Aeris, a technology leader in the Internet of Things [IoT], has announced its partnership with Hello Tractor in Africa to launch Tractors-as-a-Service in India and the ASEAN region in the session ‘India-Africa–ASEAN: Internet of Things [IoT] in Agriculture‘ organized in association with The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry [FICCI] in New Delhi. Industry leaders and diplomats from Indian, ASEAN and African embassies in New Delhi were part of this event.
With the Aeris IoT platform, called Aeris Mobility Platform [also known as AMP], tractor tracking, utilization time and billing is simplified, based on time in the field and area covered. Our partnership enables the pay-as-you-use model for small holding farmers to use tractors with innovative commercial models. Hello Tractor’s innovative use of IoT simplifies complex data to ensure transparency, profitability, and accountability across the ecosystem of farmers, tractor owners, tractor dealers, original equipment manufacturers, banks, and governments.
The Tractor Owner App includes tools such as, service request management, tractor and fleet management, operator performance, and activity tracking. Using the technology to their advantage, the farmers are able to plant 40 times faster at one-third the cost. The digital IoT platform is making it easy and profitable for tractor owners to monetize their machines as business assets whilst improving the livelihood of rural farmers.
The session was presided over by Ambrish Bakaya, Co-Chair of FICCI ICT and Digital Economy Initiative. Tractors form an integral part of farm mechanization and have a crucial role to play in increasing agricultural productivity. In ASEAN, per capita arable land area is 0.12 hectare, among the smallest in the world. Across the regions, the small landholdings make it unviable for farmers to own agri-machinery and implements like tractors, rotary and power tillers, rotators, seed drillers and other efficient farm equipment. In India less than 30 percent of farmers use the necessary equipment that facilitates productive and profitable work. Farmers can barely afford high-cap equipment and often take loans to buy them. This often adds onto the financial burden in a bad crop yield season. Also, small farmers often lack knowledge about modern farming practices or struggle to finance farm operations.
India, Africa and ASEAN has its roots in agrarian societies and agriculture occupies a special role in the socioeconomic development. It is an important driver for social, inclusive growth; an essential source of export earnings; a guarantor of food availability to its citizens; and a source of employment directly and through agriculture-related, value adding activities. Leveraging the partnership with Hello Tractor in the African region, Aeris India brings on-demand farming capabilities to the predominantly agrarian economies of India and ASEAN.
There is no doubt agricultural mechanization is having an impact on Indian, African and ASEAN farmers’ efficiency, resource management, and productivity. The magnitude of that impact moving forward will largely depend on the private sector, government, and the public working together. Hello Tractor and Aeris have partnered to make a significant step toward amplifying this positive impact in India, Africa and the APAC region. This alliance will help farmers access more affordable, dependable, and transparent tractor services that can make a real difference in shaping the future of agriculture.
Our world has many challenges to solve and we at Aeris are committed to delivering innovative technology solutions to serve the unserved. Majority of the farmers in the predominantly agrarian societies, such as India and ASEAN countries, have less than five acres of land and can barely afford high-cap equipment.
We wanted to help the farmer by offering accessible and affordable farm mechanized equipment service and enable economic advancement. After successful alliance with Hello Tractor to enable ‘Tractor-as-a-Service’ in Africa, we are now launching this in India and the ASEAN region. The service eliminates the need to invest upfront and brings down the operational costs with the pay-as-you-use model for small holding farmers.
About Hello Tractor
Hello Tractor is focused on improving smallholder farmer’s access to timely and affordable tractor services along with other farm inputs. Their technology makes it easy and profitable for tractor owners to a. Monetize tractors as business assets and b. Connect with farmers to schedule tractor services. Hello Tractor’s innovative use of IoT [Internet of Things] simplifies complex data to ensure transparency, profitability, and accountability across our ecosystem of farmers, tractor owners, tractor dealers, original equipment manufacturers, banks, and governments.
In a recently organized stakeholder’s consultation, members of the Internet and Mobile Association of India [IAMAI] raised concerns about the possible impact of the Data Protection Bill on the Tech startup sector in India.
