Internet Of Things – Dutch Uncles

Stellapps Technologies- Digitising the Dairy Supply Chain

Shalmoli Sarkar — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 14:40:23 +0000

Amul’s famous jingle of the 90s era featuring Smita Patil’s cameo at the end of the commercial is reminiscent of an epic white revolution that made India a world leader in milk production from a milk deficient nation after independence. The commercial at the end, expresses gratitude to Amul’s cooperative milk movement that made the village women economically independent. Since the revolution, India’s dairy farming took great strides that emerged to be a self-sustaining industry and largest employment provider after Britishers left our economy in shambles.

With all the praises for India’s white revolution, India’s dairy industry is yet mired in the hands of unorganised players. Approximately, 60 percent of surplus milk is handled by the unorganised sector (milkmen), while the remaining 40 percent is procured by the organised sector comprising of dairy co-operatives and private companies. Moreover, the industry is highly plagued by inconsistent quality and quantity of milk, incapable of managing a bigger herd, and wastage of milk. According to Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) and MRSS estimates, about 3 percent of the milk produced gets wasted annually.

The bright rays of advanced technology do not seem to have reached the dairy industry due to its domination by unorganised players all these years until, in 2011, five techie friends from Wipro witnessed the prevailing roadblocks in the production process in dairy farming decided to intervene technologically by establishing Stellapps Technologies.

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According to Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) and MRSS estimates, about 3 percent of the milk produced gets wasted annually.

Stellapps Technologies– A brainchild of Wipro techies

Bored of their mundane jobs, five Wipro techies Ranjith Mukundan, Ravishankar G, Shiroor Praveen Nale, Ramakrishna Adukuri, and Venkatesh Seshasayee in their late 30s and early 40s thought of starting their venture that will improve the quality of life. After much discussion, the techies narrowed down to set up their venture in agriculture and health that birthed the idea of digitising the dairy supply chain thereby establishing Stellapps Technologies Pvt.Ltd in 2011. The startup based out of Bangalore nurtured and incubated at IIT Madras focuses on digitising the dairy supply chain using IoT, machine learning, and data acquisition. Milk is the largest consumable beverage in India but the yield per animal is low, due to a lack of preventive healthcare, proper nutrition, veterinary assistance, and reproductive management for cattle. Stellapps solutions target the small and medium farmers who own small herds of cows and operate without any technical intervention. Its multiple automation and knowledge-based solutions aid the farmers in optimising the milk production process and monitoring the health of the cattle. A tech intervention in the dairy supply chain will drastically improve the operations of the entire chain.

The road to entrepreneurship was not smooth

Like most ventures, roadblocks to success was no stranger to Stellapps Technologies. One thing which played in their favour was the unfamiliarity of the founders regarding the functioning of the dairy industry. Since none of them belonged from an agro/dairy background they invested a significant amount of time in understanding the vertical and begin everything from fundamentals to be able to implement their IoT stack to it. Their lack of experience helped them to look at things from a fresh perspective.

Access proved to be a major challenge for the founders since their customers or target audience lived in the outskirts of the cities that made deployment, support, and maintenance cumbersome as lots of time were spent travelling to those places.

Moreover, Stellapps realised that to educate the farmers about the importance of adhering to quality control, traceability, supply chain, and cold chain optimisation protocols, they had to find an alternate way to work with milk federations and unions, since approaching the dairy markets under government control directly would mean battling red tapism.

Smart Milking and cattle monitoring

The milking process and cattle monitoring is the first step in dairy farming that is a daunting task for the farmers due to the long intercalving period, low awareness in nutrition management, less access to quality veterinary services, and skewed ratio of cattle population and veterinary institutions. Here, Stellapps mooON device is an AI-enabled animal wearable that has two components: mooON device and app. MooOn device is a pedometer for cattle that detects heat based on their activities and resting behaviour. The app is a herd management application that gives real-time alerts on animal activities, recommends personalised nutrition plans for every breed, and provides cattle historic data management. This wearable has enhanced milk quality and yield by 20 percent, reduced the intercalving period by one month as AI helps to detect the heat for artificial insemination, and has led to a 50 percent and 10 percent reduction in cattle health and farm admin expenses respectively.

Creating transparency in the dairy business

After completion, of the milking process, the next step is to send the collected milk to various collection centres. The collection of milk in the collection centres takes place manually and is riddled with challenges such as data manipulation due to manual capturing, milk adulteration, lack of analytics for making an informed decision in dairy management, troublesome reconciliation for paying farmers, and lack of transparency. Smart AMCU from Stellapps is an automatic milk collection unit enabled by the android IoT device smartCC.

The cloud-based chilling management solution smartCC collects data automatically that consists of total solid loss in milk and checks the quality degradation of the milk due to delay in chilling after procuring from farmers. The data collected is made available to the dairy processors and is made visible to other farmers in the collection centre on a real-time basis, thereby creating transparency while incentivising.

The dairy companies now have to pay a higher price for better quality milk and therefore cannot pay a price that is compromising to the farmers. It also upgrades the milk quality and reduces adulteration as the data now will act as the litmus paper for determining the milk quality depending on which farmers will be incentivised. Thus, this will mutually benefit both the farmers and dairy processors as the deal will be of the right price for the right quality.

ConTrak, which is another IoT-enabled device that does real-time management of the cold chain storage with its advanced reporting and monitoring mechanism accessible through web and mobile portals, while MooFlow ERP helps in simplifying dairy operations.

MooPay- digital financial inclusion of farmers

When it comes to loans and seeking financial help, the banks and financial institutions in India turn a deaf ear to the farmers whether agriculture or dairy, thereby, forcing them to borrow money from friends and unorganised lending institutions at enormously high-interest rates. MooPay makes financial services from banks accessible to the farmers by bringing attractive financial products such as loans, and insurance at attractive interest rates to be able to carry on their daily operations. To the dairy processors, it saves from the hassle of cash handling by offering an automated and direct farmer payment and quicker payment reconciliation eventually increasing farmer’s loyalty.

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Stellapps multiple automation and knowledge-based solutions aid the farmers in optimising the milk production process and monitoring the health of the cattle.

The Pricing, profits, and business model

Stellapps follows a competitive pricing model as compared to its counterparts overseas. The price of its solutions includes the entire budget starting from the infrastructure development to the milking process and cold storage. They realize their revenues from a fixed share per litre of milk production from a profit-making farmer and earn profits when a farmer makes profits. They also supply their dairy solutions in a zero-capex model business i.e. rental payment models where they charge customers for subscriptions and cloud services. Its clientele consists of dairy processors and milk cooperatives such as Nandini, Amul, Heritage, Nova, Milk Mantra, Osam, Thirumala, Milk Lane, Hatsun, and Britannia.

Stellapps -money matters and funding

Recently, in October 2021, Stellapps has raised $18 million as a part of its first funding for its pre-series C round from global animal nutrition and aquaculture company, Nutreco. Its other existing investors include Qualcomm Ventures, Celesta Capital, and ABB Technology Ventures. With funds raised Stellapps plans to utilise the funds to scale its traceability network and digital footprint across India.

A round of applause and the road ahead

Stellapps is India’s first dairy technology solutions company, building automation tools powered with cloud, mobility, and data analytics for dairy farms, cooperatives, and private dairies. Its statistics consist of transforming the lives of 1.3 million dairy farmers, working with 4,50,000 cattle, processing 2 billion litres of milk through its solutions annually, and has enabled farmer payment worth $750 million annually.

After the lockdown disrupted the dairy operations in 2020-2021, the organised dairy sector is set for a rebound and is estimated to grow by 5-6 percent, to cross Rs 1.5 trillion in sectoral revenue for the first time, according to Crisil. This growth projection of organised dairy means ample business opportunities for Stellapps.

Stellapps also has ambitious plans to step into foreign geographies like – Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America, other SAARC nations), and in developed markets in Europe and the US through partnerships with large original equipment manufacturers.

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UrbanKisaan, Pioneering Hydroponic Space

Anju Nambiar — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 05:35:08 +0000

If you’ve come across UrbanKisaan, they have a beautiful website where you can purchase farm fresh produce, exotic vegetables, unique salad bowls, and hydroponics kits. Besides, their name is self-explanatory. Just by reading the name of their brand, you can understand that the company is into modern farming. These are a few reasons why they have ticked in the Agri-tech market and are currently one of the most popular hydroponic brands in India.

Who is UrbanKisaan?

