The Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and four Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) have created and launched an online course on applied artificial intelligence (AI). The course is aimed at learners with at least a basic knowledge of machine learning; students in their final year of Engineering, science postgraduates, PhD scholars, and professionals. It will begin at the end of the month.
The course contains 33-sessions that will cover how to implement AI-based solutions in domains like healthcare and smart city projects, as well as how to scale these projects to an industrial level. The four partnering IITs are from four different locations: Kharagpur, Madras, Palakkad, Goa. According to a report by the government-run website IndiaAI, the curriculum will include the fundamentals of AI accelerators and system setup, accelerated deep learning, end-to-end accelerated deep science, and will explore industrial use-cases of accelerated AI.
Several leading national institutions will intermittently participate in the course. For instance, learners will have code walkthroughs and industrial case studies that are part of the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM). NSM is spearheaded by the Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) through C-DAC and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). NSM aims to enhance research capacities and capabilities in the country by connecting them to form a supercomputing grid, with the National Knowledge Network (NKN) as the backbone.
Due to the greater adoption of technology in healthcare, education, finance, and almost every other sector of the economy, there is a growing need for digital and technical experts to meet the demand for modern solutions. In fact, the demand for cybersecurity domain experts increased two-fold in the past year. The government through its various educational institutions and agencies has been pushing for digital upskilling and reskilling of the country’s workforce, focusing on digital technologies.
Earlier this month, OpenGov Asia reported that IIT-Madras and an Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-Ahmedabad)-incubated start-up, GUVI, announced free Python and AI training courses. They are available to more than one million socially and economically disadvantaged youngsters in India. The Python and AI skills included in this initiative focus on face recognition technology that any beginner can master. The courses will be taught in various vernacular languages including English, Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu, among others. Free access to the courses will be available through a registration process enabled on GUVI’s official website.
More recently, the IIT in Guwahati, in partnership with a private player, has begun a postgraduate (PG) certificate programme in cybersecurity and a PG certificate programme in AI. The eight-month-long course focusing on cybersecurity will equip students with subjects that will help them become adept for careers as network security specialists, cybersecurity analysts, cybersecurity architects, cybersecurity managers, etc. The nine-month-long course on AI and deep learning will cover fundamental modules such as Python programming, data analytics, neural networks, computer vision, image recognition, etc. The course will prepare students for careers as AI and ML engineers, computer vision experts, software R&D engineers, cloud support engineers, etc.
Experts from India and the United States recently discussed the challenges and opportunities to combat climate change through technology-led “carbon capture and utilisation solutions” at an event jointly organised by the Department of Science and Technology, India and the Department of Energy, USA.
The event, the Indo-US Scoping Workshop on Carbon Capture was held on 22 January. The DST Secretary said that at the recently concluded COP-26 at Glasgow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the country’s performance and ambitions to meet the climate goals. The Prime Minister aims for India to be a net-zero emissions nation by 2070. The Secretary added that under a strict climatic regime, India can identify and adopt a balance of portfolio of emission curtailment technologies. Carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) research are among key pathways to reduce emissions while developing rapidly and sustainably at an unprecedented pace. CCUS aligns with five of the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): climate action; clean energy industry; innovation and infrastructure; responsible consumption and production; and partnerships to achieve the goals, the Secretary informed at the first workshop on carbon capture.
According to a press release, the Secretary went on to outline the recent DST initiatives that are technology-led research and development projects in the area of CCUS. DST became part of transnational multilateral platforms such as Mission Innovation and Accelerating CCUS Technologies (ACT) along with other member countries, including the USA to collaborate in CCUS research. DST and DoE SA have launched a series of Indo US Scoping Workshops on CCUS, they began on 21 January and will end on 25 February 2022. It will explore the complementary strengths and gaps in the area of CCUS between the two countries and evolve collaborative technology-led endeavours to achieve net-zero carbon goals.
A representative from the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM), DoE, stated that India is a valuable partner in developing new technologies to help in combating climate and clean energy goals. This partnership was underscored when last year the Indian Prime Minister launched the India-US Climate and Clean Energy Agenda 2030 Partnership. The representative gave an overview of US initiatives regarding clean energy and said it is a global crisis and requires a global response in clean energy technologies and an international partnership to achieve carbon net-zero status. She hoped that this workshop would provide an opportunity to broaden and deeper collaborations and engagements.
