IIT Roorkee Kickstarts 4-Day Webinar on Smart Village under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan

A four-day webinar titled ‘Preparation of Model Village/Smart Village Plan’ kick-started today. IIT Roorkee, a Regional Coordinating Institute, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan in association with National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR), Guwahati, is organizing it. The webinar aims to disseminate awareness to participants on the planning of Adarsh Grams. Prof. Ashish Pandey, Regional Coordinator, IIT Roorkee informed that the holistic development of villages in line with Mahatma Gandhi’s vision will not only transform them into ideal and smart villages but will also be a step forward in realizing the goal of ‘AtmaNirbhar Bharat.’

In the inaugural session, Prof. M. Parida, Deputy Director, IIT Roorkeeinformed that Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan mandates the institution with the development and regional planning of two villages- Beladi and Chharba.  Prof. Uttam Kumar and Prof. Shubhjeet, Department of Architecture and Planning, IIT Roorkee will lead the initiative. He further said IIT Roorkeewould form a team of students to initiate the work in this direction.

The inaugural session was also presided by Joint Magistrate, Roorkee, and a senior IAS officer Ms. Namami Bansal. She highlighted that the absence of basic infrastructure in villages has compelled youth to relocate to cities. The development of villages will not only curb urban migration but also make them self-sufficient and prosperous.  She assured of the support of local administration for the development of Beladi and Chharba villages by IIT Roorkee and Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

Prof. R.M. Pant, Director, (NIRDPR), Guwahati, said that India has 6,64,369 villages that are home to 83 crores population. Unnat Bharat Abhiyan by the Government of India is committed to ushering a holistic development of villages. The process of instituting planning framework will start from villages in consultation with the rural population.

Prof. M. K. Srivastava, (NIRDPR), Guwahati, gave a brief overview of the technical sessions to be held as a part of the four-day webinar.

The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Prof. Ashish Pandey, Regional Coordinator, UBA, IIT Roorkee. Sixty-Three participants comprising coordinators and rural folks from Western Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand attended the webinar.

Indus Towers - VMC Enabled Fibre Network and Smart Poles Provide Enhanced Connectivity During COVID-19 Times

CCTV feeds powered by the fibre-based network of smart poles is helping VMC identify violations of social distancing norms

Variable Messaging Displays are being used to efficiently and simultaneously display critical information about COVID-19 across multiple locations in the city

About 100% surge in the data consumption on the Wi-Fi network; 40% increase around hospitals

The network of intelligent poles installed by Indus Towers in partnership with Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) in 2018 under Government's Smart City Mission has been playing a vital role in keeping people safe, informed and connected during the ongoing COVID-19 situation. The fibre network and smart poles is helping VMC create awareness about COVID-19 by disseminating important information 24X7 on a real-time basis through the Variable Messaging Displays across the city. The smart poles with integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) has also been capturing data from all major applications as well as feed from various cameras installed across the city are continuously monitoring the implementation of COVID-19-related activities and adherence to the restrictions.



During the period of March to May, there has been about 100% surge in the data consumption through the Wi-Fi network. There has also been an increase of 40% in the number of people using Wi-Fi around hospitals indicating the crucial support the network is providing to citizens and healthcare professionals.



A senior official from VMC, as part of the smart city mission said, "In the battle against the novel coronavirus, fibre network and smart poles are working as an important link for efficient dissemination of information and service to the citizens of Vadodara. During the lockdown, Vadodara recorded a 40% hike in the usage of Wi-Fi, especially in residential and specific areas next to the hospitals and VMC offices indicating that the network helped people and healthcare workers stay connected. We have also integrated My Vadodara app with the VMC portal to provide access to a dedicated section on vital information related to COVID-19."

Nishith Dave, Circle CEO, Gujarat, Indus Towers said, "Telecom infrastructure has been playing a crucial role in ensuring people remain connected and have access to internet enabled services. We are proud that our infrastructure and technology delivered on the promise of transforming the lives of citizens in Vadodara by harnessing the power of smart technology, especially during this challenging time. The multiple application of intelligent poles is a testament to our capability and experience to execute such infrastructure projects."

Indus Towers has always enabled connectivity in India, in the face of calamitous natural disasters and adversity. At present, the field employees of Indus Towers are enabling seamless 24x7 connectivity for smooth functioning of the essential services as well as the digital operation that are dependent on the company's infrastructure. The field personnel of Indus Towers have equipped themselves with the necessary safety gear and working round the clock, even in designated hotspot regions. They have ensured continuous functioning of the mobile tower, which is most critical when it comes to enabling seamless connectivity.

About Indus Towers Limited

Indus Towers Limited is an independently managed company offering passive telecom infrastructure to all telecom operators. Indus is headquartered in the National Capital Region. Founded in 2007, Indus Towers Limited has been promoted under a joint venture amongst (i) Bharti Infratel Limited (group company of Bharti Airtel Limited, rendering telecom services in India under the brand name Airtel), (ii) Vodafone India Limited (group company of Vodafone Group-UK) rendering telecom services in India under the brand name Vodafone, since merged with Idea Cellular Limited and (iii) Aditya Birla Telecom Limited (group company of Idea Cellular Limited, now re-named as Vodafone Idea Limited) which created history by collaborating to share telecom towers & infrastructure.

Indus has presence in 15 telecom circles of India and has achieved over 2,41,663 tenancies till date. With the current count of over 1,29,697 towers, Indus has the widest coverage in India and is one of the largest telecom tower companies in the world.

Indus Towers has been actively involved in developing scalable models for smart cities. The company's approach is to enable the integration of the digital infrastructure with the existing infrastructure. Recently, Indus Towers collaborated with Dehradun Smart City Limited (DSCL) as part of its efforts to make Dehradun a smart city.

Indus' vision of "Transforming Lives by Enabling Communication" is setting a new paradigm for a networked economy, on a world leading scale, whereby there is inclusive and impactful growth for all.

