storage and In-Vehicle Infotainment amongst others.

A special jury comprising of Intel executives, Government representatives and academia shortlisted 6 best projects out of the 40 prototypes at display. These 40 working models were selected from 650 innovative ideas submitted by students and working professionals from across India. Intel IEC awards cash prizes of INR 15,00,000 to the winners, including two Grand Prizes of INR 5,00,000 each and a Jury Popular Choice Award and a Woman Innovator of the Year Award.

The winners of the Intel India Embedded Challenge 2014 are [Click on image to enlarge]

Intel_Awards

The winners of Intel IEC 2014 were chosen on the basis of achieving the engineering goals, clarity and lateral thinking, project viability and the success of their prototype. The Contest showcased a range of exciting project ideas, designed and developed on the Intel Atom & Intel Galileo platforms across multiple application areas.

Speaking on the occasion Ms. Kumud Srinivasan, President, Intel India said

Intel India is committed towards advancing innovation & entrepreneurship, accelerating digital access and empowering communities in the country. The Intel India Innovation Conclave further reinforces that commitment. And it was truly gratifying to see the key collaborators in this journey come together through this novel platform and collaborating on this endeavor. We are very excited to see a wide display of bright innovations from young engineering students and professionals at this event.  A platform like this truly celebrates the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship; I congratulate the winners and the participants for their exemplary contributions.

Since 2010, the Contest has reached out to over 12000 young engineering students & professionals, over 2000 innovation proposals were submitted and over 100 innovations were prototyped till date.

The Intel Education Initiative is Intel’s sustained commitment to prepare students, with the skills required to thrive in the knowledge economy and face the challenges of the 21st century world by advocating excellence in K-12 education, teacher education, science, math and engineering education. Intel Education Programs are present in more than 70 countries. Intel Higher Education Program works with reputed engineering institutions across India to promote technical education and research in academia.

Image Source : Intel Logo from Wikimedia