Wanted: Drone pilots

Hello Reader,

Sustainability is going mainstream. 

Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) has outlined a $25 billion plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2046. The country’s biggest refiner’s plan is in line with India’s goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2070.

Recent media reports suggested that Norway’s Climate Investment Fund and the Nordic country’s biggest pension company, KLP, are investing about $35 million in a 420-megawatt solar power project developed in Rajasthan. 

Meanwhile, German energy giant RWE and Tata Power have partnered to develop offshore wind projects in the country.

And, if reports are to be believed, investments related to sustainability in India are projected to grow to $125 billion by 2026 at a five-year CAGR of 46%. 

In other news, Penn State and the US Air Force researchers have developed a soft polymer material that can simultaneously sense, think, and act upon mechanical stress. 

So, Flubber is real?

In today’s newsletter, we will talk about: 

• Wanted: Drone pilots
• A door to Web3
• SaaS for edtech

Here’s your trivia for today: What colour is Mars’ sunset?

Jobs

Wanted: Drone pilots

The drone industry is witnessing a spurt in demand for talent across roles and functions. With demand outweighing supply, what are drone startups doing to attract and retain employees? 

YourStory spoke to startups and employees to understand the ground reality. 

Flying high:

• One of the reasons for this surge in the demand for talent could be the large tenders floated by the central government for drone services.
• For most startups, the key hiring objective is to onboard smart, interested college students and train them in-house. 
• As they cannot always match the salaries offered by other startups, founders need to find employees naturally inclined toward the drone space.

Web3

A door to Web3

It’s tough to build accessible Web3 products. In a mobile-first generation, apps in the Web3 space have a subpar mobile experience, and partly why they’ve struggled to gain prominence, especially in emerging markets. 

Looking to solve this is ZKX, a startup founded in 2021 by Eduard Jubany Tur, Naman Sehgal, and Vitaly Yakovlev. 

Promising efforts:

• ZKX is leveraging Zero Knowledge (ZK) to build an accessible and user-friendly ‘Layer 3’ ecosystem on top of Ethereum. 
• ZKX is building its first product—a decentralised derivatives exchange for traders—which it claims has a waitlist of over two lakh users. 
• It is important to note that the tech ZKX is betting on is yet to be proven on a larger scale. But there are some promising efforts. 

Edtech

SaaS for edtech

While COVID-19 came as a blessing in disguise for edtech startups, it presented a rude shock to educational institutions that had to rush to adapt quickly.

This gave TriByte Technologies a window of opportunity. Founded in 2010 by Seethaprasad Mandikel, Bengaluru-based B2B edtech startup TriByte provides educational institutes with a SaaS-based, interactive learning management system (LMS).

Key takeaways:

• The LMS is a multipurpose platform that supports learning requirements for self-paced learning, online tutoring, and large-scale assessments. 
• It is deployed in eight languages, including Bahasa, French, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, Telugu, and English.
• TriByte provides browser-based access to learning material, a learning app with over 1,000 downloads, and an admin where live classes can be conducted. 

News & updates

• Quantum leap: Chinese search engine giant Baidu Inc revealed its first quantum computer–dubbed Qianshi on Thursday. It is ready to make available to external users, joining the global race to apply the technology to practical uses.
• Chip subsidy: President Joe Biden on Thursday will sign an executive order on the implementation of the $52.7 billion semiconductor chips manufacturing subsidy and research law, the White House said.
• QR code: Instagram now allows users to share anyone’s posts or Reels through a QR code. What’s more? Users can also share a QR code location through its searchable Map experience. 

What colour is Mars’ sunset?

Answer: Blue. Fine dust makes the blue near the Sun's part of the sky much more prominent, while daylight makes the Red Planet's familiar rusty dust colour more prominent.

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