For any further information, please visit the website www.industowers.com.

Madras Security Printers Provides IoT-based COVID War Room for Mangaluru Smart City

The Chennai-based Madras Security Printers (MSP), a leading Smart City solutions company, has been implementing the COVID War Room for Mangalore Smart City, enabling the administrators to fight the battle against the COVID-19 pandemic with cutting-edge IT, IoT, and analytics tools.

Originally setup by MSP as an Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC) for the administration of Mangaluru Smart City, a year ago, the advanced IT infrastructure, is being used as the central point for monitoring quarantine, managing field force from various government departments, tracking the movement of people using Geographic Information System, real time and predictive analytics, and telemedicine, among others.

Commenting about the smart pandemic operations, Mr. Arul Prathan, Director, MSP, said that the company set up the ICCC for Mangaluru Smart City in 2019 and has been under the contract to support various administrative operations related to healthcare, traffic, solid waste management, among others. With the outbreak of Corona, the Dakshina Kannada District Administration has entrusted us with the mandate to convert ICCC into COVID War Room.

The smart infrastructure is used for developing predictive analytics using heat maps and taking action in monitoring the movements of people (by collecting data using GPS, RFID, and Wi-Fi from mobile devices and RFID tags) as well as the periodic health status of suspected cases.

Telemedicine services are provided using a dedicated Call Centre with a helpline number for monitoring and advising the citizens under self-quarantine. The solution also helps in monitoring, collecting, consolidating, and reporting real-time data on the pandemic.

As the COVID War Room coordinates multi-departmental activities, it has turned into a base for professionals and first respondents from Mangaluru Corporation, police and doctors to take calls from citizens and provide information.

MSP is a 42-year old company specializing in e-governance solutions, IT & ICT based solution, smart card solutions, identity management, biometric solutions, data center & and high security printing. In addition to Mangaluru, the company currently provides Smart City solutions to few more cities in India, Nepal, and Kenya. Among the major operations that run on MSP's infrastructure include solid waste management; bus transport; monitoring air quality and environment, disaster management; emergency response, and surveillance.

For details, contact: bdm3@madrassecurityprinters.com.

Tech Mahindra Bags Rs 500 Cr Smart City Project from Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation

Tech Mahindra Ltd. a leading provider of digital transformation, consulting and business reengineering services and solutions, announced today its largest smart city project worth INR 500 crore from Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), Asia’s richest municipal corporation. Through this project, Tech Mahindra will engage with more than 15 lakh citizens of PCMC by enabling technology-led transformation to convert it into a smart and sustainable city.

The project will be executed in a period of 1 year implementation and the operations and maintenance for 5 years. It has been budgeted under the Prime Minister’s Smart Cities mission. As part of its largest Smart City project, Tech Mahindra will provide a robust, reliable and sustainable ICT (Information and Communication Tehcnology) infrastructure, comprising of smart, technological solutions including City Network, Smart Water, Smart Sewerage, Smart Traffic, Smart Parking, Smart Environment, CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) Surveillance, Integrated Control and Command Center, Data Center and Disaster Recovery center etc. Tech Mahindra would also help in enabling real-time data management, alerts, and information processing to support city’s administration.

Shri Shravan Hardikar, Municipal Commissioner, PCMC, said, “As part of our citizen and civil-welfare service mandate, we are committed to offer much improved services through ICT led transformation which will boost the overall infrastructure in the city and  also help in establishing a digital ecosystem in the city for rendering seamless smart city experience. Through this engagement with Tech Mahindra consortium, we aim to fulfil our vision of transforming Pimpri Chinchwad with the use of cutting edge technologies.”

The win reiterates Tech Mahindra’s expertise towards driving smart city initiatives of the government through its fortified portfolio of smart city projects including Kanpur, Gandhinagar, Nashik and Jaipur.

[caption id="attachment_139319" align="aligncenter" width="832"] Sujit Baksi, Head APAC Business and President Corporate Affairs, Tech Mahindra & Puneet Gupta, Head-India Sales Tech Mahindra[/caption]

Sujit Baksi, Head APAC Business and President Corporate Affairs, Tech Mahindra, said, “We, at Tech Mahindra, are bullish about growth opportunities emerging out of the India market, particularly the government sector initiatives. Our association with PCMC outlines Tech Mahindra’s TechMNxt strategy to leverage new generation technologies to deliver an enhanced experience to our customers. It extends our vision of supporting the government’s Smart Cities agenda to strengthen nation-building initiatives that will go a long way in building a robust 5 Trillion Dollar Indian economy."

Located in Pune, Maharashtra, Pimpri Chinchwad is one of the best-developed industrial belt of the state accommodating many reputed industrial houses and business conglomerates of the country. The thriving industrial belt comprises of over 6,000 units in the large, medium and small sectors, mainly from the engineering and automobile industries. The city has been thus seeking new ways of maximizing business value and transforming into a Smart City by embedding smart devices, sensors, and actuators within physical space and infrastructure of the city.

As part of its TechMNxt charter, Tech Mahindra is focused on leveraging next-generation technologies to cater to the customer’s evolving and dynamic needs. As a leading digital transformation company, Tech Mahindra continues to deliver tangible business value and experiences to solve real business problems.

About Tech Mahindra

Tech Mahindra represents the connected world, offering innovative and customer-centric information technology experiences, enabling Enterprises, Associates and the Society to Rise™. We are a USD 4.9 billion company with 131,500+ professionals across 90 countries, helping 946 global customers including Fortune 500 companies. Our convergent, digital, design experiences, innovation platforms and reusable assets connect across a number of technologies to deliver tangible business value and experiences to our stakeholders. Tech Mahindra is the highest ranked Non-U.S. company in the Forbes Global Digital 100 list (2018) and in the Forbes Fab 50 companies in Asia (2018).

