News
Huawei to invest $100 million in Asia Pacific startup ecosystem over 3 years

NEW DELHI: Recently, Huawei has announced its plan to invest US$100 million in startup support at the inaugural HUAWEI CLOUD Spark Founders Summit, which took place simultaneously in Singapore and Hong Kong.
Huawei said the investment would go towards its Spark Program in the Asia Pacific region, which aims to build a sustainable startup ecosystem for the region over the next three years.
Huawei has been helping Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Thailand build their startup hubs. At the summit, Huawei also announced that this program would focus its efforts on developing four additional startup hubs – in Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam – with the overarching aim of recruiting a total of 1,000 startups into the Spark accelerator program and shaping 100 of them into scaleups.
Also at this summit, Huawei launched its Cloud-plus-Cloud Collaboration and Joint Innovation Program, to further ramp up its support for startups around the world. Huawei will devote ongoing efforts and leverage its complete business portfolio in the cloud-plus-cloud collaboration space to foster technological innovation, global and local services, and business ecosystems, accelerating the growth of startups.
This summit was attended by representatives from many prominent Asian startups, academia, various industries and governments, and the media, as well as more than 50 regional top venture capitalists and over 300 startup founders. Speeches and panels at the event focused on the social value of this startup ecosystem and how startups can promote technological and ecosystem innovation, to contribute to local communities and drive socioeconomic development.
Three additional initiatives under the Asia Pacific Spark Program were launched by Huawei at the event: The Spark Developer Program, which aims to nurture a developer ecosystem powered by HUAWEI CLOUD in the Asia Pacific region; the Spark Pitstop Program, designed to onboard and support startups on HUAWEI CLOUD to accelerate product development; and the Spark Innovation Program (SIP), focused on facilitating enterprise innovation through the Spark startup ecosystem.
Huawei Senior Vice President and Board Member Catherine Chen opened the summit by emphasizing how important startups are to social advancement and what Huawei is doing to support startups: “Startups and SMEs are the innovators, disruptors, and pioneers of our times. 34 years ago, Huawei was a startup with just 5,000 dollars of registered capital. Recently, we have been thinking: How can we leverage our experience and resources to help more startups address their challenges? Doing so would allow them to seize the opportunities posed by digital transformation, achieve business success, and develop more innovative products and solutions for the world.”
Zhang Ping’an, CEO of Huawei’s Cloud Business Unit, noted, “Since its launch in 2017, HUAWEI CLOUD has been the world’s fastest-growing cloud, and has driven the growth of countless startups. Last year, we launched the Spark Program in Asia Pacific. Through this program, we are working with local governments, leading incubators, well-known VC firms, and top universities to build support platforms for startups in many regions. Now 40 startups are participating in our program.”
Zhang continued, “Starting today, we are stepping up our support for startups through four new initiatives, aimed at cloud-plus-cloud collaboration, continuous tech innovation, global and local services, and high-quality business ecosystems. Today, we launched our Cloud-plus-Cloud Collaboration and Joint Innovation Program, through which we will support startups with US$40 million worth of resources. Half of that investment is coming from HUAWEI CLOUD, half from Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). In 2021, our plan is to support 200 startups in the HMS ecosystem, and share our network of channel resources with developers worldwide who together serve 1 billion Huawei device users. In addition, we will open an HMS Developer Innovation Center to support 100,000 HMS cloud-native developers.”
Also present was Dr. Lim Jui, CEO of SGInnovate, who said, “The true impact of the Deep Tech Economy is realized when we’re able to come together to catalyze new opportunities. Working alongside partners like Huawei enables us to accomplish our mission of supporting promising talent and emerging tech startups in Singapore.”
Alfred Sit Wing-hang JP, Secretary for Innovation and Technology, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said in his opening remarks, “By connecting founders, VCs, corporates, and governments in Asia, this summit provides a valuable platform for the innovation and technology (I&T) community in the region to interact, and exchange views and experience with each other. It also aligns with the Hong Kong SAR Government’s plan to promote Hong Kong as an international I&T hub, where global I&T talent and enterprises would have vast opportunities for substantial growth and collaboration.”
