T-Hub Partners Maldives' Urbanco to Transform the Country with Smart and Sustainable Cities

• Urbanco and T-Hub establish an innovation bridge for India-Maldives relations.
• T-Hub to leverage startup expertise to customize solutions for Maldivian ecosystem.

T-Hub, India's leading innovation ecosystem is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Urbanco, the foremost urban development corporation in the Maldives. The collaboration aims to foster innovation and actively contribute to the advancement of smart and sustainable cities in the Maldives.

The main objective of this collaboration is to support Urbanco’'s vision of transforming Maldivian cities into smart and sustainable urban centers. T-Hub will leverage its extensive network of startups and expertise to customize and deploy innovative solutions that align with the unique ecosystem of the Maldives.

 (In middle (L-R) — Ahmed Athif, Managing Director, Urbanco and Anish Anthony, Chief Delivery Officer, T-Hub)

The partnership aims to establish an innovation bridge between Urbanco and T-Hub, enhancing the India-Maldives international relations. It also seeks to enable the exchange of technology and innovation between India and Hulhumalè, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing between the two nations.

"We are excited to partner with Urbanco in their endeavor to create smart and sustainable cities in the Maldives," said Mahankali Srinivas Rao (MSR), CEO of T-Hub. "T-Hub's vibrant startup ecosystem and deep expertise in innovation will play a pivotal role in transforming Urbanco's vision into reality. We look forward to co-create cutting-edge solutions and driving the growth of the innovation ecosystem in Hulhumalè."

Through this partnership, T-Hub will actively scout for solutions in key areas such as smart infrastructure, smart parking, smart city solutions, and sustainable waste management solutions. Urbanco will collaborate in developing and implementing these solutions to transform Hulhumalè into a model smart city.

"We believe that this partnership with T-Hub will accelerate the development of smart and sustainable cities in the Maldives," said Ahmed Athif, Managing Director, Urbanco. "T-Hub's extensive network and expertise in the startup ecosystem will provide us with the necessary resources and innovative solutions to transform our cities. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration and a brighter future for Hulhumalè."

As part of the support offered by T-Hub, Urbanco will benefit from a range of resources and opportunities, including connections with T-Hub startups specializing in cyber security, data security, Prop Tech, smart city solutions, deep tech (AI/ML/Telecom technologies for Urbanco's data center), and sustainability (recycling, waste to wealth solutions, waste management solutions). Additionally, Urbanco will have the opportunity to visit T-Hub and engage with startups and other ecosystem partners in these identified sectors, gaining valuable insights and fostering collaboration.

The collaboration will progress through a structured plan for the next 60 days. This plan includes an in-depth analysis of Urbanco's roadmap for making Hulhumalè a smart and sustainable city, followed by the identification of mutual goals and potential solutions. The partnership will culminate in the delivery of outcomes, closure, and impact assessment to evaluate the success of the collaboration.

About T-Hub:

T-Hub (Technology Hub) is an innovation hub and ecosystem enabler. Based out of Hyderabad, India, T-Hub leads India’s pioneering innovation ecosystem. With a mission of enabling and empowering an ecosystem hungry for innovation, T-Hub is creating impact for startups, corporations, and other innovation ecosystem stakeholders. Incorporated in 2015, it has provided over 1800 national and international startups with access to better technology, talent, mentors, customers, corporates, investors, and government agencies. It has elevated innovation for leading national and global corporations, transforming their business models for the better. Working in collaboration with innovation partners and enablers in Telangana, India and worldwide, T-Hub is building a future-ready innovation ecosystem.

For more information about T-Hub, visit www.t-hub.co.

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About Urbanco (earlier Housing Development Corporation) :

Urbanco earlier Housing Development Corporation is a leading urban development corporation of Maldives, crafting a world of better tomorrows, dedicated to providing quality and affordable housing solutions to the citizens. Urbanco is committed to sustainable urban development and aims to create smart cities that enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors alike.

Smart City Living Lab at IIITH Announces Winners of Water Challenge

• Oceo Water Pvt Ltd, IIITH - Smart Water Meter Solutions, and Kritsnam Technologies winners
• Chosen by eminent panel of public and private smart city leaders
• All 3 startups’ solutions deployed on IIITH campus to gauge their impact

Smart City Living Lab at IIITH, in collaboration with the Government of Telangana and NIUM, announced the 3 winners of Water Challenge.