We are part of the USD 21 billion Mahindra Group that employs more than 200,000 people in over 100 countries. The Group operates in the key industries that drive economic growth, enjoying a leadership position in tractors, utility vehicles, after-market, information technology and vacation ownership.

~ Newsvoir

Dell Technologies Collaborates With Pune Smart City’s Centre of Excellence to Innovate Smart Technology Solutions

Dell Technologies has signed on as the Technology Knowledge Partner for the Centre of Excellence being deployed by Pune Smart City Development Corporation Ltd. (PSCDCL) with the purpose of utilizing latest technologies to fast track local innovations in resolving urban issues. The collaboration took place in the presence of Shri Kunal Kumar, IAS, Hon’ble Joint Secretary and Mission Director – Smart Cities Mission, MoHUA. Other dignitaries present included Mr. Pankaj Deshmukh, DCP Traffic – Pune, Professor Bhargava, IISc, and Mr. Kiran Deshpande, Co-Founder – Mojo Networks.

The focus of this Centre is to foster local innovation, create a living laboratory to support experimentation for the Indian Smart Cities and innovate new digital city solutions/technologies, based on real life data. The data in the command and control center will be available to various start-ups, enterprise businesses etc. through India Urban Data Exchange which has been integrated with the Pune Smart City Command and Control Centre as part of a pilot initiative of Smart Cities Mission, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Government of India. Dell Technologies will play a key role in providing essential compute infrastructure support and be the technology knowledge partner to the innovation center.

Set up at Pune Smart City, this center will serve as the base for fuelling applications of emerging technologies to leverage existing and new streams, to solve city issues. The partnership between the center and Dell Technologies will be to help establish the first live digital city laboratory being set in the country, and will have three different phases: Phase 1 – setting the vision; Phase 2 – supporting the living laboratory and Phase 3 – amplifying the learnings. The first phase will focus on sharing digital transformation global practices, curate workshop for senior officials of Pune Smart Cities and formalize the recommendations. The next two phases will focus on knowledge sessions, mentorship programs, technology solutions and showcase success stories.

Rajendra Jagtap, CEO, PSCDCL said, "Pune Smart City welcomes this strategic and one of its kind partnership with Dell Technologies and looks forward to extensive collaboration going ahead." Manojit Bose, Chief Knowledge Officer, PSCDCL added, "This is among the novel initiatives, where a smart city is proactively setting up an innovation center that focuses on security and localized inventions. We are glad to have an equally enthused partner in form of Dell Technologies to accelerate the concept of a living lab by leveraging data and video analytics for city level problem solving."

Kamal Arora, Senior Director, Sales (Govt.), Dell Technologies said, “Dell Technologies is proud to partner with Pune Smart City to encourage innovation and finding effective ways for managing urban issues. Digital Cities generate a lot of data every day – data that can be meaningfully leveraged to fast track local innovations and give way to localized solutions relevant to a cityscape. As Technology Partners for the Pune Centre of Excellence, we commit to exploring how technology can pave the way for human progress in its truest form."

~ Business Wire India

European Union to Help Create CoE for 'IoT for Smart Cities' at IIIT-Hyderabad

European Union, through its India-EU ICT Standardisation Cooperation Project, is supporting the creation of a Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Internet of Things (IoT) for Smart Cities at IIIT-Hyderabad.

As part of the CoE, the EU India project will not only help to design relevant courses on IoT, but will also facilitate capacity building by supporting research collaborations and exchange of experts between India and EU.

With an aim to build a deeper understanding of the standards driven approach for smart cities, and facilitate collaboration between various smart city stakeholders across India and EU, the project will also organise outreach activities such as hackathons, workshops and conferences. These activities would be organised on varied components of IoT including the use of standards such as oneM2M for interoperability for the benefit of public at large.

The CoE brings together faculty from several IIIT-H research centres such as signal processing and communications, embedded systems, data science, computer systems group and domain areas such as building science, spatial informatics, e-governance, and earthquake engineering, thereby facilitating co-operation between different experts on interdisciplinary aspects of IoT for Smart Cities.

The EU as part of the project facilitated an exploratory trip to Estonia of the IIIT-H faculty in January. With a view to strengthen and support developers’ community, CoE has conducted number of trainings including applications of LoRaWAN standard for smart-cities and use of oneM2M in IoT applications. In July, the CoE will undertake a visit to France for enhancing collaboration between Indian and French universities and start-ups working in Toulouse and Bordeaux.

Commenting on this initiative, the coordinator of this CoE Dr Sachin Chaudhari, Assistant Professor, Signal Processing and Communications Research Center, said, “Learnings from our research collaborations, courses and hackathons, conducted as part of this CoE’s activities, will be used to apply smart city solutions in Hyderabad and then the successful models will be replicated across India. Thus, this CoE at IIIT-H, supported by India-EU ICT Standardization Cooperation Project, is expected to trigger a smart city revolution in India in several ways.”

Elaborating on the importance of the CoE, Raimund Magis, Chargé d’Affairesa, said, “Add interoperability and open innovation to IoT and it becomes a game changer which can positively impact millions of lives. The Centre of Excellence at IIIT-H facilitates the latest in IoT, being developed across India and the EU based on global standards, to reach a wider audience. We hope that these deliberations and interactions will further fast track solutions for the Indian smart cities requirements."

This content was first appeared in Express Computer

India, Japan jointly Launch 'M2Smart' Project to Solve Traffic Congestion using AI, IoT and Neural Networks

A joint research project "Multi Modal Smart Transportation (M2Smart)", by Japan and India under a scheme of "Science Technology Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS), was launched at Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H), in order to develop low-carbon scenarios through research and demonstration, human resource development through mutual human resources exchanges.

