Bangalore, April 12. British Council is set to introduce its annual Summer Programme for children in nine cities countrywide between April 30 and May 25. Programme fees are Rs.4,000 for library members and Rs.5,500 for non-members. The programme offers children opportunity to learn contemporary life skills such as creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving and improve their confidence and communication skills through interactive lessons.

“This is a unique fun-filled, theme-based programme designed to equip children with 21st century skills through English language training. This year, the programme will focus on enhancing world knowledge, develop life skills and improve fluency in English to give children in the 7-14 years age group confidence to become future ready,” says a council spokesperson.

India-Sweden research agreement

Delhi, April 11. India and Sweden announced an India-Sweden Collaborative Industrial Research & Development Programme on the occasion of the Sweden-India Innovation Partnership AI for All Summit. The programme will address a range of global challenges through technology and innovation. The joint programme is co-funded by India’s Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Sweden’s Innovation Agency Vinnova. The new programme brings together the world-class excellence of Sweden and India to address challenges in the areas of smart cities and clean technologies and digitalisation/Internet of Things (IoT).

Full-scale R&D projects focused on co-development of new products, processes, technologies and product adaptation projects will be funded under this new programme. Vinnova will provide funding to Swedish participants of up to 2,500,000 Sw Krona (Rs.1.8 crore) as grants. On the Indian side, conditional grants of up to 50 percent with a limit of Rs.1.5 crore per project will be provided to Indian project partners.

“I am delighted about Vinnova’s enhanced collaboration with India,” said Joakim Appelquist, deputy director-general of Vinnova, speaking on the occasion.

ITARI’s new graduates

Bangalore, April 19. The Indus Training And Research Institute (ITARI), Bangalore, which offers the postgraduate diploma programme in international education (PGDIE) and Cambridge international diploma programme in teaching and learning (CIDTL), hosted its graduation ceremony on April 16,
This year ITARI graduated 100 teachers who were felicitated at a solemn ceremony presided by Lt. General (Retd) Arjun Ray, PVSM, VSM, chief executive of the Indus Trust, and Dr. Simon Spencer, deputy head, School of Education, Birmingham City University, UK. The latest batch of graduating teachers have been campus recruited by Indus International schools in Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad and other international schools of repute countrywide.

Launched in 2009, ITARI has trained and certified over 900 teachers who have been placed in premier international schools. ITARI’s teacher development academic programmes are offered in association with reputed British universities and the Cambridge International, UK.

Unisys Cloud 20/20 contest

Bangalore/blue bell (pennsylvania), April 5. Global IT major Unisys Corporation announced winners of the 10th annual Unisys Cloud 20/20 contest, one of India’s largest and most popular student innovation programmes. This year’s contest attracted entries from more than 270 colleges and over 300 projects for adjudication.

A project titled Vesa-Blockchain-Based Supply Chain Management by a team representing the Nitte Meenakshi Institute of Technology, Bangalore was adjudged the winner. Su PILVI, a project submitted by a team of four students of the Sri Manakula Vinayagar Engineering College, Puducherry was adjudged runner up and Smart Telematics System, a project of the Mangalore Institute of Technology and Engineering was awarded bronze position. Winning teams were awarded cash prizes up to Rs.4.25 lakh and trophies.

“Technical contests help build students’ creativity and thinking skills. I am very happy with the impact that Cloud 20/20 has made over the past ten years,” said Vishal Gupta, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Unisys, speaking on the occasion.

Edureka-NIT-Warangal partnership

Warangal, April 12. Edureka, a global e-learning platform for trending technologies, announced a partnership with the E&ICT Academy of the National Institute of Technology, Warangal (NIT-W) to launch postgraduate programmes in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to equip professionals with cutting-edge, industry-relevant technology.

The partnership will help IT professionals become leaders in the AI and ML spaces. “We are excited that NIT-W has chosen to partner with us. It is a known fact that the skill gap in AI is a major deterrent to its adoption across businesses. Together we will provide holistic training to individuals to help them keep pace with innovations in AI and ML technologies,” said Ananda Rao Ladi, chief learning officer of Edureka, speaking on the occasion.