Offices need to function in two key ways- one where offices work as spaces where people gather for leadership, personal development and culture and second as clubhouses where people come together to collaborate and congregate. But it is worth noting that either way it won’t be possible to gather the employees for five days a week anymore, not at least in the near future.

No matter how much we adapted ourselves in the pandemic times, this transformation won’t be simpl because it is not just philosophical but physical too. A flexible space means a space that suits a variety of needs. employees want to work in an office, but only twice a week and above that they want it to be collaborative. Office design needs to accommodate their “activity-based working.”

But it is worth paying attention that the collaborative spaces alone may not be enough to draw people back. The companies would need to attract people either with a headquarter with a lot of amenities or with a really unique experience that they can’t get anywhere else. Companies may consider setting up outposts in unconventional locales, like rural, scenic areas which are easy to be reached and are more associated with leisure too. True that calling people back on job is a job now.

Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shanghvi remains the country’s richest pharma promoter. His net worth is ₹81,200 crore.

The new billionaires in the stream are Prathap C Reddy of Apollo Hospitals, Premchand Godha of IPCA Labs, Arvind Lal of Dr Lal PathLabs, Mannalal Agrawal of Ajanta Pharma, VC Nannapaneni of Natco Pharma, Sunil S Lalbhai of Atul, and Chirayu R Amin of Alembic.

While others entered the club of the billionaires, Divi’s Labs Murali Divi saw amiracle with his net worth more than double to ₹53,000 crore. A significant rise in the fortunes of Aurobindo Pharma’s PVR Reddy and KN Reddy and Cadila Healthcare’s Sharvil Patel is also seen.

Afterall pandemic did not go bad for all!

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But One of the biggest questions businesses will face this year will be ‘where employees can work?’ Many workers have already spent almost a year working from home. Post pandemic, when it is safer to go to the office, companies may let employees work from home two or more days per week. The weekly working option could be- three days in office, two days remote and then two days off. It could be a 3-2-2 work week.

In the new normal employees will demand greater flexibility from companies. What sort of flexibility companies can provide will vary depending on the sector and geographic location of the companies. But it is worth paying attention to that in a post pandemic world it won’t be easy to run a physical office. Besides, not having a physical working space did not make a much difference in people’s lives. On top of that it reduces other sort of expenditure that companies used to bear just to run an office.

In a research it is found that in sectors including software and IT services, finance and corporate services, more than two in five professionals in India believe their companies will adopt a hybrid model of both physical and remote working.

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The startups include: Aktibo Athletics CEO Johann Hayag, GLW Nicholas Shepherd, QwikTrips CEO Shanta Lana Hereford, Safepro CEO Paul L. Eckert, and Thriveific CEO Jerrick Hakim.

The gBETA Beloit Fall 2020 cohort is the eighth program held since the gBETA Beloit program launched in 2017.

A company called gener8tor provides programming to gBETA. Gener8tor builds startup programs throughout the country. It’s a sponsor-led program to train, assist, and support entrepreneurs.

IronTek and Hendricks Commercial Properties sponsor Beloit’s gBETA with programming free for the entrepreneurs. gBETA Beloit is held twice per year, each time with five companies from across all industries and business models.

“Irontek is excited to welcome these five local startups to our eighth gBETA Beloit cohort,” said Erin Clausen, Investment Manager at gBETA sponsor Irontek, the Beloit incubator and tech hub. He further said, “This program has had an amazing impact in our community over the last four years and we look forward to working with these founders and their teams as we continue to grow innovative businesses here in Beloit.”

To ensure meaningful engagement with the gener8tor team, network and other resources each gBETA cohort is kept small. Participants receive intensive and individualized coaching and access to gener8tor’s national network of mentors, customers, corporate partners and investors.

The design of the program is to help startups gain early customer traction on their product and establish metrics that can make them competitive applicants for equity-based accelerators or seed investment.

The 10 Fall programs kicked off on Thursday, Oct. 1. Due to COVID-19, the Fall 2020 programs are all being held virtually. The startups will work with the gener8tor team for seven weeks to meet mentors, gain customer traction, and pitch to investors.

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Although the approval of Covaxin has come under criticism from the opposition as it is still under Phase-3 trials. A section of experts say that it shows lack of transparency and verified efficacy.

