SpaceX cargo ship blasts off carrying 3-D printer

A SpaceX cargo ship rocketed toward the International Space Station on Sunday, carrying the first 3-D printer for astronauts in orbit.

In all, the unmanned Dragon capsule is delivering more than 5,000 pounds (2,300 kilograms) of space station supplies for NASA. Dragon is expected reach the space station on Tuesday. It is the fifth station shipment for the California-based company SpaceX, one of two new commercial winners in the race to start launching Americans again from home soil.

Besides the flawless launch, the space agency’s Maven spacecraft was on the verge of reaching Mars. The robotic explorer was scheduled to go into orbit around Mars late Sunday night.

The space station-bound 3-D printer is sturdier than earthly models to withstand the stresses of launch, and meets NASA’s strict safety standards. The space agency envisions astronauts one day cranking out spare parts as needed. For now, it’s a technology demonstrator, with a bigger and better model to follow next year.

A $30 million device for measuring ocean winds is also flying up on Dragon, along with 20 mice and 30 fruit flies for biological research and metal samples for a golf club manufacturer looking to improve its products.

Much-needed spacesuit batteries are on board as well, along with the usual stash of food, clothes and electronic gear. Routine U.S. spacewalks were put on hold following last year’s close call with an astronaut’s flooded helmet. That problem was solved, and then the battery fuses were called into question. NASA hopes to resume spacewalks next month.

NASA is paying SpaceX and Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. to make regular station deliveries. The SpaceX service began two years ago.

Just this past week, SpaceX led by billionaire Elon Musk won an even bigger and more prestigious contract to transport U.S. astronauts to the orbiting outpost, along with Boeing. Dragon rides could begin as early as 2016 or 2017.

NASA’s ability to launch its own crews ended with the shuttle program in 2011. Russia has been providing rides on its Soyuz spacecraft for a hefty price.

Another American astronaut is scheduled to blast off from Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz later this week, along with two Russians, one of them a woman, a rarity for Russia. They will join the one American, one Russian and one German already in orbit.

A strong IPR regime benefits India

India’s growing population, at 1.3 billion citizens now, represents the second-largest consumer market in the world, and may soon be the largest. Its productive capacity is also growing. In nominal terms, India’s nearly $2 trillion GDP makes it the 10th-largest global economy—third in terms of purchasing power—and it is likely to enjoy respectable 5.5% and 6% growth, in 2014 and 2015, respectively, as per estimates by the Asian Development Bank. India has already proven its competitive advantages in cutting-edge, high-value technology and services industries that are shaping 21st century economies.

Notwithstanding this tremendous allure, global corporations have found it difficult to do business in India in recent years. Interventionist government policies created a sense—in some cases, a reality—that the rules were arbitrary and subject to sudden, even retroactive, change. This was particularly the case for industries that rely on intellectual property rights to finance the capital-intensive research and development that is necessary for the introduction of life-changing new products such as medicines and health care technology. Even the threat of compulsory licensing and patent revocations was sufficient to create the legal uncertainty that is anathema to investment in innovation. One widely-cited report, the International Intellectual Property Index researched by the Israel-based Pugatch Consilium and published by the US Chamber of Commerce, found India ranked last among 25 key global markets on the regulatory and governance factors most closely watched by global innovative industries. Accordingly, the inauguration of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this past May was welcomed by the international business community as a critical opportunity to refresh a relationship with the Indian government that had reached a stalemate.

Since then, anxious investors have awaited a signal that the new government was serious about its rhetoric of a newly competitive Indian business climate. With Tuesday’s announcement by commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman of a new Indian government policy to promote intellectual property, the waiting could be over. “India needs to aggressively tell the world that we believe in intellectual property rights,” said Amitabh Kant, secretary of the commerce and industry ministry, according to press reports. Coming just weeks ahead of Prime Minister Modi’s much-anticipated visit to the United States, the move could only be viewed by US investors as a sign that if they “make in India” they will indeed be made welcome.