More and more startups are pursuing end-to-end digitalization as they move towards a fully connected, intelligent world. HUAWEI CLOUD infrastructure works in conjunction with Huawei Mobile Services to support startups from all industries. Huawei’s cloud offerings help developers and partners to unify accounts, development platforms, and app distribution and operation. HMS is now the world’s third largest mobile app ecosystem, and is helping many startups expand their global influence. Currently, 4.5 million developers from over 170 countries and regions rely on HMS.
Huawei recognizes startups as key partners. At the HUAWEI CLOUD Spark Founders Summit, Huawei unveiled the latest data on its innovation research programs with startups. The data shows solid relationships between Huawei and more than 2,000 partners from across the Asia Pacific region, with ongoing initiatives to build support platforms in close partnerships with governments, top VC firms, and leading universities in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Huawei rounded off the series of announcements with a plan to build an HMS Developer Innovation Center. Through this center, Huawei aims to cultivate future talent in cooperation with 210 leading universities across the Asia Pacific region.
Jeffery Liu, President for Asia Pacific Region of Huawei, added that, “For the past two decades, we have remained committed to being ‘In Asia Pacific, For Asia Pacific’. Leveraging Huawei’s global customer base and full-stack technologies, the Spark Program will invest more than US$100 million over the next three years, and provide comprehensive support to the establishment of a sustainable startup ecosystem that creates new value for this dynamic region.”
News
After OLED, its Google TV; Panasonic expands its TV Portfolio in India

NEW DELHI: Panasonic Life Solutions India – a diversified technology company, today announced the launch of its new range of Google TVs. This follows the successful launch of OLEDs recently. The company plans to introduce a total of 23 new models of television powered by the Google TV platform.
The latest range of Google TVs, featuring 4K HDR and Smart capabilities are designed to provide an immersive and unparalleled viewing experience to consumers. Panasonic’s new range of TVs are available in different display size options (including 32’, 43’, 55’, 65’, and 75’ inches) and ranges between Rs 19,990 to Rs 3,19,990. These will be available at Panasonic stores, dealer networks and key e-commerce platforms.
Commenting during the launch, Fumiyasu Fujimori, Managing Director, Panasonic Marketing India, Panasonic Life Solutions India, said, “As a leading consumer technology company, we are excited to introduce our new range of Google TVs to the Indian market. Our TVs are designed to deliver exceptional picture quality and immersive sound, providing customers with an unparalleled viewing experience. The addition of Google TV to our robust TV portfolio reinforces our commitment to providing the latest technology, and innovation to the customers.”
Fujimori san added, “With an intuitive interface, preference prompts, one can control their TV and search for content using voice commands with Google Assistant. The platform also allows users to customize their home screen with their favourite OTT apps and channels and make their own watchlist, enabling them to add shows and movies from their TV, mobile app or Google Web by simply clicking the watchlist icon. Moreover, the platform offers an easy-to-browse streaming experience across all apps, displaying everything the user stream on one screen. In addition, the TVs come with built-in Chromecast, allowing users to cast content from their phone or tablet directly to their TV.”
Panasonic’s Google TV series is designed to provide customers with the ultimate entertainment experience by enhancing the four key elements of television – Display, Sound, Connectivity, and Design.
News
White House meets Microsoft, Google CEOs on AI dangers

The White House is hosting CEOs of top artificial intelligence companies, including Alphabet Inc’s Google and Microsoft, on Thursday to discuss risks and safeguards as the technology catches the attention of governments and lawmakers globally. Generative artificial intelligence has become a buzzword this year, with apps such as ChatGPT capturing the public’s fancy, sparking a rush among companies to launch similar products they believe will change the nature of work.
Today, @POTUS and @VP met with CEOs to underscore the fundamental responsibility companies have to ensure their AI products are safe before they’re released, and the importance of responsible American innovation in AI that protect people’s rights and safety. pic.twitter.com/r6k9s3pGDU
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 5, 2023
Millions of users have begun testing such tools, which supporters say can make medical diagnoses, write screenplays, create legal briefs and debug software, leading to growing concern about how the technology could lead to privacy violations, skew employment decisions, and power scams and misinformation campaigns. President Joe Biden has also used ChatGPT, a White House official told Reuters. “He’s been extensively briefed on ChatGPT and (has) experimented with it,” said the official, who asked that they not be named.