• Oceo Water Pvt Ltd - Detecting Water Leaks in Pipelines from Space (Jalashay): AI-enabled hydrological analytics produced from satellite photos will assist public utilities in precisely forecasting and detecting water leakages in water transmission networks without having to be physically present on the ground.
• IIITH - Smart Water Meter Solutions: A feasible option for expensive digital water metres is a low-cost retrofit for digitisation of analogue water metres.
• Kritsnam Technologies Pvt. Ltd - water flow meter: For bulk water supply, an inline ultrasonic flow metre is used. An excellent tool for monitoring water flow in pipelines in real time.

Contestants had to develop feasible solutions for cities’ in the areas of non-revenue water (water revenue lost due to unaccounted water, pipe-breakage or lost in tanks or in pilferage, etc.), water quality and quantity monitoring, wastewater industrial/sewerage etc and rain-water, water drains and open innovation.

Selected startups were given the opportunity to pitch to Smart city city Technology MNCs and Smart city officials during the two-month programme.

After multiple rounds and comprehensive screening, the panellists from academia (IIITH), government entities such as Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWSSB), National Institute of Urban Management (NIUM), commercial consultants from World Resources Institute (WRI), and technology partners -European Business & Technology Center (EBTC) shortlisted three finalists.

The three winning startups diployed their solution at the smart campus at IIITH and will be given the opportunity to do a PoC in one of the districts in Telangana which will be supported by NIUM and HMDA.

“The Smart City Living Lab is an attempt to discover cutting edge innovations with smart city use cases, that can benefit from research and also the network of partners” Ramesh Loganathan, Professor- Co-Innovation and Head Research/Innovation Outreach.

In December 2020, the Smart City Living Lab opened its doors. The Smart Campus is being built up, as well as the data lake for live sensor data. Two roundtable sessions with a few Smart City CEOs and other thought leaders have been organised. The Living Lab will assist startups recognised through the hurdles in improving their products and gaining market access.

About Smart City Living Labs: The Smart City Research Center is set up with support from MEITY (Government of India), Smart City Mission and Government of Telangana at IIITH. The research center includes a Living Lab, that is a setup with support from EBTC and Amsterdam Innovation Arena. The Building on the Smart Campus @ IIITH Smart City Research Center is based on the following Objectives: There is a huge push for smart cities in India under the Smart Cities Mission, a new initiative by the Government of India to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local development and harnessing technology to create smart outcomes for citizens. In this ambitious project, 100 cities are being covered for the duration of 5 years with a budget of Rs.100 crore per city per year. The goal of the Living Lab plan is to create an urban area enhancing three value domains: social, economic and environmental. Thus, developed Living Lab shall enable the following:

1. Get expertise in IoT for Smart Cities related research and deployment
2. Generate data for research
3. Creation of a viable innovation and demand driven ecosystem in universities.
4. Provide a test bench for IoT based Smart City implementations to start-ups as well as big companies

About IIIT Hyderabad: The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH) is an autonomous research university founded in 1998 that focuses on the core areas of Information Technology, such as Computer Science, Electronics and Communications, and their applications in other domains through inter-disciplinary research with great social impact. Some of its research domains include Visual Information Technologies, Human Language Technologies, Data Engineering, VLSI and Embedded Systems, Computer Architecture, Wireless Communications, Algorithms and Information Security, Robotics, Building Science, Earthquake Engineering, Computational Natural Sciences and Bioinformatics, IT in Agriculture and e-Governance.

Website: www.iiit.ac.in

India’s Stride in Bio-Economy Has Caught the Imagination of the World: Dr Pramod Chaudhari at Aarambh #1 Conclave

Photo Caption:Dr. Pramod Chaudhari, Executive Chairman, Praj Industries Ltd

The renowned industrialist was one of the inaugural speakers at the global virtual conclave, Aarambh #1 - Sowing the Seeds of Sustainability’, which was organised by IACC and TEFF on December 17; it addressed burning environmental issues and offered small yet impactful solutions

The one-day global virtual conclave of ‘Aarambh #1 – Sowing the Seeds of Sustainability’, conducted by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) Pune, in collaboration with The Eco Factory Foundation (TEFF) on December 17, was a resounding success. With that, the conclave came as a ray of hope for over 1000 participants, who by the end of the event were left with food for thought of addressing the environmental issues that our planet is facing.

The event, which was divided into five sessions, had around 25 eminent speakers, who spoke ab climate about change, renewable energies, sustainable finance, green buildings, and adopting green measures to ensure sustainable development.

Dr. Pramod Chaudhari, Executive Chairman, Praj Industries Ltd, one of the inaugural speakers, praised the initiative and its theme based on sustainability. Stressing on the need for bioeconomy and decarbonisation, Dr Chaudhari, who is popularly referred to as the ‘Ethanol Man’, said, “India’s stride in bioeconomy in recent times has caught the imagination of the world and undoubtedly the government’s progressive strategic interventions have played a big role in it.” He added, “With advanced technologies, progressive policies, robust industry ecosystem and abundant availability of bio-based feedstock, India is bound to become energy self-sufficient in the near future and the country’s bioeconomy is poised to leapfrog.”

Apart from touching on topics of climate and sustainability issues impacting countries and trade, the sessions at ‘Aarambh #1 – Sowing the Seeds of Sustainability’ were handpicked and delved on some of the crucial focus areas that can drive the mission of sustainability, which included the industrial sector.

Elaborating on the reason the conclave focused on the industrial sector, Ms Rujuta Jagtap, Chairperson, IACC Pune, 20-21, Convenor Aarambh#1 and Owner, SAJ Test Plant Pvt Ltd, said, “One of the lesser-known facts is that industries are one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases (GHG), representing almost 30% of global emissions. It is an alarming fact and needs to be resolved before the situation gets out of hand. We need the industries to become more climate-resilient. Incidentally, our first session Climate Actions: Role of Industries spoke highly of how we can build sustainable industries and create an environment of inclusiveness and foster innovation.

Aarambh #1 , is the ‘first’ exclusive global conference on ‘Sustainability’ by The Indo American Chamber of Commerce,Pune, which is clearly just the beginning where we are creating awareness and giving deeper insights into some of the areas of SUSTAINABILITY, and there would be a follow on series on this Subject each year, where we would cover the other areas under this wide subject like:

• Water conservation
• Urban and rural green revolution
• Start-ups in the sustainable space
• Smart cities etc 

Which would definitely be taken up in ‘AARAMBH #2.0’, which we will announce soon, and this hopefully would be a physical event in Pune.”

Seconding her on that, Mr Anand Chordia, Founder of TEFF, added, “Aarambh translates to a new beginning, and this is what I precisely feel about our conclave. It’s a commencement of a new era where we are sowing the seeds of sustainability. Since the industrial sector provides livelihood to many, we focussed on MSMEs, SMEs and larger-scale organizations among others, to create a consciousness that will cause a triggering effect of positive change. We are sure that this conclave will inspire all to embrace sustainable ways,”

The one-day virtual conclave, which took place between 2 pm-9.30 pm, was also attended by Mr Kapil Kaul, National President, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC); Mr Saurabh Shah, Regional President, Western India Council, IACC and Ms Prajakta Kotasthane, Chairperson, IACC Pune, 21-22 Managing Director at Shriram Rubber Products among other distinguished speakers at the conclave. The diverse perspectives on sustainability voiced by the eminent speakers and eco-warriors are expected to not only create awareness but also drive newer projects as the need of the hour is to take climate actions on war footing to conserve our environment.

IIIT Hyderabad Organises Round Table on Healthy Smart Cities

 The key stakeholders from government, technology partners, front line workers, academia and startups

Deliberated on post pandemic challenges and technology solutions, especially on how to make schools and public spaces safer

IIITH’s Smart City Living Lab to actively tackle the challenges by planning and working closely with key stakeholders on future actions

22 July 2021, Hyderabad: Smart City Living Lab at IIITH, organized a multi stakeholder round table discussion on healthy smart cities to bring in perspectives from government, technology partners, frontline workers, academia and startups for a better understanding of how cities and technology players are responding to the pandemic and to get valuable insights and address it collaboratively. As life after COVID slowly eases back to normalcy, governance and management of organizations/workplaces/schools/government need to understand the best practices and be equipped with the best solutions for managing the safety and wellbeing of citizens. A position paper was made and published on the discussion, solutions and next steps.

"Reaching out to the market has always been a struggle. The concept of reaching the market and demonstrating the solution can only be accomplished through a living lab that provides a test environment for solutions to be tested and an environment for ecosystem players to come together and demonstrate a workable solution," A.K Garg, Sr. Director at Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology

The key focus of deliberations was to understand when we get back to work/school, public transport/spaces and markets and how to make it safe. Various concerns that need to be addressed for effective and safe reopening and functioning of schools, work, public spaces etc were discussed and valuable recommendations were made. Some are 1) Real time updates with sensor network deployment 2) Live Monitoring and Screening 3) Mandatory Periodic Screening 4) SOP Guidelines and Training in place 5) Real Time Tracking. Solutions discussed were for early detection and mitigation of COVID Aerosols from air. Standard SOPs will also play a major role in use for smooth reopening of institutions.

