Latest news with #NIF
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
My favourite products: A rapid-fire round with award-winning designer A Balasubramaniam
Does your lamp light your table up just right? Does your water bottle fit easily in your hand? 'Design is everywhere, and designers have the power to influence lives — for better or worse,' says product designer A Balasubramaniam, 64. Earlier this month, he became the first Indian to win the prestigious Hills Millennium Award. Here are three quick questions with Balasubramaniam. (For the full interview, click here.) * Why design? I feel like I didn't really discover design; design discovered me. I was born in Rajkot, Gujarat but travelled across India as my father had a transferable job with the Life Insurance Corporation. Through it all, my mother, a homemaker, was sort of my creative partner. She could make even the most mundane school projects fun and arty. Once, for a science project, she helped me make a table lamp out of a plastic tiffin box, some aluminium foil and a fruit basket. Her creative instinct possibly shaped me subconsciously. Back in the 1960s, I just never imagined something like that could become a profession. * What have been some of your favourite projects? One was a collaboration with block-making artisans in Pilkhuwa, Uttar Pradesh, in 2000. These were artisans who had trained for generations in the art of carving wooden block-printing blocks. But the industry was languishing and they were out of work. I worked with them to channel their craft to make photo frames, stationery holders, coasters, mirrors, lamps, coasters, all of which used their traditional wood-carving techniques. Another interesting project was a collaboration with a cycle-rickshaw driver in Haryana. He would lug herbs, flowers and fruits from farms to factories, till he realised that they could be processed for juices, pulps and extracts at the farm itself, saving time and money. So, the man, Dharamveer Kamboj, designed his own prototype for such a machine, in 2003, in association with the National Innovation Foundation (NIF). When NIF reached out to me for developing the product, we realised that the innovator's design had many flaws. It was difficult convincing Mr Kamboj about the changes that it needed, but over time, I was able to build that trust and in the end, he was happy to see it was his own design with his name. * Can you name three products, designed by others, that you admire? My most favourite thing is the Anglepoise lamp designed by George Carwardine, a British automotive engineer, in 1931. With a spring, crank and lever, it is efficient, flexible and a classic design. The Eames Lounge Chair with ottoman, made of wood and leather, is also a favourite. It was designed, of course, by Charles and Ray Eames in the 1950s. I had the chance to sit on one and it was the most comfortable experience! The third is a craft product — Jawaja bags — that a former colleague Nilam Iyer created with leather artisans who were once mainly shoemakers, in Jawaja, Rajasthan, in the 1970s. The bags have such a contemporary design, and have helped the community.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Amid increased momentum for defense, the NATO Innovation Fund refreshes its investment team
Two years after securing $1 billion in commitments from over 20 countries, the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) is entering a new chapter, marked by the arrival of two new partners and the departure of its penultimate founding team partner. In a context of increased military spending across NATO members, investment in dual-use technology has skyrocketed since the initiative was first announced in 2021. Once a no-go-zone for institutional investors, defense and resilience tech last reached an all-time high of 10% of all VC funding in Europe, where nearly all NIF's backers are located. This booming interest should have given NIF a first-mover advantage, but the fund was hampered by management challenges and a series of high-profile departures. After the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague reaffirmed its importance last June, NIF is now emerging with an almost entirely new investment team. It is composed of three partners. While NIF originally had four partners and one managing partner, a person familiar with NIF said that this flat, three-partner model will be the structure in place for the