Bharat Biotech CMD Krishna Ella said that Covaxin is 200 percent safe in comparison to other Covid-19 vaccines in the world.

He said, “We have not done anything wrong and we would not put anyone at risk. We are far better than others but sadly we do not get the recognition deserved. Why are MP Shashi Tharoor and others not questioning the UK firms.” 

Ella expressed anguish as his company’s work on vaccines and adherence to strict test protocols is better than some globally-recognised pharma brands. 

According to him Covaxin has shown less than 10 per cent adverse reactions. He assures that Covaxin is 200 percent safe in comparison to other vaccines in the world. 

Ella said that the permission for Covaxin was based on immunogenicity data. The tests on hamsters and monkeys displayed 100 percent protection offering the best animal challenging data compared to other vaccines. The company also claims the safety data of about 25,000 volunteers, compared to the 1,000 figure of the other company

The Hyderabad based company has an inventory of 20 million doses of Covaxin and the production would be increased up to 700 million doses per annum soon. 

The cost of a Covaxin dose has not been revealed yet because it would be depending upon the volumes. Though it is anticipated that it would be higher in the beginning.

After five years of working in a makeshift campus, PM has  laid  the foundation stone for the permanent campus of IIM-Sambalpur in Odisha through video conferencing . He said that today’s startups can become tomorrow’s MNCs as India seeks to make its startup ecosystem inclusive to ensure speedy development.

It is worth noting that most of the startups are coming up in Tier-II and Tier-III cities in the country. The PM observes that they need professional managers and for this the youth needs to be ready for the various opportunities that are coming their way. He further said that In this new decade we all are accountable to give a new image to brand India globally and youth should align their career goals to the aspirations of India. 

The PM also urged students of IIM Sambalpur to help the local community of Odisha grow by utilising the knowledge they gain at the institute and hence “ turn local into global”.  He further said that innovations, integrity, and inclusion have emerged as the key mantras in the field of management which are important for the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ mission. The goal of a self-reliant India will also be achieved with the help of collaborative, innovative, and transformative concepts in management.

“Management experts graduating in new areas of knowledge will help the startups in taking India to new heights,” he added. “They will also help in giving global recognition to India. Despite the COVID-19 crisis the country has given the maximum unicorns this year.”

A five-year plan is released by the self-governing district that calls for renewal. The decision is taken at a time when traditional ways of working are being upended by the pandemic. To make socially distanced commuting viable, it will permanently expand thoroughfares which are only dedicated to walking and cycling and provide inexpensive space for creative company incubators and art hubs.

Catherine McGuinness, the City’s policy chair, said, “I’m very concerned in the short term about the lack of footfall we are seeing.” She further said, “We are hearing from businesses a real wish to get people back to the City, so that creative sparks can fly and company spirit can endure.”

Covid-19 has hurt centers that relied on a high concentration of office workers to sustain urban life. Right now it has few full-time residents and less emphasis on the shopping, cultural and nightlife attractions which are seen in other London districts.

By 2025, the City wants to boost weekend and evening visitors by half. Although curation, possibly, and subsidies might be needed to break up the office dominance. One of the recommendations suggested a skateboarding park that could help make the district a place that attracts people from all generations and backgrounds. The Miami’s Wynwood art district is also considered as a potential model.

Lord Mayor of London William Russell said, “The capital’s success throughout history has been a story of constant reinvention. It is more important than ever that London adapts quickly to today’s challenges so that it remains a place where people want to work, live and visit tomorrow.”

Recent article: https://startupfortune.com/dubai-based-entrepreneur-aqsa-abdullah-takes-the-pain-out-of-the-complex-business-setup-process-in-the-emirate/

The discussion held was around women in tech, women in leadership, and tackling bias in the workplace.

The speakers were:
Opening:
Jessie Link
VP, Engineering | Twitter
Jessie drives and supports initiatives to shape engineering to be more diverse, more decentralized and more productive.

Manish Maheshwari
Managing Director, India | Twitter
He drives an integrated business strategy to accelerate Twitter’s audience and revenue growth in India.

The discussion on ‘Women In Tech’ was held by Mahima Kaul and Debjani Ghosh.

Debjani Ghosh is President at NASSCOM. She is a veteran of the technology industry, Debjani is the fifth president of NASSCOM and the first woman at the helm.