UrbanKisaan is a Hydroponics start-up based in Hyderabad. It is an Indian early-stage business founded in 2017. The company owns and operates several suburban greenhouses and vertical indoor farms in two major Indian cities, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. They also have an e-commerce store consisting of their UrbanKisaan app and website where they sell fresh produce grown in their franchises. Their e-commerce store also features their specialty hydroponics starter kit to help budding hydroponic farmers grow their first produce.

What is Hydroponics?

Hydroponics is a new-age farming technique that skips the use of soil to grow plants and relies on mineral nutrients to give the growing crops their supply of nutrients. Through this technique, the herb or vegetable seedlings or saplings are planted into an inert growing media like a PVC pipe where they grow only through supply of nutrient rich water. Hydroponics farming is usually carried out indoors like a greenhouse or terrace.

How UrbanKisaan optimised Hydroponics technology in Tropical India

UrbanKisaan’s proprietary Hydroponics technology is more efficient than the conventional global standards in Hydroponics cultivation. Their approach is based on relatively little effort. They rely on Internet-of-Things (IoT) enabled technology for farm monitoring of nutrient content, pH levels, atmospheric humidity, CO2 concentration, light concentration which are controlled and adapted to the needs of the crops using an app. As such, it has created growing demand among customers in tropical climates which are generally not ideal for Hydroponics produce.

India offers limited resources in terms of farming area and freshwater reserves. By reducing water usage by about 90 per cent, UrbanKisaan is optimising Hydroponics for Tropical India by presenting an efficient way to grow crops in densely populated urban areas.

How the company has made Hydroponics cost-effective

UrbanKisaan has a very cost-effective approach to Hydroponics wherein they produce food at only one-tenth of the costs compared to traditional supply chains. Their network of indoor vertical farms in India requires less than 1% land and saves nearly 2,16,000 litres of water per farm per month. Their urban farms span an approximate area of 2000 square feet.

Their supply chain is inside and close to the consumption centres which are primarily urban cities. Thus, they are cutting down on thousands of food miles which makes their business model highly cost effective.

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Farm businesses with compelling business models like UrbanKisaan can see increased sales in India.

What’s in it for me?

Online food retailing is booming in India. There is growing demand among consumers. Businesses in the Hydroponics, Agri-Tech sector are being well received. Farm businesses with compelling business models like UrbanKisaan can see increased sales in India. Innovative agricultural and food-related businesses in Asia are a key focus area for Agri-Tech investors owing to the market opportunity.

India is a large consumer for fruits and vegetables. However, the market share for organised channels like modern trade and online retail is still at 20%. Which means there’s a big chunk of untapped opportunity awaiting start-ups. In the organised fresh produce market in India, Hydroponics is a fast-growing and efficient alternative to traditional supply chains. It is awaiting disruption and innovation by Agri-tech start-ups and small businesses.

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The Face of the Indian Agritech Sector by 2025

Aakash Sharma — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 15:05:08 +0000

Based on technology, regulation, investment and other related interests, India’s agricultural sector is set to face rigorous transformation. As per a report by consultancy firm Bain & Company titled “Indian Agriculture: Ripe for Disruption”, agribusiness, agricultural supply and related businesses in India will be valued at around $30-35 billion by 2025. The report is based on in-depth correspondences with different stakeholders, including industry experts in agriculture, farmers, and agritech start-ups.

The Indian agricultural sector is passing through a critical phase where it can overtake the traditional approach and develop, process and market food with the help of new technologies. Conventional farming practices will change and improve over time, and the entire agricultural value chain will build a unique value pool of $ 30-35 billion in the years to come.

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As India recuperates from the devastating impacts of COVID-19, which disrupted an already damaged economy, the $370 billion agriculture sector is pegged to undergo a complete change on the back of significant technology and regulatory changes.

Indian Agritech Sector

The increased technological awareness of farmers is expected to be fostered by high internet penetration and high mobile connectivity, thereby fostering the development of the Indian agritech industry. The government has also performed an essential role in developing the sector by creating incubators, providing grants and using public-private partnerships.

India is the third-largest recipient of agricultural technology funding after the United States and Germany and the third-largest hub of agritech start-ups after the United States and the United Kingdom. In 2020, India received $329 million in investment from PE / VC companies, with an astonishing combined annual growth rate of ~53% from 2017 ($ 91 million) to 2020 ($ 329 million).

