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Public sector undertakings (PSUs) have played a catalytic role in creating employment opportunities and infrastructure in the country. Today, more than 28 percent procurement is done by PSUs through their SMEs, said Arvind Kumar, Director General, Software Technology Parks of India.

PSUs must adopt a collaborative approach and collaborate with companies that are good in technology. This collaboration will create a lot of data. Collaborative approach can take PSUs to the next level,” said DG, STPI, adding that PSUs must invest in technology, which is creating a startup ecosystem in the country.

Stressing upon the role of PSUs in addressing the challenges of startups, DG, STPI further said, “We have already celebrated 100 unicorns in the country. Despite the fact that we have created 100 unicorns, two things are lacking. One, the time taken to become a unicorn, and the second is the valuation. PSUs can play a key role in addressing these challenges of startups. We should give problem statements to the startups. Unless we give problem statements to the startups, it will take more time for startups to become unicorns, get investment and get good valuation,” he added, while speaking at the 3rd National PSU Summit in New Delhi.

Once you give a problem statement to the startup, they will develop some products. That product will not only be used by PSUs, it will be used by the whole country, SMEs can also adopt these products and those can be exported, said Kumar.

Reiterating the Prime Minister’s idea of ‘monetize and modernize’, the DG STPI informed that the government is willing to spend over Rs 100 trillion to modernize our PSUs. All PSUs must adopt the technology. They should create a skill and support the startup ecosystem in the country.

PSUs must transform themselves. PSU must adopt tech as fast as possible. The government has adopted technology with the right intention with a bottom-up approach. When the government has adopted tech so fast, there is no reason for PSUs to say tech adoption would take more time, he concluded.

New Delhi, May 18, 2022: Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) is a premier science & technology organization under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). STPI has been the pioneer as Data Communication Service Provider in India since 1993 and the first organisation to provide point-to-multipoint Microwave Radio network for Internet services in India. As category-A Internet Service Provider (ISP), STPI provides high speed data communication services to numerous organizations.

Advanced Internet Research Operations in India (AIORI) is funded by MeitY, and the program is assigned to STPI for its proven track record of implementing large and complex nation-wide programs. Root name servers are the servers at the root of the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy. The root servers are the entry points to the Domain Name System (DNS), the distributed database which Internet applications use to look up the numerical IP addresses associated with text-based domain names. Worldwide there are 13 named root servers (A to M) operated by 12 organizations, having 13 root server IP addresses, which can be seen from any single location at any given time. There are around 1,348 root server instances around the world. Out of 198 “L-Root” instances servers hosted globally, 6 of them are currently hosted in India, out of which 4 “L-Root” instances are hosted by STPI under AIORI program.

“In an era of ever-growing Internet bandwidth consumption, new applications and services are reinventing the expectations from technology for which stable and fast internet is at the core. STPI’s hosting of four L root instances at 4 different locations in India namely Mohali, Mumbai, Bangalore & Guwahati as part of AIORI program is a contribution to the cause envisioned in the Digital India Initiative. The AIORI program delivery is a commendable example of collaboration between MeitY, STPI, India Internet Foundation & Internet Society Kolkata Chapter who joined hands as the implementing agency. The experience of IIFON’s running a root instance in Kolkata and Domain knowledge of community created by ISOC Kolkata chapter, was extremely helpful in removing the bottlenecks early in the program.” said Shri Arvind Kumar, Director General STPI.

The program has developed and deployed 5 anycast servers to enable next layer of resiliency in handling of the DNS resolution traffic from these installed servers. Currently, these 4 L root instances are handling on average of 10K of DNS resolution traffic load (DNS Queries) per second originated from India and now approximately serving 10% of global DNS resolution queries of 198 L root instance servers deployed worldwide. “The technical complexity of AIORI program in terms of creating DNS anycast network and then hosting L root instances for name resolution and benchmarking in India, has created an indigenous capability. The program and its research focus to measure various internet protocol parameters including DNS latency, DNS routing detours, DNSSEC readiness, National/International Traffic Detours etc. through pan India deployment of anchors, is of national importance and has a global impact” said Shri Subodh Sachan, Director STPI & Chief Investigator AIORI Program.

AIORI program is being managed from STPI Kolkata office and the entire AIORI infrastructure is hosted at STPI Kolkata. The AIORI platform, powered by open-source programs, provides end-to-end “Platform-as-a-Service” capabilities for Internet Measurement.“Most of the countries or regions have leveraged Internet measurement platforms to improve user experience. Enabling a DNS anycast framework, Internet Measurement hub and DNS benchmarking infrastructure with hosting of 4 L root instances has ensured that India can adequately demand a place on the high table of Internet Governance globally,” said Shri Anand Raje, CTO AIORI Program &Co Founder – India Internet Foundation.

For more information refer Annexure and visit https://aiori.in

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The challenge is open for participants till 8th June 2022 and the final winner would be announced on May 3, 2023. Through SFGC program technical inputs, knowledge of sugarcane cultivation and farms would be provided so that startups can build some breakthrough solutions in this space.