As pleased as international business may be if these policy proposals are carried out, the real audience for this message is in India as it can represent the fulfillment of a promise that this government is serious about putting India on a path of sustained growth and development. Because the real benefit of intellectual property reform is not to outside investors, it is to India and its own innovators, businesses, and consumers who deserve to enjoy access not only to the world’s innovations, but especially to the home-grown variety.

An intellectual property policy that puts India among the world’s standard-setters for innovation would include the following elements:

1. A principled commitment to the legal rights of patent, copyright, and trademark rights holders, as well as legal protection of trade secrets;

2. Ratification and implementation of key international intellectual property treaties, such as the Patent Law Treaty and other World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties, the Berne Convention, and the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks;

3. Refutation of compulsory licensing (CL) as a commercial tool, and a policy of rejecting CLs except in emergency situations as defined by the World Trade Organizations Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS);

4. Patentability requirements based solely on the TRIPS criteria of novelty, inventive step, and industrial applicability;

5. And streamlining of IP-related bureaucracies to permit the efficient registration of patents, copyrights, and trademarks, and the enforcement of the same.

Countries that earn a reputation for promoting and protecting the creation of intellectual capital reap important domestic benefits: They incentivise the substantial R&D investments necessary for the location of capital-intensive industries and the jobs they create; they foster a legal and financial infrastructure that enables the successful commercialisation of new products by small-scale innovators; and, they ensure their citizens the earliest possible access to the newest technologies.

Not all innovators are created equal. Culture and environment help shape the ideas and thought processes that lead to new products. Accordingly, the creative capacity of India, once fully unleashed, may lead Indians to develop innovations yet undreamed of by their American, European, or Chinese counterparts. From a self-described “consumer” of intellectual property, India could become the pathfinder for new avenues of global innovation.

It begins with the confidence that India and Indians can compete and succeed in the global economy. If the Modi administration is serious about creating an enhanced environment for intellectual property and it appears to have that belief—there is a clear indication that the Indian moment is here. If so, the world’s innovative industries are ready to help make it happen.

Two Indians among the global citizen award

US Northwestern university environmental engineering graduate Anoop Jain, who started a project for greater toilet access to the residents of a Bihar village, is one of two Indians among the four finalists for a $1,00,000 global citizen award.
The award will be presented next week at a function in the iconic central park of the US city of New York next week, to be attended by visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Apart from Jain, Swapnil Chaturvedi is the other Indian finalist for the Waislitz global citizen award which is presented to an individual who meets the criteria of global citizenship, impact, innovation and potential.
The winner of the contest will be announced at the global citizen festival in New York on on September 27, which is expected to be attended by Modi and a slew of other global leaders.
Other VVIP guests expected to be present include UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, World Bank president Jim Yong Kim, Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg and Nepal's Prime Minister Sushil Koirala.
According to the organizers of the event, Modi will highlight the need to bring an end to open defecation in India.
Jain and Chaturvedi have been shortlisted for the award for their efforts to improve sanitation facilities and increase public access to toilets.
Chaturvedi is the founder of 'Samagra Sanitation' which focuses on providing sanitation services to the urban poor. Since March 2013, 'Samagra' is implementing its sanitation engagement platform called 'Loo Rewards' in two urban slums of Pune.
Jain founded 'Humanure Power' (HP) in Bihar in 2011 that has been building community sanitation facilities at Sukhpur village in Supaul district of north Bihar.
'Humanure Power' opened its pilot community sanitation facility on July 10 this year with 20 toilets total - 10 for men and 10 for women. Since then, "it has already over 17,000 users, while hygienically disposing of 8 tons of human excreta".
Utilizing a $30,000 award won in Dell's Social Innovation Challenge in 2012, Humanure has set out to build community blocks of toilets that convert human waste into energy, charging 12-volt batteries for household use.
"Humanure Power continues to fight alongside communities to end outdoor defecation as a key step in an ongoing struggle for health equity and social and economic justice", said a note published on its website last month.
The Waislitz global citizen award seeks "to honour an individual who embodies and exemplifies the values and practices of a global citizen, has substantial record of making lasting changes and opportunities for the world's poor and brings new thinