Tag: Prof. Ramesh Loganathan

News, Technology

STPI organized webinar on IoT, ESDM, 5G & Cybersecurity on the third day of IISF 2020

Dec 26, 2020 by Rekha Nair 0 Comments #Arvind Consultancy, #CEO, #Chairman, #DG, #Director, #Dr. Omkar Rai, #Dr. P Siva Kumar, #Dr. Satya Gupta, #ESI MedTek, #Ex VP, #Founder & CEO, #IESA, #IIIT Hyderabad, #MD, #Prof. Ramesh Loganathan, #Samsung R&D India, #Shri Ochintya Sharma, #Shri Sanjeev Keskar, #Shri Subodh Sachan, #Shri Taranjit Singh, #STPI

On the third day of IISF 2020, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) organized webinar on IoT, ESDM, 5G & Cybersecurity. The deliberations on various emerging technologies over last three days at New Age Technology Show would encourage startups, innovators & tech entrepreneurs to further strengthen the innovation journey in the country.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a unique domain that brings the ESDM industry and the IT industry together. Smart devices rely on innovation in the ESDM industry to efficiently aggregate and transmit a huge amount of data. The IT industry, on the other hand, has a major role to play in extracting intelligence from this information, and leveraging it to make smart devices responding to triggers in real time. IoT can play a significant role in the revolution of hyper-connectivity by bringing data & intelligence to the forefront of human welfare and economic progress of the country.

“Innovation is the fuel for growth. Today, India is among top 10 nations in innovation, patent creation & publishing across the world. STPI CoEs are revving up the tech innovation paradigm by fostering startups,” stated Shri Subodh Sachan, Director, STPI, in his welcome address.

“Dealing with Edge computing is a paradigm shift in appropriating the application of IoT with small & big data. This will differentiate the success of IoT adoption for project-specific purposes by various industry verticals. IoT is a combination of diverse technologies ranging AI, Cloud, Data, Edge, computing, sensors & semiconductors. While building IoT solutions, we must focus on complexity of technology & their applications,” expressed, Shri Ochintya Sharma, Ex VP, Samsung R&D India in his keynote address.

“Collaboration between academia & industry in translating academic R&D into market-ready products & solutions is critical for technology innovation. Living Lab at IIIT Hyderabad is facilitating R&D for scaling solutions for urban areas. Living It is revving up collaboration among stake holders, fostering innovation & acceleration programs to address the urban challenges & developing scalable solutions for smart cities,” cited Prof Ramesh Loganathan, IIIT Hyderabad.

“IoT plays a pivotal role for all verticals of ESDM industry. From automotive to smart city & home appliance, and utilities to industrial automation, IoT can provide massive opportunities for startups,” underscored Shri Sanjeev Keskar, CEO, Arvind Consultancy.

“Time is opportune for transforming contract manufacturing into building indigenous electronics products. PLI scheme will revolutionize ESDM industry in India and we must focus on R&D and design competency. STPI & IESA have built the foundation for R&D, innovation, product development & IP creation in ESDM by setting up STPI Eletropreneur Park (EP). Startups can leverage it to realise the national priorities by building innovative technologies,” emphasized, Dr. Satya Gupta, Chairman, IESA.

“IoT-enabled MedTech is focused on healthcare management by collecting data from diverse sources & providing affordable & accessible solutions. Point-of-care devices deliver the data for analysis, diagnostic & treatment,” cited Dr. P Siva Kumar, MD, ESI MedTek.

“We must devise on-Edge IoT solutions to address the agriculture problems. Startup should focus on the mechanism of data gathering from the diverse systems & devices on Edge to create innovative solutions for agriculture,” quoted Shri Taranjit Singh, Founder & CEO, Agnext World.

At the concluding session of New Age Technology Show, the winners of Innovation Showcase for Emerging Technology were announced. Total 28 entries received in three different categories, 12 were in AI-ML & Data Analytics (on 22nd Dec 2020), 6 were in AR/VR/MR/XR (on 23rd Dec 2020) and 10 were in IoT-ESDM (on 24th Dec 2020). Out of which 17 were displayed during the event. Liger Mobility in AI-ML & Data Analytics, Healthy Lung Initiative in AR/VR/MR/XR (HELI) and NextLeap Aeronautics in IoT-ESDM were declared winners.

Dr. Omkar Rai, DG, STPI did the honour of announcing the winners of various emerging technology innovations and appreciate the spirit of all the startups who submitted their innovations for showcasing in New Age Technology Show.

“New Age Technology Show is an engaging segment of IISF 2020 with participation from industry, academia, startups & students. Such events are paramount to drive the country’s innovation journey & making India a global innovation leader,” stated Dr. Omkar Rai, DG, STPI.

Business World

AI-driven content startup Instoried raises $1M funding

Nov 19, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #AI tool, #Avishkar's 5th cohort, #Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, #CIE- IIITH, #Prof. Ramesh Loganathan, #SharminAli

Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE-IIITH) Avishkar accelerator program startup Instoried raises $1 million from pre-series A round of investment, with Mumbai Angels leading the round, and follow-on investments from Venture Catalysts’ 9 Unicorns Fund London-based JPIN and others.

The AI-driven content startup has created a tool which helps brands to strategise, execute, and deliver content using predictive analysis to increase customer engagement. The B2B SaaS-based startup helps brands to boost engagement and increase content productivity in real-time.

Instoried’s AI tool helps large companies build personal connections with their audiences by using technology to measure the effectiveness of content and rewrite their communication. The company’s approach is data-driven, scalable and measurable with long-lasting, visible results.

Instoried was part of Avishkar’s 5th cohort where CIE-IIITH was instrumental in supporting Instoried with a seed fund of INR 10 lakhs provided strategy and business mentoring. Avishkar is an intensive six-month mentor and research-led program of CIE- IIIT Hyderabad currently running its 11th cohort. A total of Rs 10 lakh is invested in each startup who are part of the cohort. Through the program, Instoried gained access to IIITH’s research labs and received various customer development and mentoring support from CIE’s partners and ecosystem associates.

Commenting on Instoried’s successful funding, Prof Ramesh Loganathan, CIE- IIITH said, “All our programs target early-stage deep tech startups with potential or need to work with our research. InStoried is one such startup leveraging NLP for a very interesting use case around stories. We are very excited to see yet another of our Avishkar accelerator startups gaining good traction and momentum.”

According to Instoried founder SharminAli, “Instoried has grown over 3X in the last 10 months. We found a huge opportunity in this adversity and have scaled at a 60 per cent MOM rate. Brands globally now understand and acknowledge the importance of having a strong online engagement as an absolute mandate with the new normal. This is the best time for marketing tech companies. With the pre-series A raise, we want to hire a larger team and initiate marketing activities globally with a focus on global expansion and increasing our product offerings”.

News

FMC–FLO Mentorship Cell Launched A mentor is someone who looks at the business and gives objective inputs: Prof Ramesh Loganathan, IIIT-H

Aug 11, 2020 by Gouri Achary 0 Comments #FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO), #FMC, #FMC-FLO Mentorship Cell, #Ms Bindu Sastry, #Ms Usharani Manne Chairperson of FLO Hyderabad Chapter, #National Head, #Prof. Ramesh Loganathan, #Uma Chigurupati and Pooja Mitra.

.FICCI Ladies Organisation (FLO) unveiled its ambitious initiative FMC-FLO Mentorship Cell here in the city in a Webinar on Monday evening

The Mentorship Cell of FLO provides support to existing and new entrepreneurs, to establish a new business or enhance existing ones shared Ms Bindu Sastry, National Head, FMC speaking immediately after launching the initiative. It is a PAN India initiative being introduced across 17 Chapters all over India.

The vision of FMC is to be a self-reliant entrepreneurial ecosystem for FLO members by FLO members, shared Ms Bindu Sastry.

Addressing the online gathering, Guest Speaker Prof. Ramesh Loganathan, the veteran in this space shared his wisdom. He covered areas such as women representation in startup space, an overview of mentorship, what it takes to be a good mentor, mentor overload etc.

A good mentor shouldn’t give answers. Instead, he or she must challenge mentee. The Mentor shouldn’t share opinions, Mr Ramesh Loganathan, Professor Co-Innovation/ Outreach at IIIT-Hyderabad said.

Make sure the need of the community or society is understood well and served. Your solution should be a differentiator. The customers must be able to derive value from your solution, said Mr Ramesh, former HYSEA President

There is more to pivoting than many entrepreneurs understand. Pivoting in the startup space means shifting to a new strategy as marketing conditions, corporate environment, a pandemic like the current one may force. Sometimes it entails to drastically change the whole company and its plans, strategies. The mentor can bring in his experience in such a scenario and help the best way to pivot, he shared.

Speaking about Mentor Overload, the Professor who heads Innovation at IIIT-H said in your entrepreneurial journey some of you may encounter Mentor Overload. In such a scenario, stay cool even if you get conflicting views and make an informed choice.

Concluding his talk, he observed that a mentor is someone who looks at the business and gives objective inputs

He also answered many questions facilitated by Ms Pooja Mitra asked by the participants and answered them and clarified their doubts.

According to Ms Bindu, FMC is a 1-on-1 Mentorship program, lasts for 3 to 6 months. It will facilitate Workshops in Entrepreneurial Areas. It is a voluntary based initiative. It will have two levels both at Chapter and National level. Mentors who volunteer will be trained formally and Certification will be provided. We will have useful collaborations and programs with premier organizations both national and international level.

The Mentorship cell will be a facilitation platform, connecting women entrepreneurs to experts who can guide, mentor and assist them in taking their business to the next level, added Ms Bindu.

Adding further she stated that this initiative is only for FLO women-women with an idea wanting to convert it into a business, existing women entrepreneurs wanting to grow their business, women who have been thrown into business due to unforeseen circumstances.

Welcoming the virtual gathering, Ms Usharani Manne Chairperson of FLO Hyderabad Chapter said we didn’t have such a luxury of Mentorship when I first ventured into my business 25 years ago. Today it is different. Mentorship is an organized service available on tap for entrepreneurs at every stage of their lifecycle.

And I have no hesitation in accepting, Ms. Usharani added that any degree of success one achieved during those times was through trial and error and sheer persistence.

Research and surveys prove that while growth matters, over 70% of startups fail because of premature scaling. Mentored startups grow 3.5 times faster and raise 7 times more money. 80 per cent of successful CEOs said that they had relied on some form of mentorship. In another research by Sage, 93 per cent of startups admit that mentorship is instrumental to success, the FLO Hyderabad Chairperson shared.

The FMC Hyderabad Chapter is comprised of three members -Ms. Nanda Rao, Uma Chigurupati and Pooja Mitra. Sharing the plan to take the initiative forward Ms. Nanda Rao said it will cover areas such as Marketing, Branding, Sales, Legal, Cyber Security, Finance, Digitization etc others. Several Biz Talks related to the subjects will be organized such as this one every month first Wednesday, she shared.