The industry relations team IEEE Bangalore Section in partnership with IEEE Computer Society (Bangalore Section), IEEE Power & Energy Society (Bangalore Section), IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society – India, IEEE Young Professionals (Bangalore Section), IEEE Women in Engineering (Bangalore Section), IEEE Blockchain, NASSCOM CoE IoT, TSDSI, TiE Bangalore, EFYGroup, and VideoKen, organized the 6th edition of IEEE SmartTech from 2-3 August 2019 in Hotel Sterlings MAC, Bangalore.
This was a flagship event of IEEE Bangalore Section held annually as part of the Industry Relations program of the Section; where technology leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and thought provokers share their passion in addressing impactful problems, and vision on futuristic technologies that will/may disrupt/impact our way of working and living.
The theme, for this edition, was on “The Future of ElectroMobility in a connected shared and Smart ecosystem”; technology practitioners shared their understanding on technologies and challenges for sustainable city-scale mobility in general, and electromobility in specific. It covered aspects of battery technology and storage systems, EV powertrains and charging infrastructure, sensing technology and ADAS, connectivity, and 5G, on-premise computing and edge systems, digital payments and blockchain. It also discussed the role of utilities and infrastructure players, and government and policymakers in driving the future of electromobility; while deliberating on the evolution of vehicles in the next five years.
The keynote addresses, in this workshop, were delivered by Dr. Dejan S. Milojicic, Distinguished Technologist, HP Labs; Dr. Dhananjay Gore, VP Engineering & Head of Research, Qualcomm India; and Dr. Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, Executive Leader of Growth Offerings, GE Power Conversion while plenary talks were given by Brian McMurray, VP Engineering & Operations, General Motors; Alexander Klotz, VP and Head of Technical Center India, Continental; and Shridevi Bale, Associate Director, Accenture India. In total, 27 speakers (leaders and technical subject experts) from more than 20 companies, startups, and standardization bodies (Mahindra Electric, TVS Motor, Intel, Robert Bosch, Hitachi, KPIT, TSDSI, Valeo, Greendzine, Meher Energy, Prasu, Ati Motors, Nutanix, Taqanal, and Quick Ride) participated and shared their views on various topics. The workshop was attended by around 150 delegates, spanning over two days.
This two-day conference also had interesting sessions like the panel discussions on “What will vehicles look like in 2025?” By Saad Nasser Co-Founder, Ati Motors, Anjan Kumar Co-Founder and CEO, Greendzine Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Sriram Gopalakrishnan R&D Director, Valeo India Private Limited, Jabez Dhinagar Vice President, TVS Motor, Prabhavathy Adavikolanu Director – New Business Initiatives, Intel Corporation and talks like “Thinking outside the Gas station box”, “CASE & The Future of On-premise Computing: What lies beyond the Edge ?”, “EV & Powertrains”, “EV and Charging Infrastructure” and many more.
“A lot of topics discussed here are very much industry-focussed and new with respect to electric mobility and we see it being practically implemented too. I would say right now India is one of the best places to learn, a few years ago it was China but today its India in its upswing and we see all the companies here are adapting to electromobility quickly@, says Dr. Dejan S. Milojicic, Distinguished Technologist, HP Labs (president-elect, IEEE)about the scenario of electric mobility in India.
There was also industry awards organised with the conference on the second day. The winners of the 2019 IEEE Bangalore Industry Awards were felicitated at this workshop: (i) Women Technologist of the Year 2019: Ponni K, Head, Global R&D Laboratories, Nokia ; (ii) Technologist of the Year 2019: K. Krishna Moorthy, Corporate VP ad MD Rambus Chip Technologies; (iii) Young Technologist of the Year 2019: Arkaprovo Das, Co-founder & Principal R&D Engineer, Simyog Technology; and (iv) Technology Startup of the Year 2019: MMRFIC Technology.
“The collaboration with Nokia and IEEE Bangalore section goes a long way, especially in the academic partnership programs. We are actively working together in reaching out to the universities and talking the technology from our research labs to the students. IEEE is an excellent platform that is helping us to get that reach to students across India and giving us access to the latest technologies”, says Ponni K, Head, Global R&D Laboratories, Nokia.
