Today we are celebrating Ullas -The Young Achiever, 26th Annual ‘Can Do’ workshop 2023 at Music Academy, Chennai.
The workshop has over 1100 Teenagers from class 9 from government and corporation schools selected thru proper test. The test was taken by over 5000 students from over 200 schools in Chennai.
This workshop is named as ‘Diary of Dreams’ Workshop where we encourage students to write their dream in small personal diary handed to them among 1100 other students.
This is a beginning of their journey of Design the Thinking to drive higher performance followed by 20 Life skills workshops.
The 20 workshop are divided into 4 Summits.
Summit 1 for 9th standard Summit 2 for 10th standard
Summit 3 for 11th standard
Summit 4 for 12th standard
Each Summit has 5 Workshops conducted by Polaris/Intellect Employees, Ullas Alumni and college students.
On the 25th of July, I had the pleasure and privilege of having dinner with Mr Ibrahim Thiaw – Under Secretary General of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification
In a very personal, affable and friendly manner, the Under Secretary General was keen to learn about the best practices happening in India to combat this global crisis. Very quickly, he focused on the term desertification – its origin, its definition, the causes , the consequences and potential solutions to redress this burning issue.
As I understood from him, the UNCCD is the global voice for land. It promotes practices that avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation and is the driving force behind Sustainable Development Goal 15 and Land Degradation Neutrality.
The design thinking driven approach towards Holistic and Sustainable development of the rural communities where Mission Samriddhi is working was wholeheartedly appreciated and endorsed by His Excellency.
He was quite poignant about the constraints and pressures on food production and supply lines due to the rapid increase in consumption patterns on account of a huge middle class in India and China. Industrialized agriculture with excessive usage of chemical fertilizers, indiscriminate water usage and its misuse and climate change have all resulted in soil and land degradation. Newer ways to farm including natural zero tillage farming, a focus on biodiversity and a conscious attempt for behavioral change towards sustainable living was his key message.
Interestingly, he felt that more than Governments and policies – if Businesses adopted Sustainability practices wholeheartedly and people in the street speak about it and do something about it, the impact on society would be far more effective with a faster rate of reversal of desertification. The plethora of knowledge and insights on soil conservation and agroecology that is rapidly re-emerging in India – he felt must be shared in a structured manner with the rest of the world.
In the end, I was quite humbled when he compared with Andre Hoffmann ( Swiss Environmentalist, Philanthropist and Vice Chairman of Roche) in the way our thought processes are similar and was keen that I participate in next year’s World Economic Forum. Thank You Mr. Ibrahim.
iRUN 2023 – Where Dreams and Determination Met the Finish Line
In the realm of running, the race isn’t about whether you lead, follow, or come in last. It’s about proudly proclaiming, “I crossed that finish line.” This sentiment struck a chord with us at Intellect. It was the inspiration behind the iRUN event, a unique double marathon spanning 5 km and 10 km. This special event was the heart of Intellect Fest 2023, a spectacle that unfolded on a bright Saturday morning, August 5th.
This year’s iRUN carved its place in history, with an astounding 580 registrations by the Associates embracing the challenge. These numbers stand as a testament to our unity and determination, far surpassing the modest participation of previous iRUNs, where we rarely exceeded 300 participants.
Our associates were invited to share the marathon spirit with their beloved family members. As we pursued our physical goals together, each person chose their marathon distance, either 5 km or 10 km, reflecting the diversity of our shared vision, One Dream, One Intellect. This embodies our strategic philosophy of collaboration and a united purpose.
The rhythm of this grand event echoed beyond borders. For the first time, iRUN’s magic reached the heart of Hyderabad, where over 100 enthusiasts joined the journey. Mumbai also received over 200 registrations unfortunately the event could not happen due to heavy rain.
In Chennai, our event unfolded as a tapestry woven with threads of unity. Spouses, Children, and even those with mobility challenges joyfully took part in the marathon. The 10 km race showcased the incredible skills of Mythili Periyasamy, securing the top spot for the second consecutive year. A talented footballer, she conquered the distance in just one hour, one minute, and thirty seconds and Valarmathi secured the second position. Hariharan accomplished the 10 km course in 42 minutes and Vinod Kumar secured the second position finishing the course in 42 minutes and 15 seconds. He had previously emerged as the champion of iRUN 2022.
Discussing the other victors in Chennai, In the 5 km race held, Venkatesh finished first with a time of 24 minutes and 6 seconds, while Mariya secured the top position in 39 minutes and 31 seconds. Meanwhile, in Hyderabad, Susanta Kumar Sahoo completed the 5 km race in 24 minutes and 5 seconds, and Surapaneni Pujitha clinched victory in 30 minutes and 4 seconds.
Intellect Fest committee acted as the guardians of this spirited spectacle. Hydration stations dotted the route, protecting participants from dehydration, while clear directions guided them on the right path.
As we look back, iRUN 2023 becomes a symphony of achievement, etching a chapter into Intellect’s legacy. It embodies unity, resilience, and our shared dreams.
I will share the stories of the success of Intellect and our Associates in the upcoming weeks.
Reshared: SRM has introduced Design Thinking course for all first year students. A major breakthru in curriculum where ‘Design The Thinking’ based on unmukt is becoming the foundation stone for understanding the Technology and Engineering better.
Congratulations to all faculty who spent enough time in learning the new pedagogy at School of Design Thinking under the leadership of Dr. Anbu Rathinavel.
24.7 is the foundation date of Polaris/Intellect group 30 years ago. Aptly, ‘24 by 7’ became the DNA of members of this group who continuously think, work and achieve designing and developing better technologies for their customers across the globe.
The 30 years of collective community power translates to 10957 calendar days and over 1.5 billion hours of design, innovation and execution of a vision in global Financial Technology. A vision that is jointly shared with our customers.
