Annual research awards from Ranbaxy Science Foundation

Ranbaxy Science Foundation, a non-profit organization established by Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited, today announced its Annual Research Awards for the year 2005 to 6 scientists as listed below:
Dr. Sankar Ghosh, Professor, Section of Immunology and Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University School of Medicine, USA, received the award in Basic Research for his several ground-breaking discoveries in the broad field of cell signaling in immunology.

Dr. Nirbhay Kumar, Professor, Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, USA, and Dr. B.C. Das, Director of Institute of Cytology and Preventive Oncology (ICPO), India, jointly shared the award in the field of Medical Research.Dr. Nirbhay Kumar also received the award for his outstanding research in malaria that have led to novel approaches to the prevention of transmission of this important human infection.

Dr. B.C. Das was selected for the award for his original contributions in the early detection and control of cervical cancer which is a major cancer among Indian women and a public health problem.

Dr. Inderjit Singh Anand, Professor of Medicine, Cardiovascular Division, University of Minnesota, and Dr. Surendra K. Sharma, Professor & Head, Chief, Division of Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, were jointly conferred with the award in the field of Clinical Research.

Dr. Anand got the award for his contributions in the field of High Altitude Medicine and Biology and Dr. Sharma will receive the award for his outstanding contributions in the field of tuberculosis, HIV and interstitial lung disease.

Dr. Ahmed Kamal, Scientist, Biotransformation Laboratory, Division of Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India, received the award in the field of Pharmaceutical Sciences for his innovative contribution in designing the new molecules based on the receptor-fit mechanism particularly for DNA minor groove binding and DNA topoisomerase II inhibition.

American innovation proclamation

U.S. business and higher education leaders unveiled "The American Innovation Proclamation," urging Congress to move forward on critical legislation that promotes U.S. competitiveness and sustains U.S. innovation leadership. The proclamation is signed by more than 270 business and higher education leaders. Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), Chairman, House Science and Technology Committee and a Bipartisan Group of House and Senate Members received the proclamation at a well attended press event March 13 in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington DC.
(source: Calesteous Juma)

Maketics Technologies

Maketics Technologies is a start-up , converting data into information, promoted by Sreenivasan Ramakrishnan, a product of SPJIMR. Read the fascinating story covered in rediffnews.

Torque Technology Solution

Torque a pioneering technology incubated business venture started by aspiring entrepreneurs came into existence on 3 August, 2005. The first technology incubated company at Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram, a vibrant startup by engineering students and a complete student initiative, Torque has forayed and made its presence felt in the wireless sphere as a complete solutions provider - integrating innovative technologies into the corporate sector, the end user market and the community at large. Established its role as a mobile content aggregator and provider, provided short-code back-end solutions (SMS gateways) to interactive television campaigns, a community initiative reiterating our commitment to the society, hosted star portals and successfully forayed into the realm of M-Commerce.

The greatest innovations of all times

Business Week carries Greatest Innovations of all times nominated by Larry Keeley of Doblin Inc. Very interesting perspective. Take a look.

Small car from Lokesh Machines

Before Indica, all cars were of imported design. Tata Motors built on years of learning accrued from truck manufacturing. MLR motors promoted by Lokesh Machines does not fit in any accepted business model. He is a successful machine tool designer, who left HMT and started his own for the better in 1983. His machine tools are exported to many countries and most automobile firms are his users. He will have savings in capital costs with in-house supply and marketing front is covered by B V R Subbu (former president of Hyundai Motors India). What about the design? Tie-up with design houses is not revealed nor he exhibited any concept model. Success of his diesel Teja 3 wheeler can be an indication of functional, low cost car in offing.

Faculty innovations from IIT Mumbai

Path breaker Prof Jhunjhunwala gets international coverage. Read the article in Seattle Post Intelligencer .

Impact of budget on innovations

The budget anounced on 28th evoked mixed responses from the innovator community.
Extending fiscal incentives for 5 years: Biotech,Pharma and automobile are beneficiaries. This facilities investment on long term basis.
Clinical reserach: gets a boost with service tax ecemption for testing of new drugs, including vaccines and herbal remedies as well as on human trials.
Incubators: They get recognition for the first time with service tax exemptions. See CNN video for SINE views.
VCs: Indian VCs are unhappy with passthrough benefits restricted to selected few sectors. They feel it is unwarranted as passthrough is not an incentive.
ITI: Skill set gets a boost with ITIs getting investment to update their facilities. This is probably the best news but least covered. Any reason?

Neubauplan Machine Design Studio

Neubauplan Machine Design Studio was founded on 17th August 1981 in Pune, India, by Mr. Harshwardhan Gupta, a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering in First Class from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, from the 1976 Batch. He has been designing intricate machines since 1975.
Web resources:
www.neubauplan.com
http://www.neubauplan.com/Achievements.htm
http://www.linkedin.com/in/harshwardhangupta

Dr Dilip Mahalanabis

The medical Journal The Lancet has called ORT as “the 20th century’s most important medical discovery”.Late last year four medical professionals - three Americans and one Indian – got the Prince Mahidol Award 2006 for doing work that led to the use of ORT (Oral Rehydration Therapy) – “an inexpensive but effective treatment of severe diarrhoea.” These four men are Dr Dilip Mahalanabis, who is a director of a non-governmental research organisation in Calcutta, Dr David R Nalin, former director at Merck & Co’s Vaccine Division in Pennsylvania, Dr Richard A Cash, senior lecturer at the Harvard University School of Public Health in Boston.These four pioneers were chosen from among 59 nominees in 29 countries.