The participants included academicians, researchers, industry experts, and policymakers from domains of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage, climate change, and environmental engineering. Experts from both countries delivered their technical insights and views for broad discussions about carbon capture. They covered opportunities and challenges to evolve future collaborative tech-driven projects between India and the US. A recent report by the Council on Energy, Environment, and Water said that India needs cumulative investments of US$10 trillion to attain net-zero by 2070. This is in line with global assessments that the world needs more than US$100 trillion to address climate change. This is possible only through a partnership between governments and the private sector.
China is looking to gain a competitive edge in the transportation sector during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) amid a larger drive to foster green, smart and high-quality development over the long run. There are imbalances and inadequacies in the development of comprehensive transportation, hence it is urgent to promote high-quality transportation development.
China will make efforts to improve major transportation networks, build multilayered and integrated comprehensive transportation hubs, construct a smart transportation system that is globally competitive and promote the intelligent, digital and networked transformation and upgrade of the country’s infrastructure.
– Luo Guosan, Director of the Department of Infrastructure Development, National Development and Reform Commission
By 2025, the comprehensive transportation system will witness integrated development, substantial strides in green and smart development, an improved facility network and more effective transportation services. More than 95% of cities with a population of over 500,000 will be covered by the high-speed railway network, with trains having maximum speeds of 250 kilometres per hour and faster. By 2035, a convenient, cost-effective, green, smart, advanced and reliable modern national comprehensive transportation network will be basically completed.
It is estimated that investment in transportation increased 3.1% year-on-year to 3.58 trillion yuan ($564 billion) in China last year, which provides strong support for boosting economic growth and meeting people’s basic needs. Under the new plan, the Ministry of Transport will make a big push to promote balanced development, improve transportation hub systems, optimise the transportation structure and improve the efficiency of the comprehensive transportation network.
The administration will set a goal of better serving China’s major regional strategies and regional coordinated development strategies. China will accelerate the construction of four world-class airport clusters in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, Yangtze River Delta region, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle. The key focus is to continue to ensure aviation safety and promote smart civil aviation development.
Transportation should play a leading role in China’s modernisation drive to provide better support for major national strategies and the overall economic and social development. Transformation towards a more innovative, digitalised, and integrated system, citing the unbalanced and inadequate development of the country’s transportation system.
The country will expand the network coverage in western regions, improve the transportation conditions in border areas, and promote the integration of urban and rural transportation. Efforts will be made to enhance the global competitiveness of the smart transportation system by empowering it with intelligent infrastructure and advanced equipment.
The country will also expand the coverage of low-carbon transportation equipment, focusing on building charging facilities in hub stations and highway service areas. During the period, the country will continue to promote the quality development of transportation services to meet people’s diversified needs and expectations for a better life.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, China aims to become the global leader in low-carbon tech for a carbon-constrained world. China is today the world’s largest emitter of planet-heating gases, responsible for about 28% of total global emissions.
A white paper shows Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications will help China cut down over 35 billion tonnes of carbon emission by 2060, the year the nation pledged to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. At least 70% of China’s carbon reductions will involve AI-related technologies by 2060. The white paper was jointly released by research firm International Data Corporation (IDC) and a Chinese tech company that has greatly dived into AI technology in recent years.
The paper also estimated that cloud computing technology helped the world to reduce carbon emissions equal to what 26 million cars could exhaust in 2020. China has vowed to peak its carbon emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. The country has since adopted a series of policies, measures and actions to push forward carbon emission reduction despite economic challenges. China has also rolled out new guidelines on carbon reduction promoting the integration of the carbon industry and techs such as big data, AI and 5G.
Ho Chi Minh City has been chosen as the first locality to carry out studies on the e-transportation development plan, given its huge potential. The Department of Transport made announced this at a recent meeting, with consulting units, which studied a transportation development plan involving e-vehicles in the southern hub. The plan, part of the Nationally Determined Contributions project backed by the German government, aims to help Vietnam enhance capacity and legal frameworks facilitating transportation development in line with low-carbon solutions and greenhouse gas reduction.
A professor at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Dr Le Anh Tuan, who is also head of the consulting units, noted that Ho Chi Minh City’s land used for transportation stands at only 12.2%. And transport infrastructure development rate remains modest. Meanwhile, the number of vehicles has been on the rise, causing significant rises in environmental pollution. In addition to switching to e-vehicles, the city is advised to opt for waterway and railway transport and bolster electrification, a news report said. Tuan underlined that electricity infrastructure has an important role to play in the implementation of the e-transportation development plan. As Ho Chi Minh City is the first-ever locality to roll out the plan, it must be a priority in the national electric distribution planning, he stressed.
