Sweden focusing on science and technology ties with India

Sweden aims to strengthen its ties with India in the area of science and technology as the two countries are celebrating the Nobel Memorial Week in the memory of the great inventor Alfred Nobel.

"I strongly believe that technology and knowledge translate to increased influence. During the Nobel Week this year, we have planned SHE STEM to address underrepresentation of women in technology and to empower girls and women," Klas Molin, Sweden's Ambassador to India, said in a statement.

Now in its 13th year, the Nobel Memorial Week is an annual event organised by the Embassy of Sweden in India in cooperation with the Consulate General of Sweden in Mumbai and leading Swedish businesses in India. The week was instituted in the memory of inventor-philosopher Alfred Nobel and celebrates innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship.

The two countries have organised several events online for the upcoming week. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, all the events will take place entirely online.

The programme for 2020 includes an online quiz for college students with Rs.1 lac for the first prize winner. There are prizes for other winners and participants too. The quiz is live on www.swedeninindia.com and since students are away from their colleges and universities, it has changed its three-member teams rule to individual participation. The grand finale will be held on December 9.

There will be a series of Nobel Lectures this year called 'SHE STEM! Women leading the way' followed by panel discussions with women scientists and entrepreneurs from Sweden and India. A number of events are planned under 'Sweden India Health Talks', including the celebration of the India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre and announcement of the winners of the Health Innovation Challenge, panel discussions on 'Transformation of a Start Up to a Successful Enterprise', Infection Control and Oncology.

The India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre launched last year, is a collaboration between AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Jodhpur and Business Sweden to develop a cross country ecosystem of open innovation that start-ups and the healthcare stakeholders can use to collaborate and address current and future challenges in the healthcare sector.

A virtual interaction between Swedish Trade Minister Anna Hallberg and over 200 Swedish companies in India is also planned. The Minister would give her outlook on global trade and investment scenario, and more specifically trends for Sweden and Swedish industry in the ongoing pandemic.

A few virtual workshops and B2B meetings will be held with Swedish and Indian cleantech companies under the India-Sweden Innovations Accelerator (ISIA) - an initiative by the Swedish Energy Agency with the purpose to bridge innovations and entrepreneurship between India and Sweden.

ISIA has developed several new clean energy technologies, including solar powered water pumps to bring water and energy to rural India, and the repurposing of the material used to make airbags to create fabric-based biogas reactors.

The statement said the Sweden Alumni Network of India have independently organised a month-long programme called 'Sweden India Science Sambandh' which aims to promote and build on the existing connections in science between Sweden and India. Source: https://southasiamonitor.org

Read More........ → December 01, 2020

Reliance Jio develops own 5G network technology: report

• Reliance Jio looks all set to disrupt the current 5G ecosystem, reportedly having developed its own ‘end-to-end’ 5G technologies and, in the process, giving a big boost to `Make In India’.
• Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio is reported to have developed its own 4G and 5G end-to-end systems, reducing its dependence on foreign vendors of telecom equipment and network technologies.
• Report say Reliance Jio has already replaced 4G network technologies developed by Nokia and Oracle for driving its 4G voice services with its own in-house technologies, and is now in the process o carrying out 5G trials based on its own technology.
• An Economic Times report citing a Reliance Jio executive said the company is more scalable than telecom gear vendors and are fully automated with its own cloud-native platform. “In 5G, we will totally be self-sufficient,” the report quoted the official as saying. 
• Jio, according to the report, has designed its own hardware for the 5G technology, which could be made in India once 5G trials are successful. “We can give the design, layouts and board support packages to third-party manufacturers to have our gear made,” the executive was quoted as saying.
• While the technology will mainly be the base for Reliance Jio’s broadband and voice services, the executive said Jio would be able to use this technology for security and surveillance using drones, industrial internet of things and digitisation in the agriculture sector as well. 
• The company is reported to have made a presentation to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) of the technology developed by it and its possible use and has sought permission to conduct 5G trials based on it. 
• Reliance Jio had, earlier, applied for carrying out trials in partnerships with European vendors Nokia and Ericsson, China-based Huawei and South Korean giant Samsung.
• The development while sounds good for India and its telecom industry, could be a damper for industry heavyweights such as Ericsson, Nokia and Huawei. The new technology, which lets software undermine hardware on the technology front, will be a big negative for telecom gear suppliers as it would steal them of the potential profits Jio would otherwise have offered. Source: https://www.domain-b.com/

Read More........ → July 04, 2020

India's biggest-ever spectrum auction gets under way

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The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) today commenced India's biggest ever spectrum

auction in which airwaves worth Rs5.66 lakh crore have been put up for sale. The auction kicked off at around 10 am and will continue till 7 pm. Seven mobile operators - Reliance Jio Infocom, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Aircel and Tata Teleservices - are participating in the auction. Jio has submitted the maximum earnest money for the sale, which allows the operator to buy spectrum in the 700 Mhz band across the country. The auction is crucial as it will allow telcos to firm up their spectrum holdings for data as most of the bands which are put on sale can be used for data. As much as 2,354.55 megahertz (MHz) of frequencies are being put up for auction in seven bands - 700 Mhz, 800 Mhz, 900 Mhz, 1,800 Mhz, 2,100 Mhz, 2,300 Mhz and 2,500 MHz. According to analysts, Vodafone and Idea are likely to bid aggressively in 1,800 Mhz and 2,300 MHz as they need to firm up their 4G spectrum. Jio might go for 700 MHz also whereas Airtel is expected to fill in gaps for the circles where it does not have 4G spectrum. The amount of spectrum that is being put up for auction is more than any previous auctions, which will enable bidders to provide good quality of service according to international benchmarks and the issue of spectrum fragmentation that has dogged the telecom sector will be a thing of the past. To make the auctions bidder-friendly, the government plans to assign spectrum won in the auction within 30 calendar days from date of making the payment. It takes 10 days to make a payment after the auction ends.domain-b.com : India's biggest-ever spectrum auction gets under way

Read More........ → October 02, 2016