foreseeable future, suggesting that no new hires are to be expected. These two appointments had previously been rumored, but the identities of the new partners had not been confirmed. Two of the partners are new hires: Ulrich Quay and Sander Verbrugge, who will be based in Amsterdam. Quay, a German national, was most recently in charge of corporate investments as a vice president at BMW, where he previously founded and led corporate venture fund BMW i Ventures. Verbrugge, a Dutch PhD in molecular biophysics, was previously a partner at deep tech VC fund Innovation Industries, which he joined after working at semiconductor design and manufacturing company NXP. The third partner is London-based VC Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, now the last remaining member of the original investment team. Alongside the new hires, the fund announced the departure of founding team partner Kelly Chen, who confirmed to TechCrunch that it was her decision and that she will be stepping away to build a new venture. Chris O'Connor, another founding team partner, departed earlier this year with similar plans. Chen currently sits on the board of several startups backed by NIF, but will transition her board responsibilities once her employment at the NIF has wrapped up, TechCrunch learned from its chief communications and marketing officer, Amalia Kontesi. While some observers wish the fund had deployed capital faster, she said NIF 'is on track to meet [its] investing goals for the year.' Since its inception, NIF has made 19 investments: seven into funds such as OTB Ventures, and 12 into startups including Space Forge and Tekever, which makes dual-use drones. Still, adding new partners with industrial and scientific backgrounds, no matter how impressive, may not satisfy those who wish that the fund could invest in Ukraine or pure defense, as opposed to dual use, in response to Russia's war economy. But it is also in line with NIF's broader thesis to 'empower deep tech founders to address challenges in defence, security, and resilience.' However, NIF has also ramped up its efforts on the defense side. Its team was heavily involved in the development of NATO's Rapid Adoption Action Plan, aimed at accelerating the adoption and integration of new technological products for defense. NIF has also been building up its Mission Platform Group with strategic hires including John Ridge, who was hired as chief adoption officer in 2024 to help portfolio startups navigate military procurement. As for its new partners, they were once again hired through a process previously described by VC Michael Jackson as akin to 'building a boy band' — identified by NIF's board of directors and approved by LPs, rather than having teamed up based on shared history or chemistry. This may be inevitable for an organization that now counts 24 countries as limited partners, but was often pointed as one reason the previous team didn't gel. This time, all three partners got to meet throughout the recruitment process and spend time together since then to 'ensure a smooth transition and to position the team for long term success,' Kontesi said. In a statement shared exclusively with TechCrunch, NIF's vice chair, professor Fiona Murray, compared the organization to a startup. 'We are proud of what we accomplished but like any effective team we are learning, experimenting, improving: speeding up our processes, expanding our platform support for startups, doubling down on ecosystem building and more broadly recognizing the need to build the sector and the capital stack.' Murray expressed pride in having brought together a qualified team that can collaborate effectively, creatively and quickly. 'They will enable us to move even more rapidly and decisively to drive the Alliance's technological agenda and support the best founders across European ecosystems,' she previously wrote in a joint statement with NIF's chair, Klaus Hommels. Hommels' other activities as an investor have prompted questions about possible conflicts of interest, but no change appears to have been made to his role during NIF's recent LP meeting in Venice. Rather than dwelling further on its reorganization, NIF seems set on helping NATO become more resilient. 'In this next phase,' NIF's vice chair said, 'you'll see us refocus on DSR opportunities and emphasize building companies that can drive industrial scale and really support ecosystems across Europe.'
