Encouraging Telecom Innovations in India
by Prashant Kapadia/NHN
The telecom revolution in India has ushered in a new era as far as the Indian life style is concerned. However, to taste the full potential of the sector, we need to encourage more innovations. Aegis School of Business, Data Science, Cyber Security & Telecom has created a robust platform for this purpose.
- The Jury Rounds of Aegis Graham Bell Awards 2017 are in progress in Mumbai
- Several multinationals are taking part in the week-long extensive Jury Rounds
- Presentations are being made on innovations in the field of Telecom, Social, Mobility, Analytics
- The 8th award ceremony will take place on 23rd February, 2018 at New Delhi
Mumbai: Aegis School of Business, Data Science, Cyber Security & Telecom has launched the Aegis Graham Bell Awards 2017. As an integral part of it, representatives from multinational companies and other field experts are now participating in the week-long extensive Jury Rounds in Mumbai that has started from 13th November. Companies across verticals connected to the telecom sector are now presenting their innovations in the field of Telecom, Social, Mobility, Analytics, Cloud & Security.
Indian Telecom sector has come of age, and today being the backbone of our prime minister’s ‘Digital India’ vision, the sector is expected to deliver more values towards our social development, national integration and economic advancement. Thus, creation of an all-round environment of innovation in this sector is absolutely essential at this juncture. Besides, it is also important to bring together the isolated innovations on a single platform, which can ease the process of interoperability and accelerate the pace of seamless, multi-dimensional communications among all the citizens of the nation.
Unlike other developed countries, our paradigm often challenges the Return on Investment (RoI) for every iota of fund that is invested towards technological innovation, thus such a platform can not only generate confidence among the investors – but also can highlight the merits of the state-of-the-art technologies those are already available and awaiting users nod for implementation.
Years back, Aegis School of Business, Data Science, Cyber Security & Telecom took up the challenge of encouraging innovations in the telecom sector, and they instituted the Aegis Graham Bell Awards in 2010 to promote all kinds of innovations in the country’s telecom sector. The Award is organized with support of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), and Telecom Centres of Excellence (TCOE) India a public private partnership initiative of DoT with 08 Centres at premier academic institutes (Six IITs, IISc and IIMA) of the country, each supported by a Telecom Service Provider, Convergence India and Deloitte as a knowledge partner.
With passage of time and evolution of technologies, the annual awards list has included many new categories. This year the awards will be distributed based on: Innovative Smart City solution; Digital India Initiative; Cyber Security; Innovation in Cloud; Innovation in Virtual Reality; OSS/BSS; Innovative Telecom Product/Solutions; Data Science, Business Intelligence, BigData, Artificial Intelligence, Deep Learning, Analytics & Machine Learning; Innovation in IoT; Innovative Mobile TV Application; Innovative ERP Solution; Innovative Managed Services; Best Value Added Services; Green Telecom; Telecom Infrastructure; mCommerce; Mobile Application for Social Good; Service Innovation; Innovation in mHealth; Innovation in mLearning/mEducation; Innovation in Mobile Marketing and Innovative Enterprise Solutions.
Contestants for this year’s Aegis Graham Bell Awards include Mahindra Comviva, Vodafone India, Huawei, Neron Informatics, Ramboll India, Wipro Technologies, Sterlite Technologies, Lavelle Networks, C-DOT, Tik Tik, Infynium, Teleossco Software, Coslight India Telecom, Indus Towers, Lekha Wireless Solutions, Bharti Infratel, Parallel Wireless, Ericsson India, Subex, One Click Technologies, Esri India Technologies, L&T Constructions, Reliance Jio Infocomm, Save the Children, Accenture, Easy M2M, Data Xgen, Narmada Jhabua Gramin Bank, Sengage, Tejas Network, Infinite Computer Solutions, HashedIn Technologies, UST Global, Nucleus Software Exports, Nokia Solutions & Networks, UST Global, Persistent Systems, Tech Mahindra Simulanis , Cisco Systems, Instasafe Technologies, Lucideus Tech, Aurionpro, InfrasoftTech, Knowlarity Communications, NIIT Technologies, CtrlS Datacenters, NIRAMAI Health Analytix, Locus, Ma Foi Analytics, Heckyl Technologies, BRIDGEi2i Analytics Solutions, MUST Research Club, HCL Technologies, Datacrops Software, Star India, LTI, DrCee, UNDP, Heckyl Technologies, BRIDGEi2i Analytics Solutions, MUST Research Club, eInfochips, Intellovate Technologies, Stellapps Technologies, IBM India and Accion Labs.
Drawing attention on the transparency of the method of evaluation of the presentations, Dr. Abhijit Gangopadhyay, Dean, Aegis School, explained, “We communicate the methodology of evaluation before we start the process. We essentially focus on the innovation factor, and that apart we look at the interoperability of the innovations. Based on five components, we make a 1-to-10 scale. Later, based on the Jury markings, we take the average. In case any wide variation is found, among ratings, we reevaluate the presentation.”
Highlighting the significance of the Aegis Graham Bell Awards, Commodore Dr. J. Jena, Deputy Director General, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), commented, “A country can progress only if there is innovation. Telecom sector is one of the areas, where the technology is changing very rapidly. Coping with such rapid change is possible only through continuous innovation around the globe. Aegis Graham Bell Award is one of the promoters of this innovation. It is a wonderful platform where everybody comes together – and shares knowledge. More than awards, it serves the promotion of this particular sector.”
While describing the growing popularity of the Aegis Graham Bell Awards, Dilip Chenoy, Chairman, Board of Management, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology, informed, “Since its inception, I am associated with the Aegis Graham Bell Awards. These awards truly focus on enabling and connecting (with) the use of the education and training system with the innovation work in telecom sector. Aegis School has taken the pioneering and leading effort in training and educating people in this space. We are now seeing that corporates are using this space for developing their products and services.”
Focusing on the ever increasing participation in the Aegis Graham Bell Awards, Shrikrishna Sumant, Consultant, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP, revealed, “We are associated with this award since very beginning. According to our observation, the entries have grown almost three-fold in the last five years. Thus, definitely this award is enhancing the telecom innovation culture in the country.”
Commenting on the present global trend and the innovation opportunities in the field of telecommunication, Dr. Sanjay Sinvhal, Vice President, Consulting & Alliances, Aegis School, pointed out, “Currently the mobile technologies are developing around Internet of Things and Big Data Analytics. Today our lives are completely controlled by electronics, which is generating lots of data. That data is not being properly analysed as appropriate tools and processes are not available. The challenge now is how to analyse the Big Data – and come out with analytical tools to help every Indian citizen. Thus, a strong platform like Aegis Graham Bell Awards is not only encouraging the innovators – but also it is paving the way to create our countrymen’s lives better.”
While describing the underlying philosophy behind setting up the Aegis School, Bhupesh Daheria, CEO, Aegis School of Data Sciences and Founder of Aegis Graham Bell Awards said, “We had set up our school in 2003 just to accelerate innovation. At that time we thought of developing the cross-function leaders in telecom industry who could really understand the different aspects of technology and management. Our DNA lies in innovation only. When we found the telecom sector started growing and penetrating in every other industry, we started this Aegis Graham Bell awards to reward the innovators in large as well as small companies. Innovations happen in companies of all sizes. Most of the awards are given to the MDs and CEOs of large companies, but most of the innovations happen at ground levels. So, we encourage everyone to innovate including the start-ups.” The 8th Award ceremony will take place on 23rd February, 2018 at New Delhi.