The Deputy Director of the Municipal Transport Department, Bui Hoa An, informed that Ho Chi Minh City is set to launch a new electric bus route by the end of the first quarter, to mitigate environmental pollution and improve passengers’ experience. The e-transportation development plan requires concerted efforts in infrastructure development, and he claimed that the Transport Department will continue to join hands with consulting units in building mechanisms and the final plan for the project.
According to a news report, Vietnam is expecting a new wave of electric vehicles in 2022. Under a decree recently issued by the government, battery-powered electric cars are to be exempt from the registration fee for three years, starting from 1 March. The fee shall be paid at a rate equal to 50% of the fee for petrol and diesel-fueled cars with the same number of seats over the next two years. The National Assembly also recently agreed to reduce the excise tax placed on electric cars in an attempt to encourage greater investment in battery-powered electric cars.
The government previously introduced a number of tax reduction preferences for assembling components and producing electric cars, although these policies were not viewed as attractive to manufacturers. The two preferential policies to take effect at the same time are anticipated to bring about a range of benefits to the newly-developed local electric vehicle market. It will also serve to help the domestic market catch up with the general trend of the auto industry, especially when the various battery-powered electric car industries of Vietnam and other ASEAN countries have almost identical starting points. Experts suggest that the government should focus on developing infrastructure for electric cars, such as establishing car charging stations or supporting the construction of battery factories to reduce vehicle costs.
Cyberspace is transnational and borderless. This means that cyberattacks can be conducted by anyone, from anywhere in the world. Regardless of who the malicious actor is, putting in place cyber resilience measures to protect ourselves is key.
Singapore needs to take precautions in cyberspace to protect the digital security of Singaporeans against cyberattacks by private firms allegedly at the behest of state actors and state-backed entities. Singapore also should take additional and updated steps to address the risk of such attacks in the wake of developments over the last six months.
2021 put cybersecurity under the spotlight with a spate of cyberattacks and serious vulnerabilities discovered around the world; the most recent event of concern being the vulnerability found in an open-source Java package that is widely used by software developers. When there are known incidents and vulnerabilities, the Cyber Security Agency takes immediate steps to ensure that our Critical Information Infrastructure and enterprises are secure.
CSA called for two emergency meetings with CII sectors to issue technical details and mitigation solutions and heightened monitoring for unusual activity. Public advisories and alerts were issued; trade associations and chambers were also briefed on the urgency for enterprises to implement the mitigation measures.
To strengthen Singapore’s cybersecurity, CSA encourages adopting a “zero-trust” posture. This comprises two key principles: first, do not trust any activity on your networks without first verifying it and second, ensure constant monitoring and vigilance for suspicious activities. To raise standards, CSA is developing the CII Supply Chain Programme to ensure that CII owners and their vendors adhere to international best practices for supply chain risk management.
At the same time, CSA also developed actionable cybersecurity toolkits and resources for businesses under the SG Cyber Safe Programme to improve their cyber defences. These toolkits and resources can be found on CSA’s website.
CSA has consistently advocated that the best defence against cyberattacks is a population that is vigilant and adopts good cyber practices. Businesses and organisations are responsible for their own cybersecurity and must take action to strengthen their posture.
This includes regularly updating their software and systems, and practising incident response and business continuity plans to ensure that employees are well-prepared when incidents happen. Individuals should practise good cyber hygiene and stay vigilant against phishing links. We must all strengthen our defences to participate in the digital domain safely and securely.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, CSA has launched a series of tool kits for enterprises, which guide cybersecurity issues tailored for senior business leaders, owners SMEs, as well as employees. The new toolkits help to simplify cybersecurity and enable businesses to make more informed trade-offs between security, system usability and cost.
The toolkit for enterprise leaders and SME owners will focus on the business reasons for business leaders and SME owners to invest in cybersecurity, such as rationalising investment in cybersecurity, and how fostering a culture of cybersecurity would enable enterprises to reap the benefits of digital transformation.
Although 80 per cent of Singapore SMEs embrace digital transformation and have digital transformation in place, cybersecurity has been the key reason for small enterprises not digitalising. Topics include the cultivation of cybersecurity leadership and guidance for employee cybersecurity education.
The programme is one of the major initiatives under the Safer Cyberspace Masterplan, which was launched last year. The master plan was developed in consultation with the cybersecurity industry and academia, to raise the general level of cybersecurity in Singapore for individuals, communities, enterprises, and organisations. Key areas of focus include securing Singapore’s core digital infrastructure, safeguarding cyberspace activities and empowering a cyber-savvy population.