Farm Laws and APMC Reforms – Boosters for Indian Agritech Businesses

The report from Bain & Company indicates that the three land reform bills passed by the government in September 2020 encourage investment in direct farmer purchase by the corporate, free movement of food items from production to consumption centres and private investment in storage.

The government aims to double farmers’ wages by 2022 by expanding agricultural production, institutional and technological reforms, and effective post-harvest management. In 2016, the government launched the e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) online trading platform for agricultural products. The platform integrates all members of the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) mandis to form a single national online marketplace for farm products.

What does the future hold – Tips for Indian Agritech Start-ups

India’s agricultural science and technology sector offers dynamic and untapped development potential. The industry has reached this critical point and is of great interest to investors around the world. Agriculture is seen as the backbone of India’s economy. Agricultural technology plays a vital role in helping farmers digitise their entire supply chain and embrace new-age technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), analytics, big data, artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies.

New entrepreneurs and budding agricultural entrepreneurs (‘agri-preneurs’) can benefit from technological advances, legislative changes and increased investment, as well as the transformation of the Indian agricultural sector. Businesses need to add significant value and create sustainable solutions that are easy to use for many farmers and affordable for ordinary farmers, even in remote areas.

Stakeholders should take inspiration from the experiences of countries such as the USA and Israel to build a robust agricultural technology policy framework in India. This will help include all market players such as agrarian communities, agricultural technology companies, processors, and many others, thereby driving the sector and its entities to success.

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Enterprise IoT: How MSMEs in Enterprise Tech will Benefit?

Anju Nambiar — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 06:45:04 +0000

Enterprise IoT is booming, with many key players building IoT platforms for the enterprise tech sector. Covid has accelerated the need for automation among Indian businesses and the market demand for EIoT is high.

A large market has opened up for IoT platforms and solutions in the B2B segment. Businesses want their applications, factories, and utilities to be connected, and are on the lookout for platforms that can help them achieve this. EIoT is seeing a lot of innovation with multiple new players in the market, both small and big.

Enterprise Internet of Things (IoT): What does it bring to the table for Enterprise Tech?

Enterprise IoT is essentially technology that transforms traditional Enterprise operations into smart, independent entities by connecting infrastructure, mobility, utilities, etc. If you are a start-up, you can build enterprise IoT solutions to help other businesses improve their operations can leverage EIoT to build solutions that will help other businesses improve their operations.

Since IoT is currently very popular, the golden opportunity for start-ups is to resolve business challenges by offering Enterprise IoT solutions.

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Start-ups leveraging Deep Technologies like Enterprise IoT are bringing disruption into the enterprise tech sector.

Benefits of Enterprise IoT for MSME’s:

Enterprise IoT comes under the umbrella of deep tech (a new-age class of advanced technologies).

Investors are interested in homegrown EIoT start-ups in India.

Businesses across multiple industries and sectors are adopting EIoT applications.

As an MSME, create IoT products that solve precise problems for enterprises to attract investments.

EIoT MSME’s can avail incremental risk capital.

How will the advancement impact the Enterprise Tech sector?

Start-ups leveraging Deep Technologies like EIoT are bringing disruption into the enterprise tech sector.

The advancements in technology are impacting the sector positively since investor interest is pouring in.

Multiple start-ups in EIoT are springing up which will subsequently lead to more new start-ups in this space.

There has been a rise of dedicated VC funds for start-ups specially in the Enterprise IoT space.

What’s in it for me?

Healthcare and Manufacturing are the two target industries for Enterprise Tech start-ups offering EIoT solutions.

Start-ups offering wearables, embedded computing, industrial internet products can expect to receive VC funding.

The Smart City project for various Indian cities will be heavily funded by state and central governments. EIoT start-ups will stand to gain immensely by bagging these projects.

The automotive, transportation, and logistics industries are also adopting eIoT solutions and are also potential markets for start-ups.

Enterprise tech start-ups offering innovative products and solutions in the EIoT space can expect investments from VC’s.

Big Indian telecom companies like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone’s Vi Business are already trying to capture the eIoT market based on the strength of their consumer base. Start-ups must be ready to compete with these big Indian telecom providers.

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Digitally Empowered Efficiency Gains Accelerate the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Joseph Varughese — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 10:35:04 +0000

The Fourth Industrial Revolution aka Industry 4.0, as the German government coined the current trend of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technology, signals a series of social, political, cultural, and economic disruptions that will unfold over the contemporary 21st century.