TechCrunch
5 days ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
Amid increased momentum for defense, the NATO Innovation Fund refreshes its investment team
Two years after securing $1 billion in commitments from over 20 countries, the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF) is entering a new chapter, marked by the arrival of two new partners and the departure of its penultimate founding team partner. In a context of increased military spending across NATO members, investment in dual-use technology has skyrocketed since the initiative was first announced in 2021. Once a no-go-zone for institutional investors, defense and resilience tech last reached an all-time high of 10% of all VC funding in Europe, where nearly all NIF's backers are located. This booming interest should have given NIF a first-mover advantage, but the fund was hampered by management challenges and a series of high-profile departures. After the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague reaffirmed its importance last June, NIF is now emerging with an almost entirely new investment team. It is composed of three partners. While NIF originally had four partners and one managing partner, a person familiar with NIF said that this flat, three-partner model will be the structure in place for the foreseeable future, suggesting that no new hires are to be expected. These two appointments had previously been rumored, but the identities of the new partners had not been confirmed. Two of the partners are new hires: Ulrich Quay and Sander Verbrugge, who will be based in Amsterdam. Quay, a German national, was most recently in charge of corporate investments as a vice president at BMW, where he previously founded and led corporate venture fund BMW i Ventures. Verbrugge, a Dutch PhD in molecular biophysics, was previously a partner at deep tech VC fund Innovation Industries, which he joined after working at semiconductor design and manufacturing company NXP. The third partner is London-based VC Patrick Schneider-Sikorsky, now the last remaining member of the original investment team. Alongside the new hires, the fund announced the departure of founding team partner Kelly Chen, who confirmed to TechCrunch that it was her decision and that she will be stepping away to build a new venture. Chris O'Connor, another founding team partner, departed earlier this year with similar plans. Chen currently sits on the board of several startups backed by NIF, but will transition her board responsibilities once her employment at the NIF has wrapped up, TechCrunch learned from its chief communications and marketing officer, Amalia Kontesi. While some observers wish the fund had deployed capital faster, she said NIF 'is on track to meet [its] investing goals for the year.' Since its inception, NIF has made 19 investments: seven into funds such as OTB Ventures, and 12 into startups including Space Forge and Tekever, which makes dual-use drones. 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San Francisco | REGISTER NOW Still, adding new partners with industrial and scientific backgrounds, no matter how impressive, may not satisfy those who wish that the fund could invest in Ukraine or pure defense, as opposed to dual use, in response to Russia's war economy. But it is also in line with NIF's broader thesis to 'empower deep tech founders to address challenges in defence, security, and resilience.' However, NIF has also ramped up its efforts on the defense side. Its team was heavily involved in the development of NATO's Rapid Adoption Action Plan, aimed at accelerating the adoption and integration of new technological products for defense. NIF has also been building up its Mission Platform Group with strategic hires including John Ridge, who was hired as chief adoption officer in 2024 to help portfolio startups navigate military procurement. As for its new partners, they were once again hired through a process previously described by VC Michael Jackson as akin to 'building a boy band' — identified by NIF's board of directors and approved by LPs, rather than having teamed up based on shared history or chemistry. This may be inevitable for an organization that now counts 24 countries as limited partners, but was often pointed as one reason the previous team didn't gel. This time, all three partners got to meet throughout the recruitment process and spend time together since then to 'ensure a smooth transition and to position the team for long term success,' Kontesi said. In a statement shared exclusively with TechCrunch, NIF's vice chair, professor Fiona Murray, compared the organization to a startup. 'We are proud of what we accomplished but like any effective team we are learning, experimenting, improving: speeding up our processes, expanding our platform support for startups, doubling down on ecosystem building and more broadly recognizing the need to build the sector and the capital stack.' Murray expressed pride in having brought together a qualified team that can collaborate effectively, creatively and quickly. 'They will enable us to move even more rapidly and decisively to drive the Alliance's technological agenda and support the best founders across European ecosystems,' she previously wrote in a joint statement with NIF's chair, Klaus Hommels. Hommels' other activities as an investor have prompted questions about possible conflicts of interest, but no change appears to have been made to his role during NIF's recent LP meeting in Venice. Rather than dwelling further on its reorganization, NIF seems set on helping NATO become more resilient. 'In this next phase,' NIF's vice chair said, 'you'll see us refocus on DSR opportunities and emphasize building companies that can drive industrial scale and really support ecosystems across Europe.'