The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) launches the Smart Farm Grant Challenge (SFGC) in the presence of Shri Arvind Kumar, Director General, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and other key dignitaries in virtual mode. SFGC is an open challenge for startups where they are required to identify impactful solutions to address the problem statements identified for sugarcane harvest. Sugarcane is an important commodity for human consumption as well as trade. Information and communication technology in agriculture (ICT in agriculture), has the potential to significantly impact the agriculture sector by utilizing ICT tools. Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) designated STPI as the implementation agency with Neuron Centre of Entrepreneurship (CoE), Mohali as the anchor CoE.

The selected Start-ups at various stages would be supported by MeitY, MeitY Startup Hub (MSH), STPI, Neuron CoE, DCM Shriram Sugar Mills & Directorate of Sugar Mills, in addition to the various mentors and industry experts. The challenge is open for participants till 8th June 2022 and final winner of final stage would be announced on 3rd May 2023.

On the occasion, Arvind Kumar, Director General, STPI underlined, “Agriculture is a significant contributor to the Indian economy; it contributes around 16 per cent of GDP. SFGC will help identify challenges to sugarcane harvesting & other related issues and build innovative solutions, which will lead to enhancing yield. The use of technology gives cost-effectiveness and also increases production. India’s agriculture technology has the potential to grow manifold to reach $24.1 bn in the next 4-5 years. Any innovation in harvesting tech can be game changer in agri sector.”

Through SFGC, Start-ups are expected to develop the solution which:

(a) Should predict optimum time of sugarcane harvest in a given plot area with reasonable accuracy.

(b) Estimate the sugar content of all the plots in its catchment area remotely.

(c) Should identify the plots which are mature/ ready to harvest.

(d) Ensure insights easily interpretable in formats viz graphs, images etc.

For the participating and selected Start-ups at various stages, significant financial support and funding are being provided as follows:

Roshan Lal Tamak, Executive Director & CEO, DCM Shriram in his speech said, “We sincerely believe that technologies like AI, ML, IoT, remote sensing, satellite imagery have benefited other sectors, so agriculture sector should also explore these technologies. Through SFGC program, we will provide technical inputs, knowledge of sugarcane cultivation & farms so that startups can build some breakthrough solution in this space.”

STPI is a premier S&T organization under MeitY engaged in promoting IT/ITES Industry, innovation, R&D, start-ups, product/IP creation in the field of emerging technologies. NEURON is a CoE in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Analytics (Big Data), Animated Visual Graphics (AVG) and (IoT).

The Smart Farm Grant Challenge (SFGC) was launched on 9^th May 2022 in the presence of Shri Arvind Kumar, Director General, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and other key dignitaries in virtual mode. STPI is a premier S&T organization under MeitY engaged in promoting IT/ITES Industry, innovation, R&D, start-ups, product/IP creation in the field of emerging technologies. NEURON is a CoE in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Analytics (Big Data), Animated Visual Graphics (AVG) and (IoT).

Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has announced the SFGC to identify impactful solutions from startups to address the problem statements identified for sugarcane harvest and designated STPI as the implementation agency with Neuron Centre of Entrepreneurship (CoE) as the anchor CoE for this challenge programme.

On the occasion Shri Arvind Kumar, Director General, STPI underlined, “Agriculture is a significant contributor to Indian economy; it contributes around 16% of GDP. SFGC will help identify challenges to sugarcane harvesting & other related issues and build innovative solutions, which will lead to enhancing yield. Use of technology gives cost-effectiveness & also increases the production. India’s agriculture technology has the potential to grow manifold to reach $24.1 bn in the next 4-5 years. Any innovation in harvesting tech can be game changer in agri sector.”

 Shri Roshan Lal Tamak, Executive Director & CEO, DCM Shriram Limited in his speech said, “We sincerely believe that technologies like AI, ML, IoT, remote sensing, satellite imagery have benefited other sectors, so agriculture sector should also explore these technologies. Through SFGC program, we will provide technical inputs, knowledge of sugarcane cultivation & farms so that startups can build some breakthrough solution in this space.”

Through SFGC, Start-ups are expected to develop the solution which:

(a)    Should predict optimum time of sugarcane harvest in a given plot area with reasonable accuracy.

(b)   Estimate the sugar content of all the plots in its catchment area remotely.

(c)    Should identify the plots which are mature/ ready to harvest.

(d)   Ensure insights easily interpretable in formats viz graphs, images etc.

For the participating and selected Start-ups at various stages, significant financial support and funding are being provided as follows:

The selected Start-ups at various stages would be supported by MeitY, MeitY Startup Hub (MSH), STPI, Neuron CoE, DCM Shriram Sugar Mills & Directorate of Sugar Mills, in addition to the various mentors and industry experts. The challenge is open for participants till 8th June 2022 and final winner of final stage would be announced on 3rd May 2023.

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