The first and most important concern emanates from the insurmountable difficulty of collecting and processing personal data proposed in the draft Bill. Restrictive clauses around purpose limitation, storage limitation and collection limitation will make it very difficult for startups and potential startups to get into the data business. Restrictive norms of consent including ‘bearing the burden of proof of consent‘, being responsible for the correctness of the data collected will add to the difficulties of data fiduciaries.
In addition, poorly defined benchmark for ‘significant data fiduciaries‘ leaves the room wide open even for mid-sized data companies the onerous burden of compliance such periodic data audit, data protection impact assessments including permission from the proposed Data Protection Authority for every new technology introduced.
Finally in case of accidental or involuntary non-compliance with any of the provisions of the law invites heavy fines which most of the startups are not in a position to pay and criminal charges that are most undesirable.
IAMAI members point out that collection and processing of first hand data for monetization is the only lifeline for startups. Such data is also critical for analyzing customer preference and response, designing and fine-tuning services, identifying key revenue streams, targeted marketing and promotion.
In the new regime, the absence of avenues to collect primary data from users, startups would be forced to depend on incumbent businesses for ‘anonymized data‘ that does not come within the ambit of this Bill. Incumbents may refuse to share data with potential competitors, or demand premium price for anonymized data products. Going forward, such incumbents can become the gatekeepers to the tech sector. This does not augur well for a competitive space required to promote tech startups.
Some other members of the association who are mid-sized startups with ambitions to expand in overseas market feared that their plans may be scuttled by the provisions of data localization. Other countries where they are expanding may retaliate by demanding reciprocal data localization. Data localization also forces Indian startups to look for more expensive and inefficient local solutions.
On the whole, with ease of doing business being still relatively difficult for startups; creation of an additional and complex regulator in the form of Data Protection Authority with ill defined mandate will make things much more difficult for Indian tech startups.
About IAMAI
The Internet and Mobile Association of India [IAMAI] is a young and vibrant association with ambitions of representing the entire gamut of digital businesses in India. It was established in 2004 by the leading online publishers, but in the last 14 years has come to effectively address the challenges facing the digital and online industry including mobile content and services, online publishing, mobile advertising, online advertising, e-commerce and mobile & digital payments among others.
The association is registered under the Societies Act and is a recognized charity in Maharashtra. With a membership of nearly 300 Indian and overseas companies, and with offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, the association is well placed to work towards charting a growth path for the digital industry in India. For more information, please visit IAMAI
Microsoft announced grants to seven recipients from India under AI for Earth, its worldwide program aimed at empowering people and organizations to solve global environmental challenges through the power of AI. These grantees will receive access to Microsoft Azure and AI computing resources; in-depth education and technology trainings on these tools and additional support as the projects grow and mature. India now has the third largest concentration of AI for Earth grantees, following the United States and Canada – with the aim of accelerating innovation and building sustainable game changing solutions built on AI technologies and cloud computing.
Image Source – Microsoft
Commenting on the program, Lucas Joppa, Chief Environmental Officer, Microsoft Corporation and Lead for Microsoft AI for Earth, said
In every country around the world, we are facing unprecedented environmental challenges, impacting the ability to access water, grow healthy crops and protect biodiversity. At Microsoft, we’ve found that one thing was accelerating as quickly as the degradation of our planet’s natural resources, and that is technology. Through AI for Earth, we’re making sure that innovative environmental researchers, like the seven here in India, are empowered with Microsoft’s AI in the pursuit of creating a more sustainable future for us all.
The grantees from India, chosen based on their efforts to conserve, protect and rebuild the environment with AI, are
Agriculture
India Institute of Technology – together with the Technical University of Munich,the India Institute of Technology is designing a low-cost tool for monitoring plant health in resource-limited regions. Used directly in the field by farmers, the device will automate the process of disease diagnosis through image analysis on the Azure platform.
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics [ICRISAT], Hyderabad – ICRISAT is using AI, cognitive services, and cloud computing to enhance pest forecasting and prediction models and farm advisory services to enable sustainable agriculture production in developing parts of the world.
Biodiversity
Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment [ATREE], Bengaluru – ATREE is developing an AI-enabled tool to document and quantitatively assess the abundant habitats and rich biological resources of North-East India.
Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi – is working on an intelligent tool for identifying and locating monkeys in human habitats, helping researchers implement more effective population control.
Climate Change
Symbiosis Institute of Technology [Smart Meter Data Analytics], Pune – is using both smart meter and socio-economic data to develop an AI-enabled prototype for smart meter data analytics—helping improve energy management for utilities and consumers.
Water
India Institute of Science, Bangalore – is developing a scalable solution using data analytics and machine learning under its Eqwater project to ensure equitable water distribution in India’s large cities.
Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Pune – is developing Smart Environment Information and Management System [SEIMANS] to monitor and predict water, air and soil conditions for a variety of smart city applications, such as utilities and environmental monitoring.
According to Keshav Dhakad, Group Head and Assistant General Counsel – CELA, Microsoft India
At Microsoft, we believe AI for Earth will be a force multiplier for groups and individuals like these who are creating solutions for a more sustainable future for us all. Today’s announcement represents an expansion of Microsoft’s commitment to and investment in democratizing AI and advancing sustainability in the country. We congratulate the recipients and are excited by the potential for advances in AI and sustainability that will benefit India and the world.
AI for Earth is a $50 million, 5-year commitment from Microsoft to put AI at work for the future of the planet. Launched in July 2017, its focus areas are climate change, agriculture, biodiversity and water. In just a year, AI for Earth has grown from 20 grantees to 147 from across more than 40 countries, with $1.1M of Azure credits awarded to date.
To find out more about Microsoft’s AI for Earth initiative and how you can be a part of it, visit Microsoft AI for Earth
With the aim to provide a holistic home entertainment experience to all smart TV owners backed by uninterrupted and super-fast internet broadband speed, ACT Fibernet has launched the ‘smart tv ka smart choice’ plan. As part of this, customers purchasing any smart TV on Flipkart will be able to enjoy exciting offers and discounts on the company’s internet broadband plans.
ACT Fibernet will offer every eligible customer, upon purchase of a 6 months subscription, two months free internet subscription with an additional 1500 GB data and a free wireless router. Offer valid on all Smart TV purchases made on Flipkart beginning 3rd September 2018 to 30th November 2018 across all 15 cities where the company has presence.
How to avail the offer
Customer to provide proof of purchase – Flipkart Order ID, Flipkart Invoice date along with Name, Mobile, Email, Complete Address on ACT website
ACT Fibernet to verify the purchase with Flipkart and out-call the customer, confirm the offer, check for feasibility in customer location and proceed with installation.
ACT Fibernet to provide new connection within a period of 10 working days.
Existing customers of ACT Fibernet are also eligible for the upgrade sans the router
Offer to be redeemed before 31st December 2018.
Customer is also free to choose any other offer from ACT Fibernet that is currently available in their respective market.
The below table captures the plan details across cities
Internet of Things [IoT] has become one of the most popular terminologies, especially when the discussion is about creating an overall connected eco-system. As per a report by Gartner on IoT, there might be around 20 billion connected things by 2020 and it is already having a profound impact on every business segment, be it automotive, energy, transportation, etc.
IoT has been instrumental in the creation of new business models, transformation of businesses to the digital front and helped enterprises improve the overall operational efficiency. Though there has been a lot of discussion about the growing usage of IoT in the consumer devices, it is playing a very important role in the transformation of the Manufacturing industry, also called as Industrial IoT [IIoT].
Indian enterprise Sasken has deep-rooted expertise in industrial analytics, building scalable solutions in the wearable, AR/VR space, automotive solutions, etc. Today, we have a chat with Mihir Kumar, Global Head of the Industrials Segment , Sasken Technologies Limited about Industry 4.0, IIOT, trends & challenges in IIOT, future of IoT & IIoT, etc.
Can you comment on the ‘Industrial’s BU’ that you are heading, and what are some of the ways in which Sasken is helping its customers in this segment?
With the advent of Industry 4.0, the industrial’s space is transforming, with machines becoming intelligent and digitally managed, plants becoming dynamic and data-driven, and operations getting augmented by Analytics, AI and AR. We are leveraging our Chip to Cognition expertise to deploy Product Engineering and Digital Transformation solutions for customers in the Industrials, Heavy Machinery and Rugged Devices space. We are enabling their Connected Product strategy and helping them design next-gen products that are connectedand intelligent.
