Katra: A week long Short Term Course on “Tribology for Sustainable Development” concluded today at SMVDU. The course was being hosted by the School of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University. As informed by the course coordinators Dr. Mir Irfan Ul Haq (Asst. Prof., School of Mechanical Engineering) and Dr. Ankush Raina (Asst. Prof., School of Mechanical Engineering) the course was attended by students, scholars and faculty members of various institutes of the country. The course was designed to address the issue of sustainability aspects in tribology, an important field of mechanical engineering. The prominent speakers who delivered lectures during the week long course include Dr. S Anand Kumar (IIT Jammu), Dr. Hiralal Bhowmick (Thapar University), Prof. M F Wani (NIT Srinagar), Dr. Manjesh Kumar Singh (IIT Kanpur), Dr. Deepak Kumar (IIT Delhi) and other senior faculty members of SMVDU. Every lecture was followed by an interactive session wherein the participants cleared their doubts about the new advancements in the field. The course ended with a feedback session with the participants. During the valedictory function the various faculty members who spoke include Mr. Deepak Kumar, Dr. Sanjay Mohan Sharma, Dr. Balbir Singh, Dr. Ankush Anand. Dr. R.K.Mishra (HoD, SME) presided over the function and congratulated the participants for their interest and their quest for knowledge even during the difficult times. The coordinators thanked the university authorities and the members of the organizing team Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Mr. Karan, Mr. Sudesh and Mr. Vivudh for the successful event.

An online workshop on the topic "Business Plan and lean canvas-Tools for uncertain world" was carried out by Dr. Suparn Sharma, Associate professor of School of Business and coordinator, Entrepneurship Development Cell, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University in an event organised by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Technology Business Incubation Center(SMVDU TBIC) for the students and budding entrepreneurs in the region. The event was attended by more than 50 participants and organised under SMVDUTBIC's flagship programme, "100 Startups J&K"; recently launched by Honorable Vice Chancellor Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University.

Dr. Sharma shared that especially when India is witnessing more inclination towards entrepreneurial aspects, it is extremely important to devise a strategy and create a basic business plan which can be transformed further. He also emphasised on the reasons why few startups suffer due to lack of business plan and financial forecasting. Financial planning for a business is the integral part of the blueprint to be prepared. The capitalists, banks, investors deep dive into such areas in order to make future investments.

Nowadays, the world of business has witnessed the replacement of traditional by modern methods. Product life cycle are getting shorter, models are constantly changing due to which new business model canvas has made an entry in the field. A wise and effective use of canvas really helps in growth of business.

The session was concluded with an open intercative discussion with examples of startups. The aim of conducting such workshops is to encourage open dialog among the entreperenurs of the region and faciliatte them thoroughly. To know more about these and other programmes one should visit the official website www.smvdutbic.org

A weeklong Online Faculty Development Program on “Computational Intelligence System and Security-2020”, organized by the School of Computer Science and Engineering, concluded at Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University.

The FDP received a huge participation from India and abroad. Participants from industries, like HCL, Staqu Technologies and grooming academicians from international & national institutions like School of Information Systems, Singapore; School of Computing, Ulster University, UK; JNU New Delhi; NITs; etc., addressed on a wide range of upcoming research areas, like edge computing, various application of deep learning in biomedical, machine learning on audio files, industry application of NLP automation, block chain, and cryptography, automation in biomedical applications to mention a few.

In an online event, Chairperson Governing council and Management committee (GC & MC), SMVDU TBIC, Padamshree Prof. RK Sinha, Honourable Vice-Chancellor, SMVDU, launched mission “Shepreneur-JK 2020” today. This online event is to invite applications from aspiring woman entrepreneurs with an aim to facilitate them. Given only 14% of woman are in entrepreneurship, which is ~ 8.05 million out of the total 58.5 million of entrepreneurship base in India. Dr. Swarkar Sharma, CEO SMVDU TBIC informed that SMVDU TBIC aims to contribute towards increasing this number and onboard womanpreneurs on a global platform. To achieve the goal, continuous screening and acceptance of ideas will be adapted. This event will run for a span of 3 months starting 6th July 2020 and every month the ideas will be screened as a part of the process of monthly screening of SMVDU TBIC. The shortlisted ideas will be facilitated by SMVDU TBIC and partner organizations in various domains. Further to achieve, Prototyping support, Financial assistance, Patent Filing assistance, Incubation support, Dedicated Technology and Business Mentorship sessions, Scheduled Leadership sessions via workshops, webinars and excellent opportunities to network with the best in the domain, will be provided in the best possible way.

The launch is in line and under “100StartupsJ&K”, recently launched by SMVDU-TBIC to facilitate establishment of 100 startups in J&K by end of next year. In this initiative by SMVDU TBIC, JK StartUp Association is participating as ecosystem partner in the region and the endeavour is powered by mentors and supporters like Startup Buddy, Indian STEP & Business Incubator Association (ISBA), We Group, K&S Partners, Adsatra IP, Boudhik Ventures and Institution Innovation Council (IIC) SMVDU. SMVDU TBIC has anchored many initiatives in the past with aim to develop and promote start-up ecosystem in the UT of J&K and has also helped many aspiring entrepreneurs. Various Innovation Challenges, workshops, webinars etc. are regularly being carried out for igniting the spark of entrepreneurship in youth of the region towards incorporation of Technology based startups.

To avail various Facilities, one has to register on 24x7 online portal of SMVDU TBIC (www.smvdutbic.org). This program is expected to reap many additional benefits including huge learning potential for the participating individuals, actionable insights on start-up development, increased awareness towards entrepreneurship as well as a development of a self-sustaining entrepreneurial ecosystem in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir.

Katra: A week long Short Term Course on “Tribology for Sustainable Development” was inaugurated today at SMVDU. The course is being organized by the School of Mechanical Engineering, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University with an objective to bring together leading academicians to share their experiences and research results covering most of the aspects of Tribology with the participating engineers, scientists, researchers, research scholars and students. The course shall be mainly focused on friction and wear mechanisms for metals, polymers, and ceramics, green and sustainable aspects of tribology. The workshop is being attended by over 200 participants across the globe as informed by the coordinators Dr. Mir Irfan Ul Haq (Asst. Prof., School of Mechanical Engineering) and Dr. Ankush Raina (Asst. Prof., School of Mechanical Engineering). Prof. E.Muthuswamy (Dean, FoE) presided over the inaugural function, Dr. Sumeet Gupta (Dean, Academics, SMVDU), Dr. R.K. Mishra(Head, SME), Dr. Balbir Singh and Dr. TVVLN Rao (Assoc.Prof., SRMIST, Chennai) also spoke at the occasion.

Other senior faculty members who were present included Dr. Ankush Anand and Dr. Sanjay Mohan Sharma. The dignitaries congratulated the participants for their interest in the course and their quest for learning even during the current scenario.

Dr. Rajiv Kumar (Asst. Prof., School of Mechanical Engineering) proposed the vote of thanks. Dr. S.Anand from IIT Jammu and Dr. TVVN Rao from SRMIST Chennai are the speakers for the day.

A workshop on the topic "Why Startups should validate their ideas" was successfully conducted on 5th of July 2020 from 11am to 12pm by Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University Technology Business Incubation Center(SMVDU TBIC) for the students and other exhilarating entrepreneurs in the region.

The SMVDU TBIC and its ecosystem partner, JK StartUp Association and pool partners and mentor groups like Startup Buddy, Indian STEP & Business Incubator Association(ISBA), We Group, K&S Partners, Adsatra IP, Boudhik Ventures; Institution Innovation Council(IIC) and SMVDU are working in close coordination to generate awareness and striving to bring the UT of J&K at a global entrepreneurial platform, through its flagship programme and 100 Startups J&K; recently launched by Honorable Vice Chancellor, Prof. R. K. Sinha.

The workshop on "Why Startups should validate their Idea" was attended by more than 40 people. The speaker Mr. Aakarshan Sethi enlightened everyone with his thoughts and knowledge. His talk aimed to show the right track to the young and budding entrepreneurs. The highlight of his talk was to eliminate the errors that are usually done by the emerging entrepreneurs.

The entrepreneur should focus on the need of the hour and should validate his ideas. Market research and interacting to the people is one of the best way to substantiate one's plan. Guidance is an important part so one must go for incubation centers as they provide the right direction for the growth of the startup.

In this current scenario of COVID-19, the operations of SMVDU TBIC have completely gone virtual and is conducting such beneficial workshops every alternative week.

The goal is to inspire young minds of the people of J&K to learn and think differently. The events are open to everyone. To know more about these visit the official website www.smvdutbic.org

A webinar session on ‘Corporate Etiquettes’ was conducted at School of Business, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra. The insightful and inspiring session was conducted by Ms. Vineeta Koul Lalohotra, Pragmatic Career Solutions, Pune who is also alumnus of School of Business. The session shed light on the basic etiquettes which are considered to be followed by individuals' as part of the corporate fair practices. Elaborating the concept of etiquettes with the help of examples, Ms. Lalohotra emphasized that how understanding of basic professional etiquettes can make someone successful in corporate. In her session, Ms. Lalohotra mentioned about the various types of protocols including email etiquette, meeting and greeting etiquette, telephone etiquette, business etiquette and workplace etiquette. In view of the ‘new normal’ emerged due to COVID-19, Ms. Koul especially emphasized on the relevance and importance of work from home etiquettes. She reminded the management students to not let the distractions get in the way just because they are working from home. In her interaction she also provided the tips to the management students for being on time in all walks of life. She told them to keep themselves prepared for any kind of unexpected things and asked them to bear in mind that getting a second a chance is only a probability which may or may not come. She motivated the students to keep their learning curve on up side always. Ms. Vineeta Koul Lalohotra, entire session was informative and interactive and students appreciated the session very much. Different queries raised by the students were handled effectively. Head, School of Business, Dr. Saurabh mentioned that such type of sessions are very relevant to sensitize these young people regarding the role and relevance of their attire, language, communication, conduct etc. in their progression and consequently in organization’s progression. Dr. Jyoti Sharma, Associate Professor, School of Business and Moderator of the session also accentuated the importance of preparation to overcome any kind of hurdles in different aspects of life. While expressing gratitude, Dr. Sharma underlined that training provided to Ms. Vineeta Koul Lalohotra at School of Business, SMVDU has made her successful in business world as she is growing horizontally and vertically on the professional front.

SMVDU 3rd July, 2020: The Webinar on ‘Sectoral Experiences and Challenges for Self-Reliant India: Aatm Nirbhar Bharat’ was organized by School of Business, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University in collaboration with Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad and Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal, Nagpur.

The webinar was under the series Strategies for Leading the Change: Covid19 Response of India.

The webinar came out with the discussions that sectoral challenges of Aatm Nirbhar Bharat may be based on various factors but the opportunities lie in new markets, new skills, being indigenous, new models of governance, logistics, leading inclusive growth and accelerating from policy to productivity.

The webinar emphasized on the requirement for leading into the Aatm Nirbhar Bharat with an Aatm Vishwas, i.e. being self-reliant with self-confidence.

Dr. Saurabh, Head, School of Business, SMVDU explained the importance of the deliberation and welcomed the panelists to the webinar session.

Dr. Dheeraj P. Joshi, TIC, Consulate General of India, Birmingham, UK presented the world view of Aatm Nirbhar Bharat in his inaugural address. He emphasized on the role of innovation and research to improve the basic infrastructure like roads, water, electricity and technology to attract business in India. The panelists consisted of experts from various sectors.

Prof. Parikshat Singh Manhas, department of Tourism, University of Jammu discussed the opportunities of virtual tourism and said it would be one of the sectors that shall bounce back quickly.

Prof. Balraj Singh, Ex VC, Agricultural University, Jodhpur, highlighted the role of agriculture in India to produce own hybrid seeds, ornamental plants, pulses and edible oils to become self-reliant.

FMCG leader Mr. Gaurav Parashar, with his twenty years’ experience in the industry, was optimistic about the growth of FMCG products in near future and discussed the various opportunities available to Indian manufacturers and retailers due to Covid-19 pandemic.

Prof. A.K. Saihjpal, Ex VC, Baddi University discussed the role of banks in promoting start-ups and local businesses. He said that the banking sector renovations for long term viability and minimizing operating costs are required.

Dr. Sunil Kumar, Assistant Professor, IPE, Hyderabad presented his views on managing the supply chains efficiently for combating the disruptions to make India the global supply chain leader.

Dr. Hari Govind Mishra, School of Business, SMVDU discussed the role of social bonding adopted by small local retailers in expanding the future retail business by locals. Dr. Ch. Lakshmi Kumari, IPE Hyderabad, was the moderator of the webinar and she explained the opportunities for becoming Aatm Nirbhar Bharat.

Dr. Rashi Taggar, the organizing secretary from SMVDU, deliberated with the number of questions of the participants and panel.

Dr. Amit Dashora, All India Academic Covener, Bhartiya Shiksha Mandal, Nagpur, concluded the webinar and expressed his belief in the role of Indian youth to make Aatm- Nirbhar Bharat. He thanked Prof. R.K Mishra, Director, IPE, Prof. R K Sinha, VC, SMVDU and Prof. D. Mukhopadhyay, Dean Faculty of Management, SMVDU, members of BSM, along with all the panelists and organizers, and participants for creating a platform for such a contemporary importance.