"The spirit and essence of the Living Lab was wonderfully captured in our round table discussion. Due to great moderation by NSN and excellent engagement from all participants we were able to get very meaningful insights which can help us create impactful solutions that can be demonstrated in in the Lab. Looking forward to many more such initiatives", said Vincent Van Noord, Director Europe at European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC).

Smart City Research Center at IIITH was set up with support from MEITY (Government of India), Smart City Mission and Government of Telangana at IIITH. The research center includes a Living Lab, that is a setup with support from EBTC and Amsterdam Innovation Arena. Living Labs will be taking an active role in tackling the challenges by working closely with key government stakeholders to plan on future actions, for quarterly follow-on round tables and to host challenges based on the problems identified. Living lab will act as a hub for building solutions and test bed to ensure the right standards are in place by validating the products in the lab environment.

"Thought leadership is an important aspect of the Living Lab. This roundtable is the first of many we are planning towards engaging the stakeholders for the benefit of the larger ecosystem,” said Prof Ramesh Loganathan, Co-Innovation and Head Research/Innovation Outreach at IIITH.

Panelists included Dr A K Garg - Sr. Director at Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology; Dr.Chinnababu Sunkavalli - Consultant Surgical Oncologist at Apollo Hospital; Dr. Ashish Srivastava IAS - CEO & MD, Dehradun Smart City PMC; Manish Kothari VP, India at Silicon Labs, Dr. Prabhakar Bhimalapuram Assistant Professor, at IIITH; Priya Prakash CEO Of HealthsetGo; Rajesh Kumar Additional Director at Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology; Sukanto Aich Whole-time Director & Board Member; Business Leader - Systems & Services at Signify; Venkatesh Narasimhan Sr. Director, Engineering at Silicon Labs; Vikram Murty Foundation for ISHRAE , Founder Member, Past President ISHRAE.

Smart Poles with Integrated Drone Hubs to Power Modern Cities

San Jose, California (USA), June 2, 2021: FlytBase is incredibly excited to partner with Omniflow, an internet of things (IoT) company that manufactures smart multifunctional infrastructure powered by hybrid wind and solar energy. Leveraging FlytBase’s powerful drone-automation software, Omniflow has incorporated a drone charging hub with their flagship product, OMNILED, to create scalable and sustainable networks and highways for drone service providers.

Evolution of the Smart Pole

Automation and IoT has catalyzed global digitization and helped enterprises/services stay connected with always-on devices and cloud-based applications. One of the primary objectives of such modern technology is to optimize resource utilization. However, most public lighting systems today still run on 20-year-old technology that consumes power in a highly inefficient and unsustainable manner. It has been estimated that one streetlight is responsible for around 1.3 tons of annual CO2 emissions. Consequently, excess power consumption owing to outdated technology has long been a problem for its highly damaging effect on the environment, particularly in instances where the electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels.

To address these issues, Omniflow developed OMNILED, a multifunctional lighting solution that can turn any regular streetlight into a smart pole with ultra-efficient LEDs, IP cameras, high-quality PA systems, LTE/small-cell connectivity, public Wi-Fi, and off-the-grid operability with battery storage, among several other features, powered almost entirely through renewable energy and carbon-conscious technology. Their vision and business model are centered around realizing an eco-friendly world that digitizes existing infrastructure, avoiding the expensive and resource-intensive process of remanufacturing and deploying products with limited functionalities.

Development of smart poles has increased the accessibility of 5G connectivity and other essential digital services, such as EV charging, for the world. Today, Omniflow has active sales in more than 30 countries around the globe, with thousands of units already installed. Their primary markets comprise the UK, EU, and the US, with the MENA and South-east Asian regions now receiving considerable traction.

Introducing the Drone Hub

As autonomous drones continued to gain widespread recognition within the automation and robotics industry, engineers at Omniflow began exploring the possibility of retrofitting their smart poles with docking pads that drones could land on for refuelling. Because their smart poles are cloud-connected and equipped with edge-computing capabilities, they were able to easily install a smart charging station for such drones that could be leveraged for various use-cases, including security, public safety, delivery, and emergency response.

Integration with FlytNow

To enable drones to perform autonomous functions such as landing, take-off, and executing pre/post-flight checks, Omniflow collaborated with FlytBase to deploy a fully integrated software solution that would enable remote control of both the drone and the hub. FlytBase’s intuitive and modular software solution, FlytNow, can be used to plan and schedule repeatable missions and set failsafe actions that are automatically triggered during emergencies or incidents. One of the key features of the software is its precision-landing module, which uses computer-vision technology and landing algorithms to accurately align, approach, and land the drones on the charging pad every time.