We are also helping our marquee customers with IoT enablement of their legacy installed base through sensor engineering, edge engineering, and industrial connectivity solutions. In addition, we are partnering with Industrial companies to build intelligence across machines, devices, and plants by leveraging data analytics and machine learning. We are also addressing the complex needs around deploying IIoT platform, cloud enablement and enterprise mobility to enable Smart Manufacturing, Remote Asset Monitoring, Condition-based Maintenance, and Connected Field Service.
Can you throw light on the future of industry wearable technologies like smart helmets, body cameras etc. that are worn by factory employees, and more on what Sasken is doing in this field?
Technologies for smart wearables, AR/VR are fast becoming the next computing platform by fundamentally shifting the way information is relayed to the user and offering immediate access to critical data. Industrial sector, with the high labor cost or high cost of mistakes, has the great potential to achieve a significant return on investment with the adoption these technologies in use cases such as quality inspection, diagnostics, remote asset monitoring, equipment installations, field service and maintenance, work instructions, workforce training, and worker safety.
Sasken is enabling customers to build smart wearable products with varying form factors equipped with cloud-based analytics and industry-best low power technologies such as sensors, connectivity, and tracking solutions. In addition, we are focusing on deploying the solutions using AR/VR and wearables to enable a multitude of use cases such as
Expediting the product design using AR/VR solutions
Use of AR and wearables to improve quality and first-time fix ratio
AR-based Field Force Productivity Solutions that are used for service equipment/installations and for diagnostics by delivering real-time information at the point of use resulting in greater end-user satisfaction and lower cost of service
Why do you feel traditional Industrial companies are moving into the software & services business? How does Sasken as a ‘solutions provider’ keep up with the rapid changes in technology?
The recent emergence and confluence of disruptive software and technologies in the Industrial Internet space is blurring the lines between physical and digital in the Industrials sector. It is creating profound opportunities for traditional industrial companies with the disinter-mediation of value chains, opening up entirely new horizons for efficiency and productivity gains, transforming products into services, and bringing consumers closer to the manufacturers. This transformation is enabling incrementally transformative value for Industrial companies by optimizing their operations for greater performance, increasing asset utilization, predicting failures before they occur to avoid unplanned downtime, and enabling them to offer new business models [e.g. Product As A Service].
Our differentiated Chip to Cognition solutions position us uniquely to help our customers with their digital industrial transformation. We are working proactively with our partner ecosystem of leading semiconductor companies as well as leading technology and Industrial IoT platform firms such as PTC, Microsoft, AWS, Google and GE Digital. This enables us to get early access to emerging technologies and platforms from leading software OEMs and chip makers. Also, we leverage our world class hardware and software R&D labs in Finland and India, as well as our IPs and solutions for rapid prototyping and experimentation in emerging solutions.
What are some of the sectors where you feel IIoT is observing a sharp increase? Also, can you throw light on the overall market size, growth and relevant use-cases?
The adoption of Industrial IoT is currently led by large product manufacturers and asset heavy companies in industries such as industrial products, automotive, transportation, utilities, and oil & gas. This is because they have complex manufacturing processes and operations along with high-capital equipment that can benefit greatly from IIoT solutions and data-driven insights that drive more predictable, sustainable, resilient, and efficient processes.
Based on the collective insight gathered from the analysis of estimates from various market reports, our own research and the insights gathered from our customers and partners, I believe, the estimated size of current IoT market is around $120-$150 billion [inclusive of hardware, connectivity, applications, analytics, and services revenue]. I also expect a sustained growth over the next several years and the market could reach over $250-$300 billion by 2021, with an estimated CAGR of around 25%.
As far as usage of Industrial IoT is concerned, they are split between use cases for improving efficiency in internal operations and creating differentiating products and services. The majority of early adopters are pursuing use cases aimed at improving manufacturing operations, field service and predictive maintenance, and product design innovation. As industries move toward service-oriented business models, industrial companies are looking to leverage the same capabilities to monitor and optimize connected devices with their customers the same way they do internally. Companies are recognizing that reducing downtime [with predictive maintenance, remote service, etc.] continues to be a top priority for their customers. As a result, they are looking to capitalize on the opportunity to extend their footprint within the customer’s operations and monetize this highly strategic outcome.