M2Smart project is a Smart Cities project based on Sensing, Networking and Big Data Analysis of Multimodal Regional Transport System, was designed collaboratively by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Jointly undertaken by IIT-H, Nagoya Electric works Co. Ltd., Nihon University and Tokyo Institute of Technology, the M2Smart project aims to reduce the amount of energy consumed and to conduct research and development towards the realization of low-carbon smart cities, and to develop related adaptive strategic approaches in India.

The first field test bed for M2smart system has also been launched in IIT-H campus and a 30 Km stretch of NH-65. The field test bed system comprises of several key components of traffic management system such as real time traffic flow monitoring cameras, speed detection safety system, traffic signal lights and remote environment gas sensing.

[caption id="attachment_130869" align="aligncenter" width="1149"] Construction of low-carbon scenario through research and demonstration[/caption]

The Testbed will generate a practical ‘handbook’ on low carbon urban transportation for developing countries based on big data generated by vehicular traffic. Data is generated using cameras, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi sensors, speed detection safety system and conflict warning system using traffic signal lights. IIT-H has Electric rickshaws running inside the campus and are used to understand the driving cycle of e-vehicles.

[caption id="attachment_130870" align="aligncenter" width="1127"] JST and JICA Joint R& D（SATREPS)[/caption]

The aim of the joint research project is to establish a reliable and common approach for grasping the traffic situation in cities by building a system that effectively utilizes mobile devices, traffic sensing, big-data analysis and network technology.

It is hoped that by utilising the field test bed system, research teams of Japan and India will continue to work together to create reliable approach for grasping the traffic situation in the cities in India, which would contribute to the formation of suitable urban transportation system and facilitation of a modal shift."

For the traffic flow analysis of M2Smart project, the project team will implement deep learning AI recognition architecture, driving behaviour sensing, environment gas monitoring, and so on.

Besides testing it at NH-65 in Hyderabad, M2Smart will also be tested in Ahmedabad by joint collaboration with Ahmedabad city where project team will install traffic monitoring camera at several junctions. The project team will be able to compare traffic condition of these two cities. The project team will also utilize project analysis to generate hand-book for low carbon urban transportation that would be beneficial for the consideration of suitable urban transportation system in India.

JICA has been extending integrated support to IIT-H through ODA (Official Development Assistance) loan of 23,035 million Japanese yen (over INR 1,300 crore) for IIT-H campus development. JICA's support is facilitating the development of International Guesthouse, Sports & Cultural Complex, Technology and Incubation Part, Convention Centre, Research Centre Complex, and Knowledge Centre, procurement of high-end laboratory equipment in IIT-H campus.

Source - The Hans India, Business Line

IoT Startup of Former Reliance Jio CIO 'Gaia Smart Cities' Raises Pre-Series A Funding

Mumbai headquartered Gaia Smart Cities, an Internet of Things (IoT) startup building solutions for Smart Cities, has raised an undisclosed amount in pre series A funding from a clutch of global investors.

Investors who contributed to this round include Ranodeb Roy (CEO, RV Capital Management, Singapore; ex-Board Member of MakeMyTrip and current Board member of Bandhan Bank; an Early LP into Aavishkar Fund; Multiple startup investments) and Raja Shekhar Reddy (Founder at BizSR - a startup incubator-accelerator, Founder & former COO, Innovsource; Investor-mentor in several startups) – both alumnus of IIT-Kanpur and IIM-Ahmedabad - and a clutch of investors led by Debasish Das (Analytics and Data Science Head of Wipro’s Knowledge Services).

The startup will use the freshly raised funds to accelerate business development and market growth in India as well as in European markets and also for expanding the team for further innovation and product development of Gaia’s proprietary Edge ML hardware and Cloud Based analytics platforms.

Gaia was founded in 2015 by a former CIO at Reliance Jio and Ex-VP at IBM, Sumit D. Chowdhury, along with Bipin Pradeep Kumar who is an Ex-Chairman of Smart City Work Group under Ministry of Communication & IT, India.

Gaia, which is creating a public Network as a Service (NaaS) in India for low-cost/long-range IoT applications, has been supported by prominent angel investors in its previous round of funding in which several seasoned IoT and tech experts have had contributed to its fund.

Investors of Gaia's past round of funding include Mehul Shah (Product Marketing Leader, Sprint IoT Group; Ex Honeywell IoT Group), Deepak Das (Chief Director of Engineering, Federated Wireless), Kavita Ravi (Director Emerging Markets, Massachusetts Department of Clean Energy) and Devang Mehta (now Partner at Anthill Ventures).

Gaia’s distribution setup are in India, it however has signed channel partnership agreements in Spain, UK, Netherlands and Australia in 2018, and is actively connecting with clients in overseas markets.

The startup claims to have captured over 50+ Million unique, discrete feedbacks from users and over 150 Million streaming feedbacks from sensors. They have been deployed in over 130 cities across India for over 60 clients.

A provider of Wide-area IoT and AI/ML enabled Smart Feedback solutions, Gaia had earlier acquired the IoT division of netCORE Solutions, in June 2016 when netCORE had also invested in Gaia.

Currently, clients of Gaia are all based out of India and are across industry segments including Transport, Retail, Facilities, Real Estate, Cold Chains, and many Smart Cities across India. Current customers include Amul, Paras Dairy, ACC, TheMobileStore and Central Electronics Limited, a Government of India-owned engineering company.

Notably, the startup is also working with the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) as an integral part of the National Project Management Unit (PMU) of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and Smart water metering solution for Delhi.

It may also be recalled that earlier this month, an another IoT-based startup, DeTect Technologies, had raised $3.3 million in Series A round of funding led by SAIF Partners and contributed by CIIE-IIM Ahmedabad's Bharat Innovation Fund, Axilor Ventures, BlueHill Capital Pvt Ltd and a few angels from the Keiretsu Forum.

In September, CRON Systems, a Delhi-based defence IoT startup, had signed an MoU for a strategic collaboration with Silicon Valley-based Quanergy Systems Inc., a global leader in the design and development of light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors and smart sensing solutions.