Building on the widely spread global availability of digital technologies that were the results of the Third Industrial, or Digital, Revolution, which again were the contributions of the proceeding industrial revolutions, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is and will be driven largely by the convergence of digital, biological, and physical innovations.

Evolution of Industrial Revolutions

The four industrial revolutions contributed coal, gas, electronics, nuclear, transport, and the internet, digital and renewable energy. As we discovered in recent times, with the advancements in different energy sources and later, digital technologies, the entire landscape of the modern world has been transformed over and over. The ongoing pandemic has again accelerated its advancements out of the need for sustenance. Before we dive into the Fourth Industrial Revolution, here is a brief primer on the first three industrial revolutions.

“We must develop a comprehensive and globally shared view of how technology is affecting our lives and reshaping our economic, social, cultural, and human environments. There has never been a time of greater promise, or greater peril.” – said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic ForumThis is one of the best quotes I have across so far on Industry 4.0.

First Industrial Revolution

The original or the first industrial revolution, which is estimated to have begun in 1765, transformed the world economy from agriculture to industry. Products were manufactured for the first time using mechanized processes. During this period, the discovery of coal and its mass extraction, as well as the development of the steam engine and metal forging completely changed the way goods were produced, exchanged and consumed.

Second Industrial Revolution

As the first industrial revolution, which began in the 19th century, in 1870 to be approximate, was driven by coal, the second revolution revolved around the discovery of electricity, gas and oil, in short various energy sources. The invention of the combustion engine went hand-in-hand with these fuel energy sources. Both steel and chemical based products entered the market during this time. Developments in communication technology got a jump start with the telegraph and later the telephone which brought in revolutionary changes in the way people communicated till then.

Third Industrial Revolution

During this era nuclear energy and electronics entered the landscape. Nuclear power generation began in Europe, grew in both Great Britain and the United States, then grew in Asia and is now an inevitable part of the world.

The Third Industrial Revolution began in the ’70s in the 20th century through partial automation of processes using memory-programmable controls and computers. Since the introduction of these technologies, we are now able to automate an entire production process or for that many commercial and non-commercial processes without much human assistance. Known examples of this are robots that perform programmed sequences of operations with lesser or no human intervention.

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Companies which understand technology can help in all areas of their businesses, including overall business strategy, workforce and talent strategies will succeed.

Emergence of Fourth Industrial Revolution

As we continue moving through the fourth industrial revolution, we see a shift to renewable energy such as solar, wind and geothermal due to commercial and societal factors; commercial because of the cost and the inevitable depletion of fossil fuel and societal because of the concern for the environment.

However, the momentum and power of Industry 4.0 come not from the shift in energy sources but from the acceleration of digital technology transformation in every sphere of our life, business and personal.

Though Industry 4.0 comprises of the transition from fuel energy to renewable energy sources which would be the future sources given the fact that fossil sources will not last long and also that it is major reason for greenhouse effect, climate change and other environmental hazards, and also nanotechnology, we will focus here more on the emerging technologies that normally come to anyone’s mind when we talk about Industry 4.0.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution refers to the marriage of physical assets and advanced digital technologies—the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), robots, drones, autonomous vehicles, 3D printing, cloud computing, blockchain, big data, augmented reality (AR), mixed reality, nanotechnology, and more.

Some associate the benefits of the advancement in technologies mainly with efficiency, cost cutting, and profit maximizing. But the companies that are succeeding in this era are those that understand technology can help in all areas of their businesses, including overall business strategy, workforce and talent strategies, societal impact, and, of course, technological operations.

Industry 4.0 has the power to change the way that people work and do things. The digitalisation of the manufacturing environment allows for more flexible methods of getting the right information to the right person at the right time.

The increasing use of digital devices inside factories and out in the field means maintenance professionals can be provided with equipment documentation and service history in a timelier manner, and at the point of use or service. Microsoft HoloLens is a hardware/software tool that has made a difference in the way field service is delivered.

In short, Industry 4.0 is a game-changer, across industrial and non-industrial environments. The digitalization of manufacturing processes will change the way that goods are made, stocked, distributed, serviced and refined. With Industry 4.0, production shifts from a centralized to a decentralized model, symbolizing an impactful change in the traditional approach.

Let us discuss few of the most dominant innovation areas that influence the entire industry and life which will draw from the application and potential of the most disruptive of these technologies.

Big Data & Predictive Analytics

When it comes to Industry 4.0, data and analytics play a key role in creating value. Some studies have estimated that by leveraging the potentials of big data and analytics companies active in the field are able to reduce downtime by up to 45%, additionally increasing output by as much as 25%.

Big data is used increasingly for real-time decision making, while predictive analytics are very much useful due to their capability to foresee and/or predict the failure of a machine, thus acting as an enabler or trigger for preventive maintenance.

Predictive analytics will be followed by prescriptive analytics, which will suggest decision options to take full advantage of the results provided by predictive analytics. It is all about predicting problems, triggering action and providing solutions to the problems.

Cloud Computing

The importance of cloud computing will be understood when we realize that Industry 4.0 would not exist without it. Due to this technology enabling the handling of large amounts of data, which is needed to automate production processes, cloud computing serves as a key, if not indispensable, and element in the fourth Industrial Revolution.

Over time, cloud technologies are anticipated to improve even further, reaching extraordinarily short reaction and response times. Cloud computing is already in use in solution packages, some of which are Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), or Software as a Service (SaaS).

To give an example, Microsoft provides its desktop applications like Office or Microsoft 365 as SaaS, its cloud computing environment or platform, Azure, as IaaS and its Business Applications like Dynamics ERP, CRM, Customer Engagement suite as IaaS. Google My Business, AWS cloud environment are other prominent examples of big players in cloud computing. Cloud models make it easy for organizations of any size and cash to adopt technology and pursue digital transformation because of the shift from Capex to Opex investment model.

Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D printing, has undergone a substantial transformation over the last three decades. Its development has compelled usage of other materials than plastics to 3D print, including metal, ceramic and even biomaterial resulting in cost reduction, efficiency enhancement and environmental benefits.

Additive manufacturing changes the production process through which products are manufactured as it provides customers with the capacity and platform to co-create goods together with companies to their specific needs.

Cybersecurity

The connectivity Industry 4.0 brings with it also adds a layer of vulnerability. The increased exposure of organizations’ data and information due to connectivity means it is at high risk of falling victim to potential cyberattacks, forcing companies to increase the security level of their manufacturing lines.

Manufacturers who act proactively, facing challenges before they arise, will be rewarded with a vibrant, well-equipped ecosystem capable of securing their smart factories through innovative solutions. While this is a threat, this is a great opportunity for startups to come up with superior cyber security tools.

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Augmented Reality (AR) is powerful enough to increase the performances of both people and processes by 50 per cent by helping in reducing cost emerging from human error or inefficiency.

Predictive Maintenance

Manufacturers agree that, ideally, a machine should only be repaired when necessary, meaning at a point when a defect is affecting the machine’s performance, but where keeping it running is still safe until the company finds a convenient time slot for repair.

As one of the most hyped innovation areas, predictive maintenance is capable of generating considerable cost reductions, with the cost of repairs estimated to decrease by 12%, thus lowering the cost of planned repair by 30%. This includes reducing or eliminating down times thus shielding the company against the adverse effects on the overall growth.

Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented Reality has reached the right maturity level for use in a productive environment like smart factories. This has already been proven to increase the performances of both people and process, thus helping in reducing cost emerging from human error or inefficiency.

In fact, some studies have seen that AR is powerful enough to improve performance by up to 50%. Some of the potential usage scenarios for AR in Industry 4.0 include Operations, Maintenance, Field Service, & Remote Assistance, Training, Quality Control as well as Safety Management.

The innovation areas outlined above are just a few of the crucial digital drivers that have been recognized in Industry 4.0 and also include Robotics, Simulation, Industrial IoT Platforms, Blockchain, and Artificial Intelligence.

We have been noticing that most businesses are beginning to try to find balance between profit and purpose, thanks largely to increased pressure from customers, employees, and other stakeholders.

With a market value of US$220 billion by 2022, companies keen on tapping the emerging opportunities are acting prudently. Industry 4.0 opens up unlimited potential opportunities for startups and small businesses in the technology domain. And new changes and opportunities are emerging every day

Deloitte did a survey recently on Industry 4.00 that took a closer look at which technologies business leaders anticipate will have the greatest impact on their organizations and has identified the internet of things, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data and analytics as those top four technologies. .

There is a strong correlation and dependency between several Industry 4.0 technologies and the power of the results comes from the convergence and collective use of them.

The pros of the fourth industrial revolution

Before we conclude, let us have a quick look at some of the benefits Industry 4.0 and its emerging trends bring to organizations and society as a whole.

Higher productivity that contributes to profitability and growth of business
Improved quality of life by way of, for example, ordering a cab, booking a flight, buying a product, making a payment, listening to music, watching a film and even controlling the lights and temperature in our homes
Developing new markets through a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between physical, digital, and biological spheres” will create new markets and growth opportunities,
Lower barriers to entrepreneurship. New technologies such as 3D printing for prototyping, the barriers between inventors and markets are reduced.
Environmental and social benefits. Industry 4.0 implementation will reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. Electric cars and vehicles, powered by renewable energy sources, will be the classic example of how this will emerge.

The cons of the fourth industrial revolution

Like in anything in life, Industry 4.0 also suffers from perils. All of them are not just perils or cons but challenges too. Let us not skip them in this discussion.

Inequality, It is all about who gets the benefits of these technologies and of the results they help produce.
Cyber security. This is a very sensitive issue that is stopping many organizations from embracing Cloud and Industry 4.0
Core industries disruptions. Taxis are competing against Ola and Uber, traditional television and cinema compete with Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar and YouTube, the hotel industry with AirBnB or OYO and Mom-and-Pop and Kirana stores are competing against Amazon, Jio Mart or Flipkart..
Ethical issues. With improved AI, genetic engineering, and increased automation, there are new ethical concerns and questions of morality that already differ greatly from individual to individual.
Employees’ apprehensions. Industry 4.0 is expected to have a far-reaching impact on the employees as those jobs with a low degree of skills will be performed by automated robots. Employees losing jobs will create a demand slump which in turn will affect profitability and growth of the economy. It is not just about ethics but about the economy too.
Socio-technical implications. Industry 4.0 is a socio-technical system. For the successful and sustainable implementation of Industry 4.0, the joint optimization of Socio-technical systems is desired.

Conclusion

So here we are on that edge of Industry 4.0 that radically impacts all spheres of our daily lives. It can be an era of economic and knowledge growth and improvements and advancements in the way we live, work, and even think but we also need to be wary of its potential to disrupt every walks of life and find ways to mitigate these risks. It is again a question of balancing its good and bad effects for the betterment of life of people from all sections of society.

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AgTech Sector Trends: Disruption or Boom?

Kiran Kennedy — Sat, 06 Feb 2021 12:35:02 +0000

As a result of the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown that followed, the agriculture and agtech sector did face an initial disruption of their supply chain as well as labour shortages during the peak months of the lockdown.

Despite this, agriculture in India seems to be on an upswing according to the latest estimates by the National Statistical Office (NSO), with the sector having added a tremendous amount of private investment between the months of July and August in 2020.

According to the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) India has 450 Agtech start-ups that are growing at a rate of around 25 per cent annually. Additionally, the agricultural ministry of India has also pledged to fund a further 234 agricultural businesses with a sum of Rs 24.85 crore in the financial year 2021. With numbers looking good, new business owners and entrepreneurs in the Agtech sector can safely assume that a large-scale growth will be seen going forward.

Trends in the Agtech Sector to Watch Out For

Technological Advancements

The emerging trend going forward seems to be that more Agtech firms and farmers are using real-time information technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) to track and monitor crops, soil quality, supply chain management, weather and yields. These technologies can and are being used to make long-term and short-term decisions regarding current and upcoming crop cycles.

This is a crucial step in the right direction that makes monitoring more cost-effective and more importantly increases the yield by giving firms and farmers all the vital information at a moment’s notice.

A Well-Structured Network

The integration of technology into the agricultural sector also helps connect buyers across the market, it automates much of the supply and logistics processes as well as making for a more transparent engagement, and allows for faster cash settlements and transfers.

More Consumer-Oriented Practices

With the onset of the pandemic, consumers have shifted their sites to a more sustainable, organic and healthy menu of foods. They also look for foods produced with fewer insecticides and pesticides. With the afore-mentioned advancements, farmers can now opt to selectively implement changes to a specific portion of crop as per the demand.

With the growing demand for more exports and advancements in operational technology, Indian Agtech companies will be playing a crucial role in bolstering the rapidly expanding agricultural ecosystem.

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