Mahima Kaul is the Director, Public Policy, India & South Asia, Twitter. She engages on internet public policy issues with government, regulators, academia, and civil society.

After this the discussion moved on ‘Women In Leadership’ by Nisaba Godrej and Maya Hari
Nisaba Godrej is the Chairperson & Managing Director of Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL). She is also the Chairperson of Teach for India and sits on the board of Godrej Agrovet, Mahindra and Mahindra and VIP Industries.

Maya Hari is the Vice President & MD, Asia Pacific of Twitter. She leads Twitter’s business across the region and is responsible for exploring commercial opportunities for Twitter in Asia Pacific. Maya also serves as a board advisor of start-ups in Data Science & Commerce, as well as the ASX listed edu-tech company OpenLearning.

The discussion on ‘Tackling Bias in the Workplace’ was shared among three speakers.

Francis Anthony is Trailhead CX Lead & President, Outforce India APAC, Salesforce. He leads the customer-facing technical enablement team in Salesforce Industries Cloud. In his gay job, He oversees strategy and new programming for all regional LGBTQ+ equity initiatives.

Priyanka Rowthu, Inclusion Recruiting Lead, APAC, LinkedIn. Priyanka partners with global and regional talent acquisition leaders to design, implement and manage several high impact programs that align with LinkedIn’s talent strategy. In her present role, she continues to shape the Inclusion Recruiting strategy for APAC to create highly diverse and equitable recruiting capabilities through structured and streamlined approaches.

Amrita Tripathi, Head, News Partnerships, Twitter India. She leads news partnerships for Twitter in India. As part of the Global Content Partnerships Team, she works on revenue opportunities across content verticals. She is the co-lead for Twitter Women in India.

Betaworks is unveiling the first four startups selected. They are:

Savepoint: a mobile games company that uses game mechanics to improve players’ lives.
International Persuasion Machines: a cybersecurity company building tools to assess and combat algorithmic manipulation and other forms of platform abuse.
Synthetaic: a data company trying to eliminate edge cases by developing high-quality data for machine learning.
Nth Party: a company that allows customers to exchange encrypted data sets without decrypting them.

The general manager of the Betalab program, Danika Laszuk said that this will be the firm’s first virtual startup program and they kept it smaller than a standard Betaworks Camp cohort deliberately. But Betalab has kept its applications open and it is planning to welcome a new cohort of startups in the new year.

The internet has eroded privacy and spread misinformation but Laszuk assured that the team is looking to tackle these problems with “the optimism of technologists.” She believes that there are “a lot of people with great ideas and the wherewithal to build them and fix things in the world.”

Laszuk said that the Betalab approach focuses on properly aligning incentives: “We are biased towards the product being the thing that technologists are building. We’re not excited about businesses collecting data to figure out what to do with it later.”

According to her the goal is to support “the internet as it exists today and get all the benefit of the internet,” while also providing “a way to safeguard our privacy, to try to incentivize civil discourse as opposed to clickbait and incendiary behavior.”

Both the companies have invested $50 million into Envisics Inc. along with South Korean parts-maker Hyundai Mobis and others and U.K.-based startup, the Milton Keynes, builds hardware and software that use the windshield of a vehicle to project graphics and information that keys drivers into how the car’s autonomous system sees the road ahead.

The startup’s technology also includes a holographic modulator along with a processor chip that is installed beneath the dashboard near the instrument cluster. This can essentially superimpose information and graphics at multiple depths up to roughly 425 feet ahead of a vehicle. The design of this technology is done in part to help drivers interact with vehicles which are only partially autonomous. This technology already is installed in some Jaguar Land Rover vehicles, including various Range Rover models.

According to GM Ventures President Matt Tsien, “General Motors plans to implement Envisics technology in its coming electric Cadillac Lyriq SUV and it will have autonomous features.” He further said that the ability of drivers to understand how the autonomous system is working could help them know when to step in to take over control.

GM and other investors have poured roughly $7 billion into a San Francisco-based self-driving startup, Cruise LLC. General Motors has charted a future course banking heavily on autonomous vehicles.

Shanghai-based SAIC is one of China’s largest automakers by sales and is planning to incorporate the startup’s augmented reality displays in future cars. It is planning to do this both in China and abroad.