In May this year, Hero Electronix, an emerging tech unit of Hero Group, acquired Zenatix, a Gurgaon-based enterprise IoT startup, and with this acquisition Hero made its foray into the Internet-of-things (IoT) space. The acquisition had allowed VC firms like Blume Ventures and Pi Ventures to make a decent exit from the startup.

Source - Economic Times

Soon New 'Smart City' Accelerator & Innovation Centers in India for Startups

The the Innovation Acceleration Group of the world's premier public university, University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) announced today that it has partnered with global tech firm Quantela to set-up Smart City Accelerator and Innovation Centers in India, to address challenges faced by corporates, governments and startups on Smart Cities.

The partnership was announced at an event held in New Delhi in the presence of Mr. Deepak Bagla, Managing Director & CEO – Invest India, Mr. Mark Searle, Managing Director, UC Berkeley Innovation Acceleration Group, Mr. Manav Subodh, Director, Smart Cities India, UC Berkeley Innovation Acceleration Group, Mr. Sridhar Gadhi, Founder and CEO, Quantela and Mr Sanjay Jaju, Joint Secretary, Department of Defence Production.

Berkeley-Quantela Accelerator is an opportunity for startups to build and grow in the field of Smart cities. It is a platform that provides the required mentorship and guidance to succeed on a comprehensive scale. As cities grow and urbanization increases, on one hand the opportunities for the citizens increase manifolds, but on the other day the challenges also increases. Challenges, that are likely to have an impact on various segments of urban quality such as economy, culture, social, parking, environment etc.

Accelerator:

The Accelerator will teach selected startups intensive immersion in innovation developments designed to identify business opportunities (real problems that require real solutions), validate product ideas through Investment Readiness Levels, engage with potential customers, build scalable business models, and manage team dynamics. The accelerator will be divided into the following phases and includes –

• Three days onsite instructor training forum with Berkeley instructors in August 2018,



• Five monthly online lectures and office hours with trainees and



• Demo day and investor meetings for selected startup at UC Berkeley campus in April 2019.

Innovation Center:

The innovation center will help build an ecosystem of smart city partners integrated on one single platform. The ecosystem will help the cities to expedite the execution of their projects and drive the immediate outcomes in form of smart solutions.

The innovation center will host a quarterly smart city innovation forum where the policy makers and administrators across India can visit the center with their smart city problems. Corporations and startups will work on these and provide solutions.

UC Berkeley will design the innovation accelerations programs, teaching, delivery and curriculum. It will also focus on coaching of Lean Startup methods and customer development process for selected startups and assisting and supervising innovation projects from the ideation to validated business models.

Quantela being a partner of Cisco in providing an AI platform for urban infrastructure in smart cities, is excited to work with young and passionate start-ups, provide them the required domain expertise, help them in building a market fit product, assisting them with the Go To Market strategy and therefore, helping them to scale.”

Related Reading - IOT and Impact on Smart Cities

Government of India’s official investment promotion agency - 'Invest India' is also a partner is helping the Indian startups to get access to this unique opportunity accelerator program through Startup India hub, which is a one-stop platform for all stakeholders in the Startup ecosystem to interact amongst each other, exchange knowledge and form successful partnerships in a highly dynamic environment.

Recently, 'Invest India' and the UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI) have signed a bilateral Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bridge agreement that seeks to create economic benefits worth $20 billion during the next decade.

Mr. Deepak Bagla, Managing Director & CEO – 'Invest India' said, “The Indian Government’s initiative to create more than 100 smart cities is unprecedented in the World and provides immense opportunities for tech start-ups. The unique partnership between UC Berkeley, Quantela and Invest India will help Indian start-ups that operate across the entire technological spectrum such as those from smart IoT to smart mobility and smart power that are critical for smart cities.

More importantly, Start-up India Hub with its pan India membership is likely to help entrepreneurs in not just the metros but tier-2 and tier-3 cities of India. Such partnerships play an invaluable role in transforming India from a consumer of technologies to a provider of technologies – not just for India but for the World.”

Mr. Mark Searle, Managing Director, UC Berkeley Innovation Acceleration group said, “UC Berkeley in partnership with Quantela is committed to make India Smart Cities a success. We are happy to announce that Manav Subodh, Director of International Development UC Berkeley Innovation Acceleration group, will be leading this initiative based out of India.”

Mr. Sridhar Gadhi, Founder and CEO, Quantela said, “We are extremely glad to partner with Berkeley for the innovation program. Our aim is to create a start-up ecosystem focused on creating solutions to curb the growing urban challenges.

Quantela is a global technology company that provides artificial intelligence based smart city platform to help cities deal with the increasing challenges of urbanization and become proactive rather than reactive. Quantela also provides Smart city in a box which helps cities to accelerate the implementation of smart cities in a scalable way. Quantela’s mission is to revolutionize the way cities are operated and managed, by making autonomous cities a reality.

Quantela in partnership with Cisco provides the world’s leading smart city platform for cities to monitor, manage and optimize their smart infrastructure in an efficient way.

The Innovation Acceleration Group (IAG) of UC Berkeley accelerates the market delivery of customer validated innovations focused on establishing disruptive business models and leveraging new technologies. IAG’s methods have been used by the US National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Energy. IAG has experience working in a multitude of industries, including CPG, health-care, biotech, pharma, hardware, software and social ventures.

In India, IAG’s method was deployed in 2016 by CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad at the Innovate for Digital India initiative, an accelerator sponsored by Intel Corporation and Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India.

Source - Business Wire India

[Top Image - Guardian.ng]

Soon New 'Smart City' Accelerator & Innovation Centers in India for Startups

The the Innovation Acceleration Group of the world's premier public university, University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) announced today that it has partnered with global tech firm Quantela to set-up Smart City Accelerator and Innovation Centers in India, to address challenges faced by corporates, governments and startups on Smart Cities.

The partnership was announced at an event held in New Delhi in the presence of Mr. Deepak Bagla, Managing Director & CEO – Invest India, Mr. Mark Searle, Managing Director, UC Berkeley Innovation Acceleration Group, Mr. Manav Subodh, Director, Smart Cities India, UC Berkeley Innovation Acceleration Group, Mr. Sridhar Gadhi, Founder and CEO, Quantela and Mr Sanjay Jaju, Joint Secretary, Department of Defence Production.

Berkeley-Quantela Accelerator is an opportunity for startups to build and grow in the field of Smart cities. It is a platform that provides the required mentorship and guidance to succeed on a comprehensive scale. As cities grow and urbanization increases, on one hand the opportunities for the citizens increase manifolds, but on the other day the challenges also increases. Challenges, that are likely to have an impact on various segments of urban quality such as economy, culture, social, parking, environment etc.

Accelerator:

The Accelerator will teach selected startups intensive immersion in innovation developments designed to identify business opportunities (real problems that require real solutions), validate product ideas through Investment Readiness Levels, engage with potential customers, build scalable business models, and manage team dynamics. The accelerator will be divided into the following phases and includes –

• Three days onsite instructor training forum with Berkeley instructors in August 2018,



• Five monthly online lectures and office hours with trainees and



• Demo day and investor meetings for selected startup at UC Berkeley campus in April 2019.

Innovation Center:

The innovation center will help build an ecosystem of smart city partners integrated on one single platform. The ecosystem will help the cities to expedite the execution of their projects and drive the immediate outcomes in form of smart solutions.

The innovation center will host a quarterly smart city innovation forum where the policy makers and administrators across India can visit the center with their smart city problems. Corporations and startups will work on these and provide solutions.

UC Berkeley will design the innovation accelerations programs, teaching, delivery and curriculum. It will also focus on coaching of Lean Startup methods and customer development process for selected startups and assisting and supervising innovation projects from the ideation to validated business models.

Quantela being a partner of Cisco in providing an AI platform for urban infrastructure in smart cities, is excited to work with young and passionate start-ups, provide them the required domain expertise, help them in building a market fit product, assisting them with the Go To Market strategy and therefore, helping them to scale.”

Related Reading - IOT and Impact on Smart Cities

Government of India’s official investment promotion agency - 'Invest India' is also a partner is helping the Indian startups to get access to this unique opportunity accelerator program through Startup India hub, which is a one-stop platform for all stakeholders in the Startup ecosystem to interact amongst each other, exchange knowledge and form successful partnerships in a highly dynamic environment.

Recently, 'Invest India' and the UAE Minister for Artificial Intelligence (AI) have signed a bilateral Artificial Intelligence (AI) Bridge agreement that seeks to create economic benefits worth $20 billion during the next decade.

Mr. Deepak Bagla, Managing Director & CEO – 'Invest India' said, “The Indian Government’s initiative to create more than 100 smart cities is unprecedented in the World and provides immense opportunities for tech start-ups. The unique partnership between UC Berkeley, Quantela and Invest India will help Indian start-ups that operate across the entire technological spectrum such as those from smart IoT to smart mobility and smart power that are critical for smart cities.

More importantly, Start-up India Hub with its pan India membership is likely to help entrepreneurs in not just the metros but tier-2 and tier-3 cities of India. Such partnerships play an invaluable role in transforming India from a consumer of technologies to a provider of technologies – not just for India but for the World.”

Mr. Mark Searle, Managing Director, UC Berkeley Innovation Acceleration group said, “UC Berkeley in partnership with Quantela is committed to make India Smart Cities a success. We are happy to announce that Manav Subodh, Director of International Development UC Berkeley Innovation Acceleration group, will be leading this initiative based out of India.”

Mr. Sridhar Gadhi, Founder and CEO, Quantela said, “We are extremely glad to partner with Berkeley for the innovation program. Our aim is to create a start-up ecosystem focused on creating solutions to curb the growing urban challenges.

Quantela is a global technology company that provides artificial intelligence based smart city platform to help cities deal with the increasing challenges of urbanization and become proactive rather than reactive. Quantela also provides Smart city in a box which helps cities to accelerate the implementation of smart cities in a scalable way. Quantela’s mission is to revolutionize the way cities are operated and managed, by making autonomous cities a reality.

Quantela in partnership with Cisco provides the world’s leading smart city platform for cities to monitor, manage and optimize their smart infrastructure in an efficient way.

The Innovation Acceleration Group (IAG) of UC Berkeley accelerates the market delivery of customer validated innovations focused on establishing disruptive business models and leveraging new technologies. IAG’s methods have been used by the US National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Energy. IAG has experience working in a multitude of industries, including CPG, health-care, biotech, pharma, hardware, software and social ventures.

In India, IAG’s method was deployed in 2016 by CIIE, IIM Ahmedabad at the Innovate for Digital India initiative, an accelerator sponsored by Intel Corporation and Department of Science and Technology, Govt of India.

Source - Business Wire India

[Top Image - Guardian.ng]

IOT and Impact on Smart Cities

A smart city is the outcome of the knowledge-based economy and accelerated development of the new age information technology. It is based on the combination of the Internet, broadcast network, a telecommunications network, wireless broadband, and other smart sensors with Internet of Things (IoT) at its heart. The chief feature of a smart city includes comprehensive utilization of information resources and a high degree of information technology integration. The essential elements of urban development for a smart city should consist of smart industry, smart technology, smart management, smart service, and smart life.

The IoT is about installing sensors such as laser scanners and GPS for tasks and connecting them to the internet via specific protocols for communication and information exchange. This is done to attain location, monitoring, tracking, management, and intelligent recognition in a city. A smart city needs to have three key features - interconnectedness, instrumented, and intelligent, and this can be achieved with technical support from Internet of Things.

Read on to know more about the elements of a smart city and its impact in the IoT era.

