Business & Economy – Page 13

Karnataka tops NITI Aayog innovation list

Report suggests steps to secure a place in Global Innovation Index’s top 25 nations

Karnataka has bagged the top rank in NITI Aayog’s India Innovation Index, 2022, which determines innovation capacities and ecosystems at the sub-national level. The State has held this position, under the Major States category, in all three editions of the Index so far.

In the Index released on Thursday, Manipur secured the lead in the Northeast and Hill States category, while Chandigarh was the top performer in the Union Territories and City States category.

Karnataka was followed by Telangana, Haryana, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar and Gujarat were at the bottom of the index.

Pointing out that India’s average innovation score is arguably insufficient, given the country’s ambitious targets to be named among the top 25 nations in the Global Innovation Index, the report by the government think tank has recommended measures, such as increasing Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GDERD), promoting private sector participation in R&D and closing the gap between industry demand and what the country produces through its education systems.

The report went on to state that countries that spend less on GDERD fail to retain their human capital in the long run and the ability to innovate is dependent on the quality of human capital; India’s GDERD as a percentage of GDP stood at about 0.7%.

Bengaluru through the nose

City-based artist and author Indu Antony’s book Vasané, takes readers on an olfactory journey of Bengaluru.

You must have heard that scents are more closely linked to our memories than pictures or sounds. The smell of the filter coffee you shared with your friends after an exhausting lecture, remembering the perfume your first love interest wore, or remembering home every time you smell your mother’s signature dish being cooked, all trigger memories. It’s not only our fondest memories that are drenched by smells, but so is our city.

In her book Vasané (smell in Kannada), artist and author Indu Antony captures the many smells that make up the city of Bengaluru.

“Every city has its distinct smell. Mumbai, Goa, all these cities have smells that characterise them, but with Bengaluru, there are so many smells that make up this city,” says Antony about her 70-page book. “Because of Covid, our sense of smell was lost. Not just by those who had it, but wearing masks also restricted our ability to smell things around us,” says the author.

According to Antony, this project published by Mazhi Books, connects with the city beyond the visual, about associating smells with the city. She collaborated with Avinandan, a perfumer whose family business, Sathyanarayana Traders, is a wholesale retailer of sandal, oud, and musk perfumes. Together, the duo created 12 unique smells in 1 ml bottles each, which readers get with the book, so that they can apply them to the pages and experience the city through the olfactory sense.

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Mangaluru: MRPL wins PRCI Zonal Award for Best PSU implementing CSR for Social Cause

The Public Relations Council of India (PRCI), South Zone conferred the award for ‘Best PSU implementing CSR for Social Cause’ on MRPL on World PR Day organised by PRCI, South Zone at Hotel Ocean Pearl here on July 16.

Rudolph Noronha, GM-CC received the award on behalf of team MRPL from Dr M Vijaya Kumar, vice chancellor, Yenepoya University and M B Jayaram, chief mentor and chairman, Emeritus – PRCI in the presence of other dignitaries and eminent personalities in different fields. Jagadish Holla and Canute Pinto, office bearers of PRCI – Mangalore Chapter were present and coordinated the entire event.

Delegates from different parts of South India including corporates, PR heads, HR heads, journalists and students of reputed institutes were part of this enthralling programme.

Mangalurean musician Vanil Veigas receives prestigious Grammy award

Vanil Veigas, a musician from Mangaluru, received the prestigious Grammy Award.

Vanil is a resident of Permannur. The award was announced in April earlier this year.

He had won the Grammy for the album song ‘Divine Tides’ by Ricky Kej. The song was produced during the pandemic. Along with Vanil Veigas, PA Deepa also won the award.

Vanil was the musician for the ‘Divine Tides’. Since 15 years, Vanil has been working with Ricky Kej on movie soundtracks, over 3,000 commercials, and 16 studio albums which include 3 Grammy-winning albums.

Vanil was born in Permannur to Isaac Veigas and Daisy Pereira. He is the brother of well-known Konkani actor-director Nellu Permannur. He is married to Diana D’Silva and they have a daughter, Alline Veigas, who is also learning music at a young age.

Karnataka cricket association launches new T20 tournament named ‘Maharaja Trophy T20’

Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) on Saturday announced the launch of Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20, its new T20 tournament named in the memory of the HRH late Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar, the former President of KSCA and Maharaja of Mysore. The tournament will be held between August 7 to 26 in Mysore.

The coveted trophy and logo of the tournament was unveiled in a star-studded ceremony attended by Roger Binny, President KSCA, Santosh Menon, Secretary KSCA and Vinay Mruthyunjaya, Treasurer of KSCA at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The tournament is widely seen as a replacement of the now-defunct Karnataka Premier League T20 tournament.

“KSCA had set the ball rolling for an all-new format of the game, way back in 2005, giving India its first taste of a T20 game through the Bradman Cup. Subsequently, the Karnataka Premier League was launched in 2009 and we saw eight successful editions of this entertaining league which saw many young stars emerge.”

“With an aim to continue to provide our cricketers with the right platform to perform and be ready for the next big leap in their cricketing career, we have decided to roll out the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20,” said Binny, the former India all-rounder and a member of the 1983 Men’s Cricket World Cup winning team.

The tournament will see six teams representing cities like Bengaluru, Mysore, Hubli, Shivamogga, Raichur and Mangalore vie for top honours. Karnataka’s top cricketers like Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, Shreyas Gopal, Krishnappa Gowtham, Manish Pandey, Jagadeesha Suchith, Karun Nair, Abhinav Manohar, KC Cariappa, Pravin Dubey and Abhimanyu Mithun are expected to feature in the Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20.

“The Maharaja Trophy KSCA T20 will commence on August 7 in Mysore with the first leg of matches being held at the Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar Ground in Mysore. A total of 18 matches will be held in Mysore followed by a total of 16 matches including the final being held in Bengaluru at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.”

Jawa and Yezdi bike enthusiasts take a trip down memory lane in Bengaluru

This year’s Jawa and Yezdi bike festival in Bengaluru followed a theme of adventure and offered a holistic experience to bikers from the time they entered the venue.

Hundreds of Jawa and Yezdi bike enthusiasts gathered for their annual festival and went down an adventurous nostalgic lane in the city on Sunday, to mark the 20th International Jawa Yezdi Day, which falls every year on the second Sunday in July.

“The bikes here are the centre of attraction and you can see there are over 750 Jawa and Yezdi bikes. We also got some special and very rare bikes displayed on one side of the ground which people can admire,” said Brian A., president and co-founder, Bangalore Jawa Yezdi Motorcycle Club (BJYMC), the organiser of the event.

Between 1960 and 1996, bikes from Jawa and Yezdi were produced in India. The 250cc two-stroke bikes were well-liked by youngsters due to their dependability and affordable maintenance requirements. In 1996, their production was stopped at the Ideal Jawa factory in Mysore.

The Jawa, the Jawa 42, and the Perak are the three vehicles that Mahindra-owned Classic Legends unveiled in 2018 after reviving the Jawa and Yezdi brand.

HAL, Safran to make chopper engines

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Safran Helicopter Engines have signed an agreement to create a new joint venture to develop helicopter engines. Through an MoU signed by R Madhavan, Chairman & Managing Director, HAL, and Franck Saudo, Chief Executive Officer, Safran Helicopter Engines, in presence of Olivier Andries, CEO, Safran.

Both the partners will extend their partnership by establishing a new aero-engine company in India. It will be dedicated to the development, production, sales and support of helicopter engines and one of its main objectives will be to meet the requirements of HAL and Ministry of Defence’s future helicopters, including the 13-tonne Indian Multi-Role Helicopter.

Madhavan said: “We now look forward to utilize this opportunity to leverage HAL’s experience in manufacturing of more than 15 types of aircraft and helicopter engines to co-develop and manufacture engine with immediate focus on IMRH and its naval variant the Deck Based Multi Role Helicopter. This partnership will involve and utilize the Indian Defence manufacturing ecosystem within India”.

Saudo said the partnership with HAL recently illustrated the development and production of the Shakti engine, “and the inauguration of our joint venture Helicopter Engines MRO Pvt Limited (HE-MRO). With a fleet of over 1,000 engines, India’s Armed Forces are one of the largest operators of Safran-designed helicopter engines.”

HAL and Safran Helicopter Engines already have multiple partnerships, including the Shakti engine, which powers HAL-produced helicopters, including the Dhruv, Rudra and the Light Combat Helicopter. The Ardiden 1U variant also powers the new Light Utility Helicopter. Through HE-MRO joint venture in Goa, HAL and Safran Helicopter Engines will also provide Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul services for TM333 and Shakti engines in service with Armed Forces, and will be operational by 2023-

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HAA head is new YMI president

Philanthropist and Hindustan Aviation Academy (HAA) chairman Dr KC Samuel has been appointed the International president of Y’s Men International (YMI). The movement was founded in 1922 and Samuel will be taking charge for its centenary year.

“The name ‘Y’s Men’ has become synonymous due to selfless service and sacrificial giving, and has touched and lifted the lives of thousands people across the world for over a century by acknowledging it as our duty,” said Dr Samuel.

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Mangaluru: Orchids Network & Systems wins Centre’s Top 100 SME award

The Orchids Network & Systems (I) Pvt Limited (ONSIPL) has been awarded the Top 100 Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) of India by the Govt of India at an award ceremony organized by India SME Forum at Taj Palace, New Delhi on 13 April 2022.

The chief guest was Narayan Rane, Union Minister for MSME and the award was presented by Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma, minister of state for MSME. Orchids was shortlisted from among 42,268 applicants after undergoing a stringent evaluation process.

An Indian based IT Infrastructure company envisioned by Mangalurean Sairam Shetty, he propelled it to its current success, contributing significantly to the highly vibrant and dynamic sector of Indian entrepreneurship thus winning an award for excellence today.

Founded in the year 1999 at Bengaluru as an IT Networking company, Orchids Networks went on to grow and diversify into various specializations such as servers and storage, open source software solution, HPC, AI, ML, DL, HPC & IoT Solutions in the IT sphere. Today it claims that it has design, supply and integrate everything on infrastructure IP. Having over two decades of IT infrastructure expertise, Orchid’s dedicated expert team of in-house trained designers study and analyze each requirement from simple to complex and provide solutions which are most ideal and future proof as per industry best standards.

Nokia to work with Indian Institute of Science on networked robotics

Nokia and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) announced the opening of the Nokia Center of Excellence (CoE) in Networked Robotics at the IISc. in Bengaluru.

The CoE would promote inter-disciplinary research involving robotics and advanced communication technologies in 5G and Artificial Intelligence (AI). It would also develop use cases across industrial automation, agriculture and disaster management. The centre would facilitate engagement and co-operation between academia, start-ups and industry ecosystem partners to research and develop these use cases.

The research projects undertaken by the CoE would include the design of advanced robotics, AI and automation solutions built upon next generation telecom networks and their applications for solving societally relevant problems.

Nishant Batra, Chief Strategy and Technology Officer at Nokia, said: “We want India to drive global innovation in an era of convergence where a few years from now, extended reality (XR) and digital-physical fusion will allow us to create, collaborate and communicate in unprecedented ways.’‘

Govindan Rangarajan, Director at IISc, said: “Our collaboration with a world-class company like Nokia will enable us to explore new frontiers for advanced technology research.’‘