Technology is preparing us for the Future: National Technology Day

Every year, the National Technology Day is celebrated in India, with a view to promote technological entrepreneurship and development of cost effective mediums of substantive technology solutions which can be put to use in the Indian context, aiming to alleviate the current issues that the country faces.

The theme of this year's National Technology Day is "Science and Technology for a Sustainable Future".

During the current pandemic, technology is playing a major role in keeping everyone connected, and empowered.

By understanding the impact of technology, leaders can better prioritize decisions around digital transformation.

The recent shift towards open innovation has resulted in increased flows of knowledge, expenditure on research and development (R&D) is typically considered to be the best single measure of the commitment of resources to inventive activity on the improvement of technology.

Most human activities like manufacturing, farming, and driving contribute to a rise in greenhouse gases. Our increasing reliance on digital tools has an environmental impact that's becoming increasingly harder to ignore.

"Technology has dramatically changed life, especially in the past decade since the arrival of the smartphone. New revolutions in mobility, the internet, and artificial intelligence have given entirely new ways of doing things- from how a child studies to how goods are moved through the global supply chain! All industries are adopting technology and especially during the times of the pandemic, the importance of touchless systems and digitisation came to the forefront."

"We've been making the most of machine learning and artificial intelligence to help enterprises digitise, optimize, and automate their logistics operations to help save on fuel, cost and achieve operational excellence. Our commitment to using technology for good by providing efficient logistics remains paramount and we'd be looking at more ways of reducing carbon footprint by optimised routes and in the process, delighting the end-customer through everything we do." says, Manisha Raisinghani, Co-founder & CTO, LogiNext.

How big is the world's digital carbon footprint?

More than half of the world's population is now online.  The digital transformation has brought many benefits that also have a positive impact on the fight against climate change and reduce CO₂ emissions. However, the production, use and data transfer of digital devices causes more CO₂ emissions than one might expect. These emissions are summarized under the terms “digital CO₂ footprint” or “digital carbon footprint”.

A cleaner and more resilient future energy system with net-zero emissions will require a wide range of technologies, some of which are still at an early stage of development.

Massive usage of the internet suggests that we may have progressed towards a greener society by significantly reducing the usage of paper, and consuming information online.

Technology is rising up to meet the challenge to reduce the carbon footprint of the world. To reduce the carbon footprint of the oil and gas supply chain, companies must be able to accurately and repeatedly collect and track reliable and trusted data.

Innovative technology like blockchain provide a foundation for unlocking change for companies and the greater good.

AI is going to play in shaping our future

Artificial Intelligence is already ubiquitous in our digital lives; the entire tech world is debating the consequences of AI. Every disaster is different, but the experience of using AI for the COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity to finally learn lessons documented over the past 20 years.

The concept of neural network has been used by the leading manufacturers, which is inspired by the structure of the human brain that helps computers and machines more like a human. It has the potential to make health care much more accessible and more affordable.

Mr. Pulak Satish Kumar, Director and COO, Puresight Systems Pvt Ltd (iRobot India) adds, “Accessibility to technology is the most critical unifying factor today. It is the technology that is empowering millions of us to together combat the pandemic. A strong vision, infrastructure capabilities, and continuous R&D have enabled us to continue to make long strides as a young and determined nation.

Among the latest trends, led by the democratization of smart and high-end technology, we are witnessing consumer IoT devices making in-roads to our homes bringing along utility applications, convenience, and comfort. The smart home automation market in India has seen a high adoption rate. The millennials welcoming a tech-assisted better work-life balance, and a hassle-free independent lifestyle are the primary agent of change here. On this National technology day, we can positively claim that Indians are whole-heartedly embracing the digital India narrative with a smart consumer approach.”

Realizing Future of Work

Emerging technologies are impacting work as human-machine partnerships accelerate. Since evolution, the way humans worked has undergone several transformations. While the pandemic has presented us with a rather ambiguous future, it has also introduced to us, a chance to reinvent and reshape the workplace for the new normal post COVID-19.

“2020 has pushed us into an inevitable future of a digital-first world. The past few months have been transformative to say the least, for organizations across the world. Business processes and job roles have changed for the better, with impetus to innovative tech solutions. Today, the focus is not just on using the right digital solutions, but also leveraging them to improve customer and employee experience.

Irrespective of location, employees need tools that not only help them be more productive, but give them the space they need to do their very best work. This is why business processes must progress to put work experience at the forefront. One of the best ways to do this is by going online and embracing solutions like digital workspaces, hybrid cloud and SD-WAN. Therefore, to set employees up for success, businesses need to enable a workspace that simplifies work. This will bode well even in the long-term for any and all businesses as it makes room for individual work styles and creates a vibrant organizational culture.

Today, leaders also have the opportunity to redefine traditional job roles to meet the evolving needs of their organizations and customers. The market has become competitive for new talent, and job roles are becoming more niche every day. As job roles evolve, skill development will have an important place in every firm. This makes it important for organizations to provide learning and development avenues to attract and retain top talent.

This year has been experimentative for a lot of enterprises as they dealt with a large and distributed workforce. After having gone through the world’s largest proof-of-concept in working from home and experiencing a positive outcome, businesses now have the opportunity to rethink their approach to how work is traditionally done. Therefore, we believe remote work is here to stay because of its undeniable impact on employee productivity. Even as the restrictions ease, and the pandemic subsides, business leaders can take a step back to decide the long-term impact, strategize and select the right partners that can support their remote and digital journey.” Says Ravindra Kelkar, Area Vice President, Indian Subcontinent, Citrix

There are almost no businesses today that do not use technology. Or at least understand what the role of technology plays in their businesses. The problem is sometimes businesses don't know where to start the improvement or growth of their technology systems.