1. Smart Infrastructure

The extensive market for smart urban infrastructure in smart cities includes smart parking, smart lighting, advanced connected streets, and other transportation innovations. Here is how they work:

• Smart Lighting: With the help of smart lighting, city authorities can keep a track on real-time use of lights to deliver demand-based lighting in several zones and optimize illumination. Smart lighting and smart ceiling fans also help in saving energy by turning down sectors with no inhabitants and daylight harvesting. For example, parking lots can be dimmed during work hours and automatically illuminate when a car enters.


• Connected Streets: Smart streets are apt for delivering services and information and acquiring data to and from several devices, which includes data about roadworks, traffic, and road blockages. IoT is the network used to connect all the devices to each other, and connected streets help in efficient management of people and resources to enhance urban landscape and public transportation.


• Smart Parking Management: IoT network and smart parking system can be used to find vacant spots for a vehicle at different public places. In-ground vehicle detection sensors are the technology used, which plays a key role in the smart parking programme that is transforming how drivers in the city centres and malls find an unoccupied parking spot. Wireless sensors are implanted into the parking space, which transmits information regarding the time and duration of the space used via signal processors into a central parking management application. Smart parking decreases vehicle emissions, reduces congestion, cuts driver stress, and lower enforcement cost. Each device needs to have constant connectivity to the cloud servers for effective implementation of smart parking technology.
  
  Related Reading - India To Use IoT for Waste Management


• Connected Charging Stations: Smart infrastructure should also include charging stations in parking lots, shopping malls, airports, city fleets, and bus stations across the city. Electric vehicle (EV) charging point can be integrated with IoT to streamline the function of charging and address the effect on the power grid.

2. Smart Buildings & Properties

Smart property utilizes different systems to ensure security and safety of the building, maintenance of resources, and overall good condition of the surrounding.

• Security & Safety Systems: Security and safety system include implementing biometrics, remote monitoring, surveillance cameras, and wireless alarms to reduce unauthorised access to buildings and the possibility of thefts. With the help of IoT, all the devices can be seamlessly connected, and can be accessed on your smartphone. Detecting people in non-authorized areas, stopping the access of restricted area on the property, and using perimeter access control is also a part of this security system.


• Sprinkler & Smart Garden System: Smart sprinkler system with connected technology can be used to water plants. On the other hand, smart garden devices can perform tasks such as helping the city authorities to save the water (smart sprinkler devices use weather information to stay off when it rains automatically), measure soil moisture and level of fertilizer, and lastly keep the grass from overgrowing with the help of robotic lawnmowers.


• Smart Ventilation & Heating: Smart ventilation and heating systems monitor several perimeters such as pressure, vibration, temperature, humidity of the property, and other public places such as historical monuments and movie theaters. With the help of wireless sensor network, the data is collected to optimize the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system to improve their performance and efficiency in the buildings.

3. Smart Energy Management

Here’s how cities can practice smart energy management:

• Smart Grid: A smart grid is a self-healing, digitally monitored energy system that delivers gas or electricity from generation source. Smart grid solutions can be residential, industrial, or distribution and transmission projects. IoT solutions like gateways can be used to conserve energy at both transmission level and consumer level. For example, gateways can provide an in-depth summary of energy consumption to utility companies with real-time analytics and high connectivity. It also develops a demand-response system for the utility providers to strengthen energy distribution based on consumption level.


• Smart Meters: A smart meter can be used in industrial sectors and residential areas for gas and electricity expenditure where there is a need to determine real-time data on energy usage. Consumers and companies with smart meters can monitor their energy consumption. Additionally, energy reports, analytics, and public dashboards can be accessed over the internet via mobile applications connected with these smart meters.

The dynamic growth of the Internet of Things and Smart City create many engineering and scientific challenges that call for insightful research from both industry and academia, especially for the development of scalable, reliable, and efficient smart city based on IoT. With the help of a smart city, there is an enormous opportunity to modify the lives of people and improve the city operations and infrastructure. Connected technologies, smart sensor networks, and the IoT are the crucial solutions for smart city implementation.

The above is an authored content by Arindam Paul, who is a founding member of Atomberg Technologies, a startup working towards manufacturing unique energy efficient fans and tech savvy products. He is currently heading the Marketing and Long term strategy division at Atomberg and is aiming to disrupt the world of household appliances.

IOT and Impact on Smart Cities

A smart city is the outcome of the knowledge-based economy and accelerated development of the new age information technology. It is based on the combination of the Internet, broadcast network, a telecommunications network, wireless broadband, and other smart sensors with Internet of Things (IoT) at its heart. The chief feature of a smart city includes comprehensive utilization of information resources and a high degree of information technology integration. The essential elements of urban development for a smart city should consist of smart industry, smart technology, smart management, smart service, and smart life.

The IoT is about installing sensors such as laser scanners and GPS for tasks and connecting them to the internet via specific protocols for communication and information exchange. This is done to attain location, monitoring, tracking, management, and intelligent recognition in a city. A smart city needs to have three key features - interconnectedness, instrumented, and intelligent, and this can be achieved with technical support from Internet of Things.

Read on to know more about the elements of a smart city and its impact in the IoT era.

1. Smart Infrastructure

The extensive market for smart urban infrastructure in smart cities includes smart parking, smart lighting, advanced connected streets, and other transportation innovations. Here is how they work:

• Smart Lighting: With the help of smart lighting, city authorities can keep a track on real-time use of lights to deliver demand-based lighting in several zones and optimize illumination. Smart lighting and smart ceiling fans also help in saving energy by turning down sectors with no inhabitants and daylight harvesting. For example, parking lots can be dimmed during work hours and automatically illuminate when a car enters.


• Connected Streets: Smart streets are apt for delivering services and information and acquiring data to and from several devices, which includes data about roadworks, traffic, and road blockages. IoT is the network used to connect all the devices to each other, and connected streets help in efficient management of people and resources to enhance urban landscape and public transportation.