I must record my gratitude to all customers who trusted Polaris/Intellect from 57 countries to connect their dreams to drive better banking for their customers.
We started our journey at the beginning of Banktech Wave 3 when the era of distributed computing and relational databases was just emerging over the Mainframes and Mini computers era. We proudly participated in providing cutting-edge technology in building the first high volume Credit Card processing application and Core Banking application on the distributed architecture of small Solaris machines and Oracle DBMS for Citibank. A unique achievement which was unheard of in that era. And then we never looked back.
In a short span of 7 years, customers from Singapore, Australia, Middle East, Germany, Switzerland, UK and US started placing their trust with our technology teams. And top 4 of 10 North American Banks, top 6 of 10 European Banks, top 9 of 10 Middle Eastern Banks, top 7 of 10 Indian Banks and top 5 of 10 South East Asia & ANZ Banks place their trust on Intellect when it comes to technology.
The process of shared visioning and imagining the nextgen through ‘Lakshya’ (our visioning exercise across the organisation) helped the group to transition smoothly to Wave 4 and now Wave 5 ahead of its competitors. Today Intellect’s launch of eMACH.ai is a new paradigm in choreographing and composing contextual experiences at double the speed.
My gratitude to all associates (employees in industry terms) and partners, past and present, of this 24 by 7 movement, who helped in building a strong culture of small communities (teams) who asked the right questions and found the right and appropriate solutions, wiring them in our customer complex ecosystems. The culture of smart communities focussed on deep functional and technology research, product engineering, customer transformations, and life cycle support spread across 25 countries makes me proud today.
Our resolve of bringing transformation through ‘Mission Samriddhi’ in rural India and building the spirit of ‘Can Do’ in children through ‘Ullas Trust’ is our way of contributing to society and expressing our gratitude to the roots from where we have emerged.
On this important day, I feel humbled by the power of dreams, entrepreneurship and communities. A very Happy Foundation Day to all my associates, customers and partners and I look forward to our continued journey together.
Anil Pradhan, founder of Young Tinker Foundation from Bhubhneshwar, has taken a team from schools in villages of Odisha all the way to NASA, and we at Mission Samriddhi have been privileged to mentor him. The team consisted of students from 9th to 11th grades, who were trained to create a functional Rover from scratch in just 6 months.
Using CADD, they built all mechanical parts and carefully selected lightweight materials to stay within the weight limit for the rover. I am amazed at how these students were able to learn such fine engineering sciences in such a short period of time. They are now competing in a global competition with resources 50-100 times greater than their own.
This achievement is beyond the limits of conventional learning and a testament to the hard work and dedication of Anil Pradhan and his team. Congratulations to all involved!
I am happy to share that our efforts to bring design thinking to the forefront of education have finally come to fruition! After 5 years of advocacy, SRM University will introduce a Design Thinking course for their 8000 students starting in July 2023. Our team was honoured to host college faculties, principals, and education department officials from 19 different countries at our Design Center.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of anchoring an interactive session on the importance of a design mindset in students and the power of the Five Minds to enhance their learning experience. The participants learned about leveraging design thinking as a pedagogical tool in their teaching and evaluation methods.
It was humbling to see individuals from 20 different nationalities come together and discuss the role of design thinking in shaping the development agenda and leadership skills of students. This visit is just the start of our mission to spread the philosophy of Design Thinking to the world.
Represented 19 countries are: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Kingdom of Eswatini (Formerly Swaziland), Maldives, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Sudan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Zambia.
Congratulations Dr. Anbu Rathinavel who patiently worked on this agenda.
I was curious to know how much a family used to pay before the invention of electricity in the late 19th century.
A few data points which will help you connect the economics of light that we have been enjoying in the last 125 years.
1. One oil lamp consumes 15 ML of oil per hour. 2. One oil lamp lumen is around 10 lumens. 20 oil lamps for 4 hours per day for lighting a basic house requires 1.2 litre of oil every day or 36 litres of oil per month. 3. Cost of lamp oil per litre is around 180 rupees. 4. Thus the oil bill per month with just 200 lumens of light at home for a month will cost 6000 rupees. 5. Oil was not cheap in the olden days thus it used to form a substantial part of the family expenses. 6. The design of chandeliers was to increase the total lumen in a hall by aggregating 30-100 oil lamps.
Some more data: 1. A 20 watt LED has 1600 lumens equivalent to 160 oil lamps. 2. 160 oil lamps will consume 2.4 litres of oil per hour at 180 rupees which equals to 432 rupees per hour. 3. A 1000 watts per hour (1kwh) of electricity costs less than 10 rupees and 20 watts will cost 20 paisa.
Now you connect the dots and get your imagination to work.
For our global friends, we celebrate Diwali in all Indian states, but for different reasons. In North India, Diwali symbolises Lord Ram’s return to Ayodhya, while in some other parts of the North, it celebrates Mahaveer’s achievement of Nirvana. In this way, Diwali means something different to each member of our community.
In the 30 days leading up to Diwali and the 3 days following the same, India is met with an unmatched festive spirit. During this period, Navratri, Dussehra, Ayudha Pooja and Durga Pooja are celebrated for 8 to 10 days all across India.
We celebrate our three powers through three goddesses: 1. Physical Power represented by Kali or Durga 2. Knowledge Power represented by Saraswati 3. Economic Power represented by Lakshmi.
With the festival of Diwali, we celebrate Goddess Lakshmi who represents economic power, by decorating and lighting up our houses to invite her into them. We invite Lakshmi into our homes, to fill them with prosperity and knowledge, and to monetise all our knowledge power.
Hello, my name is Arun Jain. I am a design thinker living in Chennai, India. This is my blog, where I post my thoughts, technology trends and tips about the fintech world and many more.