ARC India

After months of preparation, checking the itinerary, getting speaker resumes and presentations we get set for our annual India forum. Most of the presentations at ARC’s 16th India forum were on the digital transformation journey. Although the behind-the-scenes work process is the same, there is that niggling anxiety about a zillion things that range from a speaker’s flight being delayed to the mike/laser pointer not working properly. Once the delegates begin to trickle in and the sessions begin smoothly, the team heaves a collective sigh of relief. Those at the registration desk constantly check the number of attendees who come in against earlier confirmations.

As the countdown begins for ARC's 16th India Forum there is palpable excitement in the air. Our office becomes the back stage where we prepare the list of speakers, finalize the agenda, check the numbers registered, ensure the requirements at the venue are in order, etc. Besides all this, it’s a rich learning experience for all of us about new technologies and their applications, across a spectrum of industries. As the presentations come in I begin to wonder how these will capture the forum’s core theme of Digitizing and Securing Industry, Infrastructure, and Cities.

Solar power in India is a fast growing industry. The World Bank has described India as having “among the best conditions in the world to capture and use solar energy.” The country's solar installed capacity reached 20 GW in February 2018. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), India doubled solar capacity in 2017-18 and is rapidly upscaling capacity to strive towards achieving 100 GW of solar by 2022. As part of India's ambitious solar program, the central government has set up a $350 million fund and the Yes Bank has committed to loan $5 billion to finance solar projects.

The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog), the think tank of the Indian government, and ABB India have signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) to support the Indian government to realize its ambitious vision of “Make in India” through advanced manufacturing technologies that incorporate the latest developments in robotics and artificial intelligence.

At the Siemens Innovation Day in Mumbai, Siemens announced the expansion of its Industrie 4.0 offerings with the launch of four MindSphere Application Centers in India (Pune, Noida, and two in Gurgaon).

Machine learning is now poised to find meaningful patterns in the messy, variable, and heretofore immeasurable activities of human beings.

Technology’s tentacles have encroached every aspect of our lives. Sitting in the comfort of your home you can tune in to live discussions and gain new understanding about technologies that are reshaping our world view. NDTV Tech Conclave 2018 saw a congregation of leading minds in the technology, mobile, and digital industries. The conclave aimed to showcase and create opportunities by bringing together many of the top entrepreneurs, investors, enterprise leaders, academics, and policymakers from around the world.

India’s Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has agreed to sell its electrical and automation business for $2.1 billion (140 billion rupees), in an all-cash deal, to Schneider Electric SE.

Nepal Electricity Authority (NEA) has selected Siemens for upgrading its 15 year old Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition/Energy Management System (SCADA/EMS) at its Load Dispatch Center (LDC) located in Kathmandu.

ABB inaugurated an innovative microgrid solution at its Vadodora manufacturing facility in Gujarat, India. This is the company’s largest facility in India, with over 3,000 employees and among ABB’s biggest manufacturing hubs in the world.