Thursday’s two-hour meeting which began at 11:45 am ET (1545 GMT), will include Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft Corp’s Satya Nadella, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and administration officials including Biden’s Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Director of the National Economic Council Lael Brainard and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “We aim to have a frank discussion about the risks we see in current and near-term AI development,” said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Our North Star here is this idea that if we’re going to seize these benefits, we have to start by managing the risks.”
Ahead of the meeting, OpenAI’s Altman told reporters the White House wants to “get it right.” “It’s good to try to get ahead of this,” he said when asked if the White House was moving quickly enough on AI regulation. “It’s definitely going to be a challenge, but it’s one I’m sure we can handle.”
The administration also announced a $140 million investment from the National Science Foundation to launch seven new AI research institutes and said the White House’s Office of Management and Budget would release policy guidance on the use of AI by the federal government. Leading AI developers, including Anthropic, Google, Hugging Face, NVIDIA Corp, OpenAI, and Stability AI, will participate in a public evaluation of their AI systems.
Shortly after Biden announced his reelection bid, the Republican National Committee produced a video featuring a dystopian future during a second Biden term, which was built entirely with AI imagery. Such political ads are expected to become more common as AI technology proliferates.
United States regulators have fallen short of the tough approach European governments have taken on tech regulation and in crafting strong rules on deepfakes and misinformation. “We don’t see this as a race,” the senior official said, adding that the administration is working closely with the U.S.-EU Trade & Technology Council on the issue.
In February, Biden signed an executive order directing federal agencies to eliminate bias in their AI use. The Biden administration has also released an AI Bill of Rights and a risk management framework. Last week, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division also said they would use their legal authorities to fight AI-related harm. Tech giants have vowed many times to combat propaganda around elections, fake news about the COVID-19 vaccines, pornography and child exploitation, and hateful messaging targeting ethnic groups.
But they have been unsuccessful, research and news events show. Just about one in five fake news articles in English on six major social media platforms were tagged as misleading or removed, a recent study by activist NGO Avaaz found.
Source: Reuters
5g
Airtel announces its largest ever 5G roll-out in 125 cities

NEW DELHI: Bharti Airtel, India’s telecommunications services provider, today announced the launch of its ultra-fast 5G services in 125 cities. Airtel 5G Plus service is now available to customers in over 265 cities in the country.
Airtel 5G Plus has three compelling advantages for customers. First, it runs on a technology that has the widest acceptance in the world with the most developed ecosystem. This ensures that all 5G smartphones in India seamlessly work on the Airtel network. Second, the company promises to deliver the best experience – between 20 to 30 times higher speeds than today coupled with brilliant voice experience and super-fast call connect. Finally, Airtel 5G Plus network will also be kinder to the environment with its special power reduction solution. Powered by the reliable Airtel network infrastructure, Airtel 5G Plus will provide superfast access to High-Definition video streaming, gaming, multiple chatting, instant uploading of photos et all.
Commenting on the launch, Randeep Sekhon, CTO, Bharti Airtel said, “5G has revolutionized the world of internet, ushering new era of connectivity and communications that will prove to be a game-changer for the country. At Airtel, we remain committed to delivering the highest quality of network and service to our customers as we roll-out 125 more cities today. Airtel was the first in the country to offer 5G services in October 2022, and today’s mega launch is our promise to connect every Airtel customer in the country with ultra-fast Airtel 5G Plus. Our 5G rollout is on track to cover all towns and key rural areas by March 2024.”
Airtel 5G Plus service availability will continue to rapidly expand – including service in all towns and villages in the country soon – as the company is working towards offering nationwide coverage. Airtel is now offering its 5G services in every major city from the upper northern city of Jammu to the southern tip of Kanyakumari.
In the last one year, Airtel has demonstrated the power of 5G with a host of powerful use cases that will change the way customers lead their lives and do business. From India’s first live 5G network in Hyderabad to India’s first private 5G network at the BOSCH facility in Bengaluru to partnering with Mahindra & Mahindra to make its Chakan manufacturing facility, India’s first 5G enabled auto manufacturing unit, Airtel has been at the forefront of 5G innovation.
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