Mihir Kumar, Global Head – Industrials Segment – Sasken
Apart from US, which are some of the emerging markets where you feel IoT/IIoT is seeing a huge growth and what is your analysis on the core reasons for growth in those markets?
Currently, there are several regional initiatives that are underway, which are accelerating the adoption of Industrial IoT. For instance, in Germany, there is Industrie 4.0 which is focused around hardware and smart machines required to enable digital manufacturing. In the United States, there is the Manufacturing USA initiative, which employs a more balanced approach of creating public-private partnerships aimed at overcoming technical IoT challenges. Regardless of their different approaches, these initiatives represent a worldwide push for standards and a continued adoption of industrial IoT.
Outside of US, currently Asia Pacific is rapidly adopting IIoT, owing to the rapid digitization and automation. Emerging economies such as China are investing massively in the R&D of industrial operations automation and has implemented IIoT in various industries. Japan is also a key contributor to the Asia Pacific market, led by the digital transformation in the manufacturing and automotive sectors.
How important is the role of security, power consumption, sensors, being hardware agnostic, etc. while developing IIoT solutions?
The architecture of an IIoT solution involves a large number of end-nodes [e.g., sensors] connected to aggregating devices [gateways], which in turn are connected to remote cloud platforms, applications and services. The functions of sensor nodes, their form factors, and target applications vary considerably and hence create the need for specific characteristics and requirements for the IIoT systems, such as
Energy Efficiency – Sensors nodes are characterized by low power draws and are often battery powered. Also, it is often difficult and costly to replace batteries. Hence IIoT solution needs to be highly energy efficient.
Hardware Agnostic solution – Owing to the diversity of hardware platforms available for various IIoT applications, it is important that the IIoT solutions support a variety of platforms to simplify inter-connectivity, drive standardization, and lower costs of ownership.
Network Connectivity & Protocol Support – Continuous connectivity to the network and to devices in immediate proximity is critical to IoT device operation. This requirement is achievable by providing support for a variety of connectivity protocols like Wi-Fi, Cellular, Bluetooth, etc.
Security – One of the biggest concerns in an IIoT solution is the cyber security and having everything linked to IoT is going to monumentally increase the vulnerabilities. It is imperative that the IIoT solution adhere to strict security expectations and meet stringent requirements imposed by deployments in sensitive and critical settings.
Small Memory Footprint – Sensor nodes are typically small and have limited memory available
Real-time Capabilities – Most of the IIoT applications are time critical and hence IIoT solutions need to perform similar to real-time operating systems that are deployed in industrial settings.
Where do you see the Industrial IoT sector heading in the future [in the next 3-5 years]?
The Industrial Internet of Things [IIoT] is set to become a multi-billion industry in the next three to five years. We are at an inflection point in terms of affordability and availability of IIoT, enabling the movement of IIoT from experimentation to business scale and making IIoT adoption and innovation more pervasive. With rapid advances in technologies, we are expected to see a few disruptive trends in the coming years such as:
Momentum for edge analytics and edge intelligence in the Industrial Internet of Things [IIoT] will accelerate. Edge computing will reduce security vulnerabilities for IIoT assets.
With the industrials space rapidly transforming and machines becoming more intelligent, operations will get augmented by AI, analytics and AR/VR.
Adoption of Advanced Analytics, Machine learning and Artificial Intelligence will fuel IIoT growth
Lower cost of technologies and IIoT will enable the acceleration in the adoption and growth of Digital Twin
Cloud adoption by factories and industrial facilities is expected to become imperative
With the increased deployment of IoT technologies, concerns around security, compliance, and privacy will become critical. As the IIoT environment explodes to create all of its anticipated benefits and competitive advantages, organizations will also need to adopt strategic approaches and innovative architectures that foster reliable, safe, secure work environments.
We thank Mihir Kumar for sharing his insights with our readers. If you have any questions for Mihir about Industry 4.0, IIoT, how your startup/enterprise can leverage capabilities of IIoT, etc. please email them here or share them via a comment to this article.