The Labor Government in Victoria is supporting a key emissions reduction project that will contribute to achieving the goal of net-zero by 2050 and bring new jobs to Gippsland. Victoria’s Minister for Resources this week signed a contribution agreement with a Japanese corporation which will see the resources company provide funding support to the Labor Government’s CarbonNet project.
As part of the agreement, the corporation will contribute in an advisory role to CarbonNet’s front end engineering design (FEED), which is a critical undertaking as the project progresses to regulatory and environmental assessments later in 2022. The agreement will not only reduce the state’s expected total expenditure on CarbonNet, but also strengthen relationships between Victoria and Japan.
The CarbonNet project will underpin commercial hydrogen production by storing carbon dioxide (CO2) underground, reducing this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere. It is the most technically advanced carbon capture and storage (CCS) hub being developed in Australia and stands apart for its potential to capture emissions from multiple sites. The Labor Government has been collaborating with the Japanese corporation for several years to build a shared understanding of the benefits of CCS.
Capturing, transporting and storing emissions underground can enable the decarbonisation of current and future industries such as hydrogen production, fertiliser, bioenergy and natural gas. Another Japanese partnership has already enabled hydrogen to be produced at the Hydrogen Energy Supply Chain trial site in the Latrobe Valley.
A 2021 report produced by the Australian branch of a UK-based multinational professional services network estimates that the new industries CarbonNet may deliver up to 3,000 construction jobs from 2026 and then up to 1,000 ongoing operational jobs from 2030.
More on the CarbonNet project
The CarbonNet Project is working towards establishing a commercial scale Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) network in Gippsland, Victoria. The project aims to advance the science and viability of Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) at a commercial scale through field investigations at the project’s Pelican site in Bass Strait, off the South East coast of Australia.
As CarbonNet proceeds to commercialisation, it aims to secure a low emissions future for Victoria through the decarbonisation of industries such as hydrogen and fertiliser production, while boosting jobs and increasing investment into the State. CarbonNet is funded by the Victorian and Commonwealth governments.
The Carbon Capture & Storage market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 25.96% forecast by 2026. The research provides a measured analysis of the Carbon Capture & Storage market and describes significant opportunities for exceptional industries, suppliers, organisations, and associations.
Based on the demand, revenue, sales, product makers, and service providers, the research provides unique facts on primary market competitors and emerging businesses with large market shares. The study enfolds the inhibiting factors and impact of covid-19 shaping the Carbon Capture & Storage market. The observations regarding the effect and influence of COVID-19 on the market are integrated into the report.
Victoria’s Minister for Resources stated that partnerships like this are important to advance technologies that can help the region lower emissions and create jobs for the future. The opportunities for the CarbonNet project are exciting and the Minister is pleased this contribution agreement with the Japanese corporation will continue to support the ongoing development of CCS happening in Victoria.
The Member for Eastern Victoria stated that as the large-scale transition continues in Gippsland and across the energy sector, projects like this will play an important role in creating jobs and generating the sustainable energy that is needed as the local population grows.
Georgia is replacing its current voter registration system with a Salesforce cloud-based platform. The new system, called the Georgia Registered Voter Information System (GaRVIS), will be housed on secure Salesforce servers authorised by the Federal Risk and Authorisation Management Program (FedRAMP) at the highest security level – the same level the company uses for its most sensitive government clients.
Technology consulting firm is the implementation partner developing the user interface that Georgia’s elections officials will use as part of the Salesforce system. The changes to the voter registration process will be entirely on the administrative side, officials said. Georgia voters will not see any difference in their voting experience.
This new system is more advanced, more secure and more user friendly and will give our election directors and my office new tools to better manage our election efforts.
– Brad Raffensperger, Secretary of State
The current system was initially unable to handle the high turnout associated with early voting in the 2020 election. During early voting, wait times exceeded eight hours before extra capacity was added, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Technology evolves just as the threat environment evolves. The team realised that people needed a faster, better, friendlier and more secure system, and that’s why they chose this more secure technology platform.
GaRVIS will house the state’s 7.7 million voter registration records and process early votes and absentee ballots. The new system will cost less than $3.5 million, a spokesman for Raffensperger’s office said. This upgrade is the result of a modernisation initiative to build modern, scalable, resilient and secure technology for Georgia elections.