Arabian Post
05-07-2025
- Politics
- Arabian Post
India Off The Track In Several SDG Goals, Significant Challenges Persist
By Dr. Gyan Pathak One decade has passed of the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), yet India is off the track in several of them which require intensified and focused interventions to achieve the targets by 2030. While notable progress has been made in several sectors, significant challenges continue to persist other. This conclusion has been drawn by the Sustainable Development Goals National Indicator Framework (NIF) Progress Report 2025 released by the National Statistics Office, on the basis of 284 national SDG indicators available in the NIF as on 29th June, 2025. The first goal SDG 1 was to be achieved was 'No Poverty' by 2030. This goal has 7 targets. A total of 13 indicators have been identified at the national level, and data are available for all of them. The document gives progress up to only 2019-21 for the level of poverty. In 2015-16, poverty in India was shown 24.85 per cent which declined to 14.96 per cent in 2019-21. In 2025, 64.3 per cent of the population were under social protection. Institutional assistance was being provided to 1.57 lakh senior citizens in 2023-24. It means, India is going to miss the target of 'No Poverty' by 2030. 'Zero Hunger' was the second target (SDG 2). There has been considerable progress in this regard, but considerable challenges remain. The Goal has 8 targets. Ratio of institutional credit to agriculture to the agriculture output was 1.56 per cent in 2023-24. GVA in agriculture was Rs 94,110 per worker in 2024-25. India seems to be on track on SDG 3 'good health and well-being', but challenges remain. Neonatal mortality rate per 1000 live births were still 19 in 2021. In SDG 4 quality education to all is lagging behind, though free and compulsory education is provided upto class 8th. Gross enrolment ratio for tertiary education was 29.5 per cent in 2022-23. The proportion of schools having access to in 2023-24: electricity was 91.8 per cent; computers for pedagogical purposes was 57.20 per cent; adapted infrastructure and materials for students with disabilities/disabled friendly ramp 77.1 per cent and toilets 34.4 per cent; basic drinking water to 98.3 per cent; sanitation facilities to girls 97.2 per cent and to boys 95.7 per cent; basic hand washing to 94.7 per cent; and internet facilities to 78.5 per cent. Under SDG 5 (Gender Equality) female to male labour force participation rate in 15-59 years age group was 0.54 in 2023. Bank linked Self Help Groups (SHGs) were 97.04 per cent in 2023-24. Under SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) improved drinking water is being supplied to 99.62 per cent of the people in 2024-25. Open defection free target has been achieved 100 per cent by 2024-25, and the proportion of villages having water and sanitation committees was 0.9 in 2024-25. Under SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) 100 per cent households were electrified by 2021-22. Renewable energy share in the total installed electricity generation was 22.13 per cent in 2024-25. Under SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) outstanding credit to MSME was Rs 27.2 lakh crore in 2023-24. In that year LFPR was 64.3 per cent. There were 34,293 recognised start-ups in 2024. Per capita fossil fuel consumption was 169.5 kg in 2024-25. As for Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure under SDG 9, the total carbon dioxide emission of power sector per unit of GDP (in tonne/ Rupee Crore) was 40.52 in 2022-23. Number of researchers per million was 262 in 2020-21. Mobile network coverage in 2024 was 99.06 per cent for 4G. Under SDG 10 (Reduced Inequality) the data shows Gini coefficient of household expenditure in rural areas in 2023-24 at 0.237 and in urban areas 0.284. Achievement under SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) shows that 80.7 per cent of wage was being processed in 2024-25. Ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns under SDG 12, the data shows 3,036 was recycling plants installed in 2024-25. Installed renewal energy generating capacity in watts per capita was 156.31 in 2024-25. Under SDG 13 (Climate Action) the reduction in emission intensity of GDP in 2020 over 2005 level was 36 per cent. SDG 14 (Life Below Water) data shows India's sustainable yield in fishing was 5.3 million tonne per year in 2024-25. Life on Land under SDG 15, India had 5.69 per cent of its geographical area in 2024 as protected. Forest cover has been almost stagnant which was 21.76 per cent in 2023, far below than India's target of achieving 33 per cent. Under SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) the data shows 1.55 judges per lakh population in 2024, and number of courts 1.93. The last, SDG 17 (Partnership for the Goals) shows total number of internet subscription at 954.4 million in 2024. All 29 states have their monitoring framework in 2024-25. In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the landmark resolution titled 'Transforming our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development', marking a global commitment to a sustainable, inclusive, and equitable future. At the heart of this agenda are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, which came into effect on1 January 2016. (IPA Service)
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Google Signs Deal to Buy Fusion Energy From Future Virginia Plant