Read more at: http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/2007/02/17/an-indian-doctor-gets-recognition/#comment-3843

LG wins bid for low-cost 3G phone

The GSM Association selected a low-cost 3G handset developed by LG Electronics in a project aimed at accelerating the adoption of 3G services worldwide.LG competed against eight other handset providers that offered up a total of 18 phones. The phone, known as the LG-KU250/U250,powered by Qualcomm's MSM 6425 chip set is based on common specifications and criteria drafted by 12 operators for a GSMA program called "3G For All." The criteria included functionality, usability, logistics, market acceptance, target price, service and support, strategic commitment and form factor.

The need for such a phone was discussed in the GSM association meeting held in Delhi.
It can be expected that with onset of 3G phones, 2G phone manufacturing will shift to countries like India.

Filtering Arsenic From Water Wells

The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) announced winners of the 2007 Grainger Challenge Prize for Sustainability. The contest sought innovative solutions for removing arsenic from drinking water that is slowly poisoning tens of millions of people in developing countries. Three prizes will be awarded from a field of more than 70 entries. The prize winners are recognized for the development, in-field verification, and dissemination of effective techniques for reducing arsenic levels in water. The systems must be affordable, reliable, easy to maintain, socially acceptable, and environmentally friendly. All of the winning systems meet or exceed the local government guidelines for arsenic removal and require no electricity.

Abul Hussam, an associate professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at George Mason University, Fairfax, Va., will receive the Grainger Challenge Gold Award of $1 million for his SONO filter, a household water treatment system.

Arup K. SenGupta, John E. Greenleaf, Lee M. Blaney, Owen E. Boyd, Arun K. Deb, and the nonprofit organization Water For People will share the Grainger Challenge Silver Award of $200,000 for their community water treatment system.
The Children's Safe Drinking Water Program at Procter & Gamble Co. (P&G), Cincinnati, will receive the Grainger Challenge Bronze Award of $100,000 for the PUR™ Purifier of Water coagulation and flocculation water treatment system.

The Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)

The European Union invited India to participate in its 54 billion Euro science and research programme (Fp7) that will run for five years. Researchers may look into the calls for proposals still open.

India Innovation Growth Program

Lockheed Martin announced establishing the India Innovation Growth Program as a two-year project to expand global export opportunities for new Indian technologies. Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI)and the IC2 Institute at the University of Texas at Austin are partners in this program.Approximately 30 Indian companies will then be selected to participate in an Entrepreneurship Workshop to be delivered by faculty members from The University of Texas at Austin. In the final phase of the program, a select group of six finalist companies will receive more intense business development training.

Indian Semiconductors Association

New policy on Semiconductors is on the anvil. The chip makers are in the news and besides them there are large number of start-ups in this field. Check the members of Indian Semiconductors Association.

Philips Optical Media and. Technology (OM&T)

Moser Baer joins the battle for next generation DVDs by acquiring a majority stake in OM&T, the Netherlands based R&D arm of Philips. The E10 million OM&T specialises in optical media R&D betting on Blue Ray discs. These are the next generation optical discs, which offer higher storage capacities and will replace the current compact discs (CDs) and DVDs.

DuPont Knowledge Center in India

DuPont announced plans to invest over $22.5 million to construct its first research and development center in India. The DuPont Knowledge Center will be located in Hyderabad and is expected to accommodate more than 300 scientists and other employees.Research at the site will focus on “integrated science” – the addition of biology to traditional strengths in chemistry and materials science – to develop the company’s application pipeline in India and other emerging markets. The site initially will focus on molecular biology, bio-informatics and polymer synthesis, with further R&D in the company’s application pipeline across all five of its business growth platforms.

GOOGLE PATENT SEARCH

Inventors and anyone interested in patents will be interested to know
that Google, as part of their apparent effort to patent every piece
of information on the planet, have put the entire corpus of the US
patent database on-line. It is an amazing collection of information.
Moreover, it is an extremely useful tool for inventors as it allows
you to search quickly for patents relevant to your ideas.

You can visit the Google Patent Search tool at
http://www.google.com/patents

Inside India 2007

As global focus shifts to the Indian market, there is a curiosity to understand Indian consumer trends, beyond statistics. This unique 2 day event targets European and American companies interested in gaining a deeper understanding of Indian consumers, from a 'traditions and trends' perspective.

Dates: March 15-16, 2007
Venue: Danish Design Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark
Organised by: Copenhagen Institute of Future Studies

Boston VC delegation in India

Silicon Valley based VCs cemented their relationship with Indian start-ups thru a series of deals. Now come a large delegation of 40 VCs from East coast of USA. TiE, New Delhi coordinated Interaction meet was held on 5th Feb in Delhi. Saurabh Srivasthava , Chairman of IVCA gave an overview of VC funding. Three entrepreneurs who had gone thro the fire, K Ganesh , Deep Kalra and Sanjay Swamy gave a personal account of their happy journey in this track.