“Since day one, I have taken action to secure the vote in Georgia. This partnership will help ensure Georgia’s voting system is secure, reliable, efficient for years to come,” Raffensperger said.
County and local elections officials around the state have already been introduced to the new system and will be trained on it in the coming weeks and months, officials said. Following training, the new system will be launched statewide. County and local elections offices will still be able to use the old system while learning to use the new one. The current system will remain operational so it can be used as a backup if necessary.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, a report titled “Government Cloud Platforms 2021–2022 RadarView” evaluated 15 providers based on product maturity, enterprise adaptability and future readiness. The report identifies four trends that are shaping the market. The first is the increasing compliance needs that are accelerating the shift to the cloud. The cloud helps agencies address sensitive workloads, such as those involving health care data while complying with requirements.
State and local governments are increasingly adopting cloud to lower IT and licensing costs. Cloud can help city councils manage and organise resources and foster communication and collaboration. It can help them securely store, analyse and process sensitive economic data, and they can more easily capture and process data from the internet of things and edge computing.
The second trend is the emergence of tailored cloud regions for communities such as defence and intelligence. Such regions can address the level of sensitive data that these communities work with, and these users can look to these isolated cloud resources to deploy workloads securely and compliantly.
The third trend is the fact that convergence with emerging technologies is driving change. Fourth, government cloud providers are expanding their influence by growing into new regions and helping the public sector shift to the cloud while maintaining data governance and sovereignty. Moves toward modernisation, smart cities and a digital economy are driving governments to upgrade their IT infrastructure, and the cloud is the best way to ensure that data is securely and readily available.
In the measurement of the Indonesia Digital Literacy Index 2021, Digital Culture has the highest score. The pillar of Digital Culture was recorded with a score of 3.90 on a scale of 5 or good. Furthermore, the pillars of Digital Ethics (digital ethics) with a score of 3.53 and Digital Skills with a score of 3.44. Meanwhile, the Digital Safety pillar got the lowest score (3.10) or slightly above average. The measurement of this digital literacy index is not only to find out the status of digital literacy in Indonesia but also to ensure that efforts to increase people’s digital literacy are more targeted.
We want to continue to accelerate and continuously monitor the level of people’s digital literacy. We also aim to keep pace with the rapid and increasingly strategic development of digital technology for the lives of Indonesian people today.
– Semuel Abrijani Pangerapan, Director General of Informatics Applications, Ministry of Communication and Informatics
The four pillars that form the Digital Literacy Index are measured annually by the Ministry of Communication and Informatics. This year the Indonesian Digital Literacy Index is at a score of 3.49 or at a moderate and close to a good stage. The use of the four pillars in this measurement refers to the 2020-2024 Indonesia Digital Literacy Roadmap compiled by the Ministry of Communication and Information, based on previous national research and refers to similar measurements held by UNESCO.
Compared to the previous year, in the 2021 index framework there is a change in the grouping of the constituent elements that make up the index. This is an effort to continue to ensure that Indonesia has a stable measuring tool and now Indonesia has a roadmap that can be used as a reference both in measuring and improving literacy.
The measurement of the 2021 Digital Literacy Index was carried out through a face-to-face survey to 10,000 respondents from 514 districts and cities in Indonesia. The characteristics of respondents are internet users aged 13-70 years.
Compared to the 2020 Digital Literacy Index, there was an increase in the index (from 3.46 to 3.49). Improvements occurred in the Digital Culture and Digital Skills pillars, but there was a decline in the Digital Ethics and Digital Safety pillars.
The pillar of Digital Safety that gets the lowest score needs attention. There are still many respondents who have not been able to protect themselves in cyberspace. The researchers found that there are still many who are not aware of the dangers of uploading personal data.
In addition to measuring the literacy index, the survey also analyses the behaviour of internet users in Indonesia. Through this survey, the researchers also found that people today have increased skills in clarifying fake news. This is shown by the increasing number of people who diligently search through search engines in cyberspace to get the truth of information. Analysis of the results of the index found that efforts to increase literacy among women, low-income groups, low educated and old people also need to be done.
As reported by OpenGov Asia, President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo emphasised the acceleration of national digital transformation for five aspects, one of which relates to accelerating the expansion of telecommunication access, increasing digital infrastructure and providing internet services.
In 2021, the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of the Republic of Indonesia has built a digital infrastructure that includes all aspects. The Ministry also has reorganised the radio frequency spectrum to optimise the quality of 4G network services, develop 5G networks, and make the Analog Switch Off (ASO) program a success.