Uber Elevate announced five shortlisted finalist countries that could be home to the first international Uber Air City within the next five years. Additionally, Uber Elevate announced plans to experiment with drone delivery for Uber Eats, and demonstrated how potential Uber Air routes in Asia Pacific cities could benefit, and complement, local transportation systems.
We are proud to host the first ever Uber Elevate Asia Pacific Expo, showcasing the exciting future Uber Air can bring to the region and to the world. In pursuit of our first international launch market, where you will be able to push a button and get a flight, we are announcing a shortlist of five countries where Uber Air can immediately transform transportation and take our technology to new heights.
We want to thank the attendees of the Expo who got a first peek at Uber Eats delivered by drones, potential future routes where Uber Air will fly people across cities in the Asia Pacific region, and many other ways Uber is creating a new future of truly multi-modal transportation.
Honorable Daisaku Hiraki, Parliamentary Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said
I am very pleased that Uber’s first-ever Elevate APAC Expo took place in Japan. We see much potential in flying cars, and we anticipate that flying cars can be used not only to help solve traffic congestion in urban areas, but it will also help with increase mobility between city centres and remote islands and mountainous areas, promote tourism in Japan as well as enhance disaster relief operations.
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on 29 August that the Investments for the Future Strategy 2018 will consist of launching a Joint Public-Private Sector conference to revolutionize the aviation mobility industry. I believe public and private sectors, including companies outside of Japan, should work collaboratively to develop this new technology. I am confident that Japan has the potential to become a leader in aviation innovation.
Shortlist for First International Uber Air City
Uber’s Elevate program is creating urban aerial ride-sharing, globally. Starting in approximately five years, Uber customers in launch cities will be able to push a button and get a flight on demand. To enable this, Uber has assembled a network of partners that includes vehicle manufacturers, real estate developers, technology developers and more. Dallas and Los Angeles were previously announced as the first two U.S. launch cities, and at the second annual Uber Elevate Summit in May, Uber announced it was seeking an international city as a third partner.
After evaluating countries across the globe, Uber executives announced today at the Uber Elevate Asia Pacific Expo that the following five countries are on a shortlist
Japan – Home of one of the world’s most enviable public transit systems and a world leader in the technology and automotive industries, Uber is excited to invite mega-cities including Tokyo and Osaka to explore the future of transportation with us.
India – Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore are some of the most congested cities in the world, where traveling even a few kilometers can take over an hour. Uber Air offers tremendous potential to help create a transportation option that goes over congestion, instead of adding to it.
Australia – Uber Elevate has already had several positive conversations with local policymakers and the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority in the recent visit to Sydney and Melbourne. Australia has already taken significant steps to embrace the future of urban aviation.
Brazil – Rio de Janeiro and the state of São Paulo, home to Uber’s partner Embraer, are key ride-sharing markets globally, and they also happen to be some of today’s most active helicopter markets, indicating clear demand for urban aerial ride-sharing.
France – Uber is excited to announce the opening of it’s Advanced Technology Center in Paris, the city where Uber was first born, and it is looking forward to further discussions in a region with a rich aviation history.
The Uber Elevate team is now inviting conversations with stakeholders across major cities in these countries, and will announce the chosen Uber Air international city within the next six months.
Uber SkyPort
Uber Elevate has established a criteria framework to select this third city, anchored around three priority principles:
Sizable market – It is looking for large, polycentric markets with a strong and present need for innovative transportation solutions, and with a metropolitan population over one million people.
Local commitment – It will work with federal, state, and local governments from day one, in addition to members of the community it hopes to serve — real estate developers, zoning commissions, city councils, and neighborhoods. It will be looking for markets that are locally committed to bringing Uber Air there so that it can collaborate closely in the coming years.
Enabling conditions – Uber Air relies on multi-modal, efficient operations that are seamlessly integrated with a robust Uber ground network.
More details on the Uber Air international City Criteria can be found here
About Uber Elevate
Uber launched its Elevate program in October 2016 with the publication of the first White Paper on Urban Air Mobility. Since then it has entered into partnerships with experienced aircraft manufacturers who are developing electric VTOL vehicles, including Embraer, Bell, Aurora Flight Sciences [now a subsidiary of Boeing], Pipistrel Aircraft and Karem. Uber’s eVTOL requirements specify that this fully electric vehicle have a cruising speed between 150-200 mph, a cruising altitude of 1000-2000 feet and be able to do trips of up to 60 miles on a single charge.