To learn more, watch FlytBase’s latest webinar on ‘Smart Poles: The Future of Autonomous Drone Operations’ with Omniflow using this link: https://flytnow.com/webinars/flytnow-and-omniflow/

About FlytBase

Founded in 2016, FlytBase, Inc., a Silicon Valley startup, has built the world’s first Internet of Drones (IoD) platform, providing drone agnostic software solutions to automate and scale drone operations. FlytBase offerings are compatible with major drone hardware platforms (e.g., DJI, Ardupilot, PX4) and come with SDKs, simulators, and APIs for reliable testing and seamless integration. FlytBase was a part of Cisco's accelerator program and was recognised as the Grand Champion at the NTT Data’s Global Innovation Contest in 2019.

About Omniflow

Omniflow was founded in 2012 after its initial concept was proposed at the Richard Branson / EDP innovation award. By 2015, Omniflow had begun providing sustainable smart city solutions with the mission to have a positive impact on the world, avoiding CO2 emissions and expanding digitalization. Enabling savings of over 90% on lighting solutions, they were able to further provide value-added services powered by sustainable energy. On the development roadmap, Omniflow has several different technologies that will be implemented at great scale in cities within the next 5 to 15 years.

IIIT Hyderabad Sets Up Smart City Research Centre

Includes Living Lab, a test bed to showcase new ideas and approaches in IoT domain

And a place to co-create smart city innovations with startups

The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH) has set up a Smart City Research Center (SCRC) with support from MEITY (Government of India), Smart City Mission and Government of Telangana.

There is a huge push for smart cities in India under the Smart Cities Mission, a new initiative by the Government of India to drive economic growth and improve the quality of life of people by enabling local development and harnessing technology to create smart outcomes for citizens. In this ambitious project, 100 cities are being covered for the duration of 5 years with a budget of Rs.100 crore per city per year. As a part of it, Living Lab plans to create an urban area enhancing three value domains: social, economic, and environmental.

IIITH existing centres will be lending their expertise to the Smart City Research Centre in various domains covering signal processing, OneM2M server, design of smart and automated buildings, optics and photonics, flexible electronics, embedded systems and IoT, radio frequency integrated circuit design and low-power VLSI design, research and development in fundamental aspects of computing systems etc.

"IIITH's Living Lab will collaborate with government bodies, start-ups and big organisations on Smart City solutions. The IIITH campus would include different IoT verticals related to air quality, building energy, water quantity and quality, street lighting, etc. Through the Living Lab, IIIT-H plans to transform the campus into a platform for learning, experimentation and for showcasing new ideas and approaches. "As technology goes mainstream and directly into homes, buildings, campuses and cities, it is imperative that access to such spaces should be available to ensure that the right products are defined, designed and built. Without live access to such spaces, solutions or products may end up being theoretical and not actually usable," explains Professor Ramesh Loganathan.

More information on SCRC at https://smartcityresearch.iiit.ac.in/


About IIIT-Hyderabad:


The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH) is an autonomous research university founded in 1998 that focuses on the core areas of Information Technology, such as Computer Science, Electronics and Communications, and their applications in other domains through inter-disciplinary research that has a greater social impact. Some of its research domains include Visual Information Technologies, Human Language Technologies, Data Engineering, VLSI and Embedded Systems, Computer Architecture, Wireless Communications, Algorithms and Information Security, Robotics, Building Science, Earthquake Engineering, Computational Natural Sciences and Bioinformatics, Education Technologies, Power Systems, IT in Agriculture and e-Governance.


Website: //www.iiit.ac.in/

L&T Technology Services joins Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program to provide Smart City solutions to OEMs and System Integrators

L&T Technology Services Limited (BSE: 540115, NSE: LTTS), a leading global pure play engineering services company, announced it has joined the Qualcomm® Smart Cities Accelerator Program from Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. to collaborate on providing smart ecosystem solutions and services to help global enterprises accelerate the digital transformation to smart urban infrastructure.

LTTS has strong expertise in Smart Ecosystems - smart cities, smart warehousing and smart manufacturing solutions. Together with Qualcomm Technologies’ global technology leadership in edge compute capability, cutting-edge processors and wide-area and local-area communications technologies, LTTS can offer a portfolio of digital offerings to address energy conservation, operational efficiency and digital transformation to cities, making them smarter and more sustainable.

The Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program is a community matchmaking program that brings together smart solutions providers like LTTS with municipalities or systems integrators looking to solve problems. This can help drive additional value and integrate solutions with secure interoperability, edge processing and an ecosystem to deploy at scale.