Tech giant Google has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) to buy at least 200 MW of energy from CFS's planned fusion-based power plant in Chesterfield County, Virginia. The deal announced June 30 is the latest among companies in the technology and artificial intelligence (AI) space to secure the power supply for hyperscale data centers. CFS has said it hopes to begin producing fusion energy at a commercial scale early in the next decade. It currently is building a demonstration plant, known as SPARC, in Massachusetts. Michael Terrell, head of advanced energy at Google, said, "By entering into this agreement with CFS, we hope to help prove out and scale a promising pathway toward commercial fusion power. We're excited to make this longer-term bet on a technology with transformative potential to meet the world's future energy demand, and support CFS in their efforts to reach the scientific and engineering milestones needed to get there." Terrell at a June 27 media briefing prior to Monday's announcement acknowledged the company is betting on the promise of fusion despite uncertainties about deployment. "Yes, there are some serious physics and engineering challenges that we still have to work through to make it commercially viable and scalable, but that's something that we want to be investing in now to realize that future," he said. Google as part of its investment in CFS is supporting development of a demonstration tokamak fusion reactor, a donut-shaped technology that uses large magnets and molten plasma to merge atoms and create energy. The challenge for researchers is to get more energy out of a fusion reaction than it takes to create the reaction. Scientists at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California confirmed they had accomplished that goal in a test at the NIF in December 2022. Google has signed several PPAs with various energy groups to buy electricity for its global operations, including purchasing renewable energy since 2010. It also is buying power from battery energy storage and geothermal sites. The company recently committed to support three nuclear power projects with 600 MW of generation capacity, though this is the company's first deal for fusion energy. Google, which began funding CFS in 2021, also said it would increase its investment in CFS, and the deal also gives the company rights to take power from future CFS-built reactors. Terms were not disclosed. Terrell in a blog post on Google's website wrote: "Fusion holds huge potential as an energy source of the future: it's clean, abundant and inherently safe, and it can be built just about anywhere. Commercializing fusion is immensely challenging, and success is not guaranteed. But if it works, it could change the world by providing a more secure and clean energy future." Massachusetts-based CFS, a company spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was founded in 2018. The company has raised more than $2 billion in funding. Commonwealth CEO and co-founder Bob Mumgaard said the deal is the "largest offtake agreement for fusion." He said Google's investment would allow his company to continue with the research and development needed for the commercial fusion plant in Virginia, and support completion of the demonstration facility in Devens, Massachusetts. 'Fusion power is within our grasp thanks in part to forward-thinking partners like Google, a recognized technology pioneer across industries,' said Mumgaard. 'Our strategic deal with Google is the first of many as we move to demonstrate fusion energy from SPARC and then bring our first power plant online. We aim to demonstrate fusion's ability to provide reliable, abundant, clean energy at the scale needed to unlock economic growth and improve modern living—and enable what will be the largest market transition in history." The agreement between Google and CFS is tied to the SPARC demonstration achieving net fusion energy, known as Q>1. "It's hard to say exactly how much [the deal with Google] accelerates it, but it definitely puts it in a category where now we can start to work more and more on ARC [the Virginia plant] while we finish SPARC, instead of doing them very sequentially," said Mumgaard, who talked about the company's technology in this 2020 interview with POWER. "In 2024, we achieved approximately 66% global average carbon-free energy across our data centers and offices," Google wrote in a report released last week. Terrell said Google is "using this purchasing power that we have to send a demand signal to the market for fusion energy and hopefully move [the] technology forward." Fusion produces no pollution, and the tokamak is said to generate 10 million times more energy than fossil fuels such as coal and natural gas. Unlike nuclear fission, the technology the powers today's reactors, there is no radioactive waste from fusion. "Today's announcement builds on a long history of clean energy leadership. Since 2010 we've procured over 22 GW of clean energy which has helped these technologies mature and enabled us to successfully reduce our data center energy emissions by 12%," said Terrell. "We are adding fusion to our portfolio because of its potential to be transformative in delivering abundant, sustainable energy for the planet. Our new partnership with CFS marks an exciting step forward on this journey." —Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.