• Smart Parking Management: IoT network and smart parking system can be used to find vacant spots for a vehicle at different public places. In-ground vehicle detection sensors are the technology used, which plays a key role in the smart parking programme that is transforming how drivers in the city centres and malls find an unoccupied parking spot. Wireless sensors are implanted into the parking space, which transmits information regarding the time and duration of the space used via signal processors into a central parking management application. Smart parking decreases vehicle emissions, reduces congestion, cuts driver stress, and lower enforcement cost. Each device needs to have constant connectivity to the cloud servers for effective implementation of smart parking technology.
  
  Related Reading - India To Use IoT for Waste Management


• Connected Charging Stations: Smart infrastructure should also include charging stations in parking lots, shopping malls, airports, city fleets, and bus stations across the city. Electric vehicle (EV) charging point can be integrated with IoT to streamline the function of charging and address the effect on the power grid.

2. Smart Buildings & Properties

Smart property utilizes different systems to ensure security and safety of the building, maintenance of resources, and overall good condition of the surrounding.

• Security & Safety Systems: Security and safety system include implementing biometrics, remote monitoring, surveillance cameras, and wireless alarms to reduce unauthorised access to buildings and the possibility of thefts. With the help of IoT, all the devices can be seamlessly connected, and can be accessed on your smartphone. Detecting people in non-authorized areas, stopping the access of restricted area on the property, and using perimeter access control is also a part of this security system.


• Sprinkler & Smart Garden System: Smart sprinkler system with connected technology can be used to water plants. On the other hand, smart garden devices can perform tasks such as helping the city authorities to save the water (smart sprinkler devices use weather information to stay off when it rains automatically), measure soil moisture and level of fertilizer, and lastly keep the grass from overgrowing with the help of robotic lawnmowers.


• Smart Ventilation & Heating: Smart ventilation and heating systems monitor several perimeters such as pressure, vibration, temperature, humidity of the property, and other public places such as historical monuments and movie theaters. With the help of wireless sensor network, the data is collected to optimize the HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) system to improve their performance and efficiency in the buildings.

3. Smart Energy Management

Here’s how cities can practice smart energy management:

• Smart Grid: A smart grid is a self-healing, digitally monitored energy system that delivers gas or electricity from generation source. Smart grid solutions can be residential, industrial, or distribution and transmission projects. IoT solutions like gateways can be used to conserve energy at both transmission level and consumer level. For example, gateways can provide an in-depth summary of energy consumption to utility companies with real-time analytics and high connectivity. It also develops a demand-response system for the utility providers to strengthen energy distribution based on consumption level.


• Smart Meters: A smart meter can be used in industrial sectors and residential areas for gas and electricity expenditure where there is a need to determine real-time data on energy usage. Consumers and companies with smart meters can monitor their energy consumption. Additionally, energy reports, analytics, and public dashboards can be accessed over the internet via mobile applications connected with these smart meters.

The dynamic growth of the Internet of Things and Smart City create many engineering and scientific challenges that call for insightful research from both industry and academia, especially for the development of scalable, reliable, and efficient smart city based on IoT. With the help of a smart city, there is an enormous opportunity to modify the lives of people and improve the city operations and infrastructure. Connected technologies, smart sensor networks, and the IoT are the crucial solutions for smart city implementation.

The above is an authored content by Arindam Paul, who is a founding member of Atomberg Technologies, a startup working towards manufacturing unique energy efficient fans and tech savvy products. He is currently heading the Marketing and Long term strategy division at Atomberg and is aiming to disrupt the world of household appliances.

Israel's Startup Capital To Help India Develop 'Smart Cities'

In order to up its game in the startup arena and extend a helping hand to India on doing the same, Israel's start-up city Tel Aviv has recently sealed a partnership with a Mumbai-based NGO called Delivering Change Foundation.

In December 2012, the city was ranked second on a list of top places to found a high tech startup company, just behind Silicon Valley. In 2013, Tel Aviv had more than 700 startup companies and research and development centers, and was ranked the second-most innovative city in the world, behind Medellín and ahead of New York City.

According to the partnership's agreement, Tel Aviv has agreed to assist in creating “smart cities” in India. This mean, all the wondrous innovative digital technologies implemented by the high-tech capital will now traverse the city to go international. Israeli representatives from the tech city are all slated to train, mentor, assist, escort Indian city officials on how to pull off technological urban transformations in the country.

According to an article published in The Jerusalem Post, the municipality has partnered with the Academic College of Tel Aviv-Jaffa in order to relay the information on the smart systems being utilised in Israel's start up city. The initiative is all set to incorporate Pune, Nagpur and Nashik in the northwestern state of Maharashtra.

In its drive to become a sustainable smart city which enhances the lives of its residents at the same time, Tel Aviv has incorporated various digital resources into its urban ecosystem. This includes the city’s interest and location-based DigiTel pass, digital city services, GPS-based mobile applications and city-wide WiFi.

"We are committed to working closely with the top executives as well as entrepreneurs in fostering innovation and distributing the knowledge generated in Tel Aviv – the 'start-up city' world wide," said Prof. Israel (Izzy) Borovich, the college's dean of the School of Economics and Management in a statement.

The recent years have seen Tel Aviv becoming one of the world’s leading smart cities. All this is a result of its constant innovation, resident engagement and out of the box thinking.

All thanks to Tel Aviv’s constant technological and civic initiatives, Israel’s second-largest city had recently added the World Smart Cities Award at the 2014 Smart City Expo World Congress in Barcelona to its kitty.

"As a city maker, I am delighted that we are now opening our smart city to the world – assisting other cities and mentoring them in the field of smart cities initiative," said Hila Oren, CEO and founder of Tel Aviv Global.

We hope that this partnership turns out to be successful for both India and Israel.