Some of the Smart solutions deployed by LTTS include the world’s smartest office campus powered by i-BEMS, (LTTS’ smart campus experience framework), the world’s first commercial network for grids and cutting-edge electric and hybrid solutions for a sustainable transport network.

Stawan Kadepurkar, Chief Business Officer at L&T Technology Services said, “LTTS brings considerable experience in incubating state-of-the-art technology and delivering efficiency through smart infrastructure solutions. Rapid urbanization has given rise to traffic congestion, high energy consumption and inefficient waste management schemes. As such, the need of the hour is to drive disruptive technology by innovative and intuitive offerings, streamlining day-to-day management, improving efficiency and increasing sustainability. We are delighted to join the Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program to drive the global innovative solutions ecosystem for smart cities.”

Sanjeet Pandit, Senior Director, Business Development and Head of Smart Cities, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., said, “L&T Technology Services has an excellent track record of designing and developing solutions that solve modern smart cities problems. We are excited to bring LTTS into our Qualcomm Smart Cities Accelerator Program to help drive this large-scale transformation of modern cities to smart, sustainable and eco-friendly landscapes.”
About L&T Technology Services Ltd

L&T Technology Services Limited (LTTS) is a listed subsidiary of Larsen & Toubro Limited focused on Engineering and R&D (ER&D) services. We offer consultancy, design, development and testing services across the product and process development life cycle. Our customer base includes 69 Fortune 500 companies and 51 of the world’s top ER&D companies, across industrial products, medical devices, transportation, telecom & hi-tech, and the process industries. Headquartered in India, we have over 16,700 employees spread across 17 global design centers, 28 global sales offices and 50 innovation labs as of December 31, 2019.

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

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

CyberEye going to be the face of ‘The Things Network’ in India

The first-ever ‘The Things Conference India’ has ended on a high note but this is just the beginning for a bigger, better and stronger LoRaWAN culture in India! The first-ever ‘The Things Conference India’ took place on 9th and 10th November at HICC, Hyderabad, which witnessed over 400 delegates and 40+ esteemed speakers and tech-experts from across the globe!

The Things Conference is the largest LoRaWAN conference in the world and The Things Network is the largest LoRaWAN community in the world.

Many countries across the world have recognised the potential of LoRaWAN and are implementing the technology to build Smart Nations. The changes it could bring in India are immense. LoRaWAN can reduce the costs involved in building Smart Cities multifold. With this technology, a Smart India is not very far.

Ram Ganesh, CEO - CyberEye, the company which brought this conference to India for the first time, said, “These two days have been quite phenomenal in spreading the culture of LoRaWAN. The response we received from the tech community was extraordinary. Over the two days, everyone was totally focused on learning and spreading knowledge. This is the tech culture we want to see in India. And The Things Conference India is just the beginning.”

“Thanks to iB Hubs for supporting us in bringing the conference together. Also, with this kind of support we are getting from the tech community here in India, our vision is not very far. ”, adding this, Ram went on to thank all the speakers and other partners for making this conference a big success. Notably, CyberEye is supported end-to-end by a PAN India Startup Hub named iB Hubs.



Wienke Giezeman, CEO, The Things Industries announced, “Together with iB Hubs and CyberEye, we’re glad to announce The Things Network India. CyberEye is going to be the face of this community and together, we will build the ecosystem in a stronger way. India is a really good breeding ground for new technologies. The Things Network also means infrastructure, so we’ll make it happen to run public networks and private networks here in India”

“I’m amazed at the scale and quality at which this conference has been done and it was amazing to witness such tremendous growth in such short time. At this pace, phenomenal things can be achieved in the near future.” Wienke thanked iB Hubs and CyberEye for bringing The Things Conference to India and for making it possible.

“India has a lot of potential and this is the right time to ignite the energies. We always believe that if you just put the right kind of technology in the hands of Indians and you see wonders happening.” Ram added.

CyberEye is the face of The Things Network India. Shesha Sai, Director - IoT Business, CyberEye, will be the India community manager. CyberEye also has announced that The Things Conference would be back in 2019 on a larger scale & with a vision to build stronger inclusive community across India. The community gathered at the conference believe that this is a huge leap to make smart cities in India a reality.

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.

How IoT Will Improve Quality of Life in Indian Cities

The idea of smart cities have been fed into our minds for quite a long time now. So, today we at IndianWeb2 take a moment to analyse what exactly are the IoT centred initiatives that the Indian government has planned to improve the quality of life of its citizens and how far along are the Indian cities on their Smart cities trajectory.

The following data has been extracted from a Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HP) sponsored podcast carried out by Dana Gardner Principal analyst, Interarbor Solutions, where he interviewed VS Shridhar, senior vice president and head of the Internet of Things (IoT) business unit at Tata Communications in Chennai area, India and Nigel Upton, general manager of the Universal IoT Platform and global connectivity platform and communications solutions business at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

American multinational IT firm HPE's major interest in the Indian IoT economy was recently uncovered when it announced joining hands with Indian telecommunications giant Tata Telecommunications to build the world’s largest IoT network in India. The project involves connecting devices, applications and other IoT solutions over the LoRa network in smart buildings, campus, utilities, fleet management, security and healthcare services in nearly 2,000 communities (Read Here).

The Smart Cities Project

According to Shridhar, the Indian government for now has decided to focus largely on the Smart Cities initiative to improve the quality of life of its citizens. Considering the famous saying that "sailing in two boats" never gets anyone anywhere, we're glad that the government has managed to keep itself focused on just one aim when it comes to its urbanisation plans. The government considers that the Smart Cities initiative will not only help them in improving the quality of living for its citizens, but it will also help in generating employment and take the country as a whole a step forward towards accepting technology and incorporating it in various dimensions of their lives.

While Shridhar accepted that currently there is a whole lot of curiosity, excitement and action happening in the 100 Smart Cities project, but it is still a slow process for which we will have to wait a couple of more years to witness progress from our own eyes.

Offering his point of view on the Digitisation of Indian citizens, HPE's Nigel Upton pointed that adoption of the digitization of city infrastructure and services is to some extent driven by economics and considering India is a price sensitivity country, therefore the government has to ensure that IoT in smart cities is available at the right price.

He also noted that innovation is the only way to continue to bring down the price points and encourage mass adoption. According to him, HPE's partnership with Tata Communications is a live example of this as the Indian IT major has really helped HPE in evolving its technology keeping in mind the Indian ecosystem and its needs and spending limitations.

Balanced Bandwidth

When it comes to human interaction to the Internet in India, the country's performance in the last couple of years has been quite phenomenal. From 2G, we have has moved on to 3G and to 4G. Of course, in a world where 5G is now a reality, India is still behind but considering its earlier performance and trajectory, it's not that far behind.

According to Shridhar, while human interaction and experience is improving vastly because of the rapid pace at which the networks in the country are growing, but when it comes to machine-to-machine (M2M) side, it’s a slightly different story as they don’t require oodles of bandwidth to function. He believes that about 80-90% of all machine interactions are going to be very, very low bandwidth and low power as switching off a streetlight, Or sensing temperature or air quality or water and water quality won't require much bandwidth.

He notes that machines are different from humans when it comes to interactions. When machines that require low bandwidth and low power consumption are deployed, a battery can enable such a machine to communicate for years for to come.

When the battery communicates, the network has to be available. According to studies, a network of less than 50 Kbps connectivity should be sufficient for the majority of these machines.

Nowadays, machine interaction not only means sensing it; it's measuring it, analyzing it, and acting on it, but collecting all of them into a platform and acting on them.

According to Upton, low-power specification Internet and network gateways and low-power WANs (LPWAN) technology is now becoming a de facto standard as more and more countries are embracing it. He further added that at Tata Communications, they have successfully embraced the LPWAN technology from the LoRa Alliance, which is a consortium of more than 400 partners that have come together to take standards forward. According to him, they are creating this network over the next 18 to 24 months across the Indian subcontinent and have already made these networks available right now in four cities. By the end of the year, it will be many more cities—almost 60 cities across India by March next year.

Different Countries, Different Problems

According to Upton, one of the best things about the smart cities project is that the people in-charge are elected officials rather than hard-nosed businessman who are solely focused on financial returns. Considering each country's needs differs from another's in fact even the needs of two different states can vastly differ in a country, this is a good thing as the elected officials know exactly what are the requirements of their cities and its citizens and which particular area requires more attention. Upton gives Tokyo's example and explains how there is much more concern around quality of life and mobility with a rapidly aging population and the country's challenges are different than India's.

He further added, in India, the set of opportunities and challenges that are set out, they are in that combination of economic as well as social. He believes that if the country's government is able to solve them and is able to give its citizens more peace of mind, more ability to be able to move freely, to be able to take part in the economic interaction within that area, then undoubtedly that would lead to greater growth in the South Asian country.

