European researchers are working to create more effective hybrid control systems known as networked embedded systems. Starting in 2004, a European Union-funded project called the Hycon Network of Excellence began “concentrating on the use of advanced automatic control methods to make networked embedded systems fulfill their promise.” The goal was to create hybrid systems in which physical and computational processes mesh to reshape the way health care, transportation, personal spaces, and environmental problems are handled, says project coordinator Francoise Lamnabhi-Lagarrigue. The Hycon team first developed solutions in the area of automatic control and deployed them in real situations for testing. One test involved an automatic refrigeration system for supermarkets, which needed to maintain a steady temperature in the freezers while the external temperature fluctuated throughout the day and night as customers opened and closed the doors and removed products. Other tests were conducted in a solar air-conditioning plant, a sugar-processing plant, a mining and smelting company, and a power station. The Hycon project, which ended in 2009, laid the foundation for the European Embedded Control Institute, which will become a worldwide center for hybrid systems research.

View Full Article

For More Information Visit: http://www.cpccci.com

India is making the transition from a global outsourcing center to a global innovation nexus, but lingering challenges include persistent infrastructure difficulties and an educational system in need of improvement. Still, the establishment of multinational research and development (R&D) facilities in India and China is a significant step forward, according to General Electric chief innovation consultant Vijay Govindarajan. “We are at the cusp of a new paradigm in which innovation will happen in India and China first and then it’ll go to the rich countries,” he says. More than 200 multinationals currently have India-based R&D centers that plan to harness the ability of the vast pool of homegrown engineers and expatriate Ph.Ds working in the West who are eager to come home. These R&D facilities initially supported their Western equivalents, but recently they have been entrusted with R&D of products for the global market. Google India’s Prasad Ram notes that there is an opportunity inherent in the difficulty of solving technical problems related to product development in India due to the country’s diversity and infrastructure shortcomings. “If I can solve challenges in a systemic way here, then I can extend the solution to the rest of the world,” he says. Nevertheless, analysts say the day when India outpaces the global innovation of the United States, Europe, or Japan will not come until the country starts offering large-scale, high-quality master’s and Ph.D courses in sufficient numbers.

View Full Article

For More Information Visit: http://www.cpccci.com