Last year, Uber announced its intention to launch flight demonstrations of Uber Air in Dallas-Fort Worth/Frisco Texas and Los Angeles in 2020 and commercially available trips by 2023. To help create Skyports for the Uber Air network, Uber has also entered into real estate partnerships with Hillwood Properties and Sandstone Properties. Last fall, Uber released the first video of the Uber Air experience.
At the 2018 Elevate Summit, Uber announced an exclusive Space Act with NASA to focus on traffic management technologies and the impacts of urban air mobility [UAM]. The company is also collaborating with E-One Moli to produce lithium ion battery packs for vehicles and has signed a Joint Work Statement with the U.S. Army to research electric propulsion technology.
After achieving success in Greater China, Middle East and North Africa [MENA], South-East Asia and the Americas, Uplive has witnessed tremendous growth in India since the beginning of 2018. Uplive, an offering from Asia Innovations Group [AIG], also an innovative leader in the mobile interactive entertainment space, headquartered in Hong Kong with 14 offices worldwide, has become the top mobile application in this segment globally.
Launched in May 2016, Uplive is a live-streaming platform that allows viewers to broadcast and view real-time videos via their smartphones. The platform’s unique blockchain protocol will enable users the ability to send virtual gifts to content creators, which can then be exchanged for money. Currently available in over 100 countries and with 500,000+ monthly broadcasters and over 60 million users worldwide, the app currently supports sixteen languages including English, Hindi, Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Spanish, and Thai.
With an addressable market size similar to China, Uplive has been the fastest growing live streaming app in India for the past couple months, with 100,000+ new Indian users registering Uplive per day. Among Uplive users, India is pegged to become the most significant player in a couple of months, and the AIG group will focus its resource on this critical market in the form of setting up a regional headquarter and an operations center.
AIG’s offering is wider than Uplive – As a social entertainment platform, AIG is going to roll out in India a series of video-based social apps such as short video platform and game broadcast. The group aims to build a next-gen social platform for the market, and it has a long-term vision with the Uplive ecosystem.
Mr. Ouyang Yun, Co-founder & Group president, Asia Innovations Group, said
Great content quality, an interactive audience, and full of passionate streamers, India is a vibrant and fast-growing market for us. That is why we have embarked upon the journey of setting up an office here and treat this as a strategic market for us. India holds a great opportunity as its billion-plus population is becoming highly digitalized and in strong need of social and entertainment content.
There are lots of people who are first-time smartphone users and are actively looking for entertainment options on their phones. There is a huge opportunity for both streamers and users in the Indian market.
Ravish Jain, Country Marketing Director, India for Asia Innovations Group, said
We want to onboard quality streamers and offer the best content, be it Indian music, talk shows or anything else. Everyone has a story to tell, to share, and we believe there is no better or easier medium to do that than live streaming. The format is inherently interactive, engaging, and accessible. We want to democratize self-expression even further while allowing our content creators to make money.
Uplive is known for its strong monetization model worldwide that provides its streamers with a portion of revenue that the platform receives from its users in form of gifting. Streamers who have signed contracts with Uplive platform earn around USD 500 per month on an average globally, thereby potentially creating a significant contribution to the local economy and improve employment rate. Anyone with talents have a new opportunity to make a living with this platform.
Uplive firmly believes that it is the most opportune time to enter the Indian market with 4G penetration and data price that is suitable for the Indian masses. It presents a massive employment opportunity for skilled, semi-skilled professionals and even amateurs who can become content creators.
Also, Uplive plans to make ‘live streaming’ a mainstream social media format in India by using its global formula of combining revenue collection with real-time interactive entertainment. Eventually, it aims significant revenues to be generated from India. The sustainable development of Uplive depends on its ability to integrate all kinds of social entertainment features together as well as the improvement of contents.
Mr. Ouyang was previously CEO of GaoPeng.com, a JV between Groupon, Tencent and Yunfeng fund, 2011-2013. Before Goapeng, Ouyang was Deputy GM of corp strategy at Tencent, where he oversaw company-wide mobile product strategy and international strategy, 2009-2011. He spent four years with the Boston Consulting Group working with leading Chinese and American Telecom and Consumers companies, 2005-2009. Ouyang has deep mobile product experience since 2001 with Qzone, Siemens, and Samsung, became the first Chinese global project leader for Siemens, working in three different countries in Asia and Europe. Ouyang got his MBA from HEC Paris and MS and BS from the National University of Defense Technology.
Ravish Jain brings almost a decade of experience to the business globally and he held many country-level positions covering various businesses across technology and consumer companies. He possesses a strong business and leadership record and has a deep understanding of the consumer and digital business landscape. Ravish specializes in executive leadership, marketing strategy, team building and business development. In his previous stints he has worked with companies such as JANA Mobiles [mCent browser], Meitu Technology and Micromax among others.
Uplive is currently available in both Android and iOS versions for download.
About Asia Innovations Group Limited
Founded by the most experienced leaders in Asia’s mobile social industry, combining profound experiences in Tencent, Google, and Zynga, AIG aims to bring the best of Asian mobile social product and business models to the international market. At present, AIG has many star mobile products such as Uplive, one of the largest live streaming platforms in the world, Super Fans, the largest celebrity fans community in China, GIFTO, the largest application blockchain token in the world, and Pengpeng, a video based social app popular in China, accumulating more than 100 million users worldwide.
To foster technology-led innovation to address societal challenges, Microsoft India is supporting NITI Aayog in MoveHack, a global mobility hackathon inviting solutions, prototypes and ideas to address challenges faced by India in mobility and transportation. As cloud partner for the hackathon, Microsoft will offer Azure cloud credits of up to USD 25,000 to winners who build B2B solutions, in addition to USD 200 worth of Azure credits to every participant. According to NITI Aayog, the hackathon, which was launched on 1st August 2018, has received more than 35,000 registrations so far from over 25 countries.
Additionally, Microsoft Research [MSR] India will consider incubating and offer funding and/or resource support to winners who leverage AI to build their solutions. This will be a part of a new incubation program started by MSR, wherein the organization is working with academia, government and entrepreneurs to help incubate technologies for societal impact, with special emphasis on cloud and AI platforms. Funding will be determined individually for each project that meets the selection criteria; based on the scope of the project and associated resource requirements.
Speaking on this, Ms. Anna Roy, Adviser, NITI Aayog, said
MoveHack is a unique opportunity for the best minds from across the globe to tackle challenges in mobility and transportation that India offers. We have tied up with Smart Cities, Central and State Ministries to implement the best solutions from this hackathon, in addition to opening up our ecosystem for commercialization of these products / prototypes. MoveHack is a one of its kind challenge to solve for India, and as an extension, solve for the world. We appreciate the partnership with Microsoft.
Commenting on the partnership, Keshav Dhakad, Group Head & Assistant General Counsel, Corporate, External & Legal Affairs [CELA], Microsoft India, said
It is our privilege to be part of MoveHack. The entirecountry is going through a disruptive phase of digital transformation, with AI being integral to India’s economic and societal progress. Through our partnership with NITI Aayog, we collectively aim to enable the resolution of most pressing social challenges via large scale deployment of cloud & AI led innovations. Our support to MoveHack is part of this collaboration and we believe that solutions incubated through this program will contribute to the nation’s transformation in a meaningful way.
NITI Aayog’s MoveHack is a global mobility hackathon which invites innovative, dynamic and scalable solutions improve to mobility and transportation in India. Open to participants of all nationalities, it is divided into two categories: Just Code It and Just Solve It. While the former is focused at solutions based on innovations in technology/product/software and data analysis, the latter is for innovative business ideas or sustainable solutions to transform mobility infrastructure through technology.
Awards for the hackathon include recognizing the top 10 winners with a total prize of more than INR 2 crore. In addition, what sets this hackathon apart is the unique opportunity it provides for end-to-end integration of solutions in smart cities, States and Central Ministries through commercial implementation. Problem themes include multi-modal commuter mobility in cities, multi-modal freight handling and transportation, road safety and future of mobility, among others.