How IoT Will Improve Quality of Life in Indian Cities

The idea of smart cities have been fed into our minds for quite a long time now. So, today we at IndianWeb2 take a moment to analyse what exactly are the IoT centred initiatives that the Indian government has planned to improve the quality of life of its citizens and how far along are the Indian cities on their Smart cities trajectory.

The following data has been extracted from a Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HP) sponsored podcast carried out by Dana Gardner Principal analyst, Interarbor Solutions, where he interviewed VS Shridhar, senior vice president and head of the Internet of Things (IoT) business unit at Tata Communications in Chennai area, India and Nigel Upton, general manager of the Universal IoT Platform and global connectivity platform and communications solutions business at Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE).

American multinational IT firm HPE's major interest in the Indian IoT economy was recently uncovered when it announced joining hands with Indian telecommunications giant Tata Telecommunications to build the world’s largest IoT network in India. The project involves connecting devices, applications and other IoT solutions over the LoRa network in smart buildings, campus, utilities, fleet management, security and healthcare services in nearly 2,000 communities (Read Here).

The Smart Cities Project

According to Shridhar, the Indian government for now has decided to focus largely on the Smart Cities initiative to improve the quality of life of its citizens. Considering the famous saying that "sailing in two boats" never gets anyone anywhere, we're glad that the government has managed to keep itself focused on just one aim when it comes to its urbanisation plans. The government considers that the Smart Cities initiative will not only help them in improving the quality of living for its citizens, but it will also help in generating employment and take the country as a whole a step forward towards accepting technology and incorporating it in various dimensions of their lives.

While Shridhar accepted that currently there is a whole lot of curiosity, excitement and action happening in the 100 Smart Cities project, but it is still a slow process for which we will have to wait a couple of more years to witness progress from our own eyes.

Offering his point of view on the Digitisation of Indian citizens, HPE's Nigel Upton pointed that adoption of the digitization of city infrastructure and services is to some extent driven by economics and considering India is a price sensitivity country, therefore the government has to ensure that IoT in smart cities is available at the right price.

He also noted that innovation is the only way to continue to bring down the price points and encourage mass adoption. According to him, HPE's partnership with Tata Communications is a live example of this as the Indian IT major has really helped HPE in evolving its technology keeping in mind the Indian ecosystem and its needs and spending limitations.

Balanced Bandwidth

When it comes to human interaction to the Internet in India, the country's performance in the last couple of years has been quite phenomenal. From 2G, we have has moved on to 3G and to 4G. Of course, in a world where 5G is now a reality, India is still behind but considering its earlier performance and trajectory, it's not that far behind.

According to Shridhar, while human interaction and experience is improving vastly because of the rapid pace at which the networks in the country are growing, but when it comes to machine-to-machine (M2M) side, it’s a slightly different story as they don’t require oodles of bandwidth to function. He believes that about 80-90% of all machine interactions are going to be very, very low bandwidth and low power as switching off a streetlight, Or sensing temperature or air quality or water and water quality won't require much bandwidth.

He notes that machines are different from humans when it comes to interactions. When machines that require low bandwidth and low power consumption are deployed, a battery can enable such a machine to communicate for years for to come.

When the battery communicates, the network has to be available. According to studies, a network of less than 50 Kbps connectivity should be sufficient for the majority of these machines.

Nowadays, machine interaction not only means sensing it; it's measuring it, analyzing it, and acting on it, but collecting all of them into a platform and acting on them.

According to Upton, low-power specification Internet and network gateways and low-power WANs (LPWAN) technology is now becoming a de facto standard as more and more countries are embracing it. He further added that at Tata Communications, they have successfully embraced the LPWAN technology from the LoRa Alliance, which is a consortium of more than 400 partners that have come together to take standards forward. According to him, they are creating this network over the next 18 to 24 months across the Indian subcontinent and have already made these networks available right now in four cities. By the end of the year, it will be many more cities—almost 60 cities across India by March next year.

Different Countries, Different Problems

According to Upton, one of the best things about the smart cities project is that the people in-charge are elected officials rather than hard-nosed businessman who are solely focused on financial returns. Considering each country's needs differs from another's in fact even the needs of two different states can vastly differ in a country, this is a good thing as the elected officials know exactly what are the requirements of their cities and its citizens and which particular area requires more attention. Upton gives Tokyo's example and explains how there is much more concern around quality of life and mobility with a rapidly aging population and the country's challenges are different than India's.

He further added, in India, the set of opportunities and challenges that are set out, they are in that combination of economic as well as social. He believes that if the country's government is able to solve them and is able to give its citizens more peace of mind, more ability to be able to move freely, to be able to take part in the economic interaction within that area, then undoubtedly that would lead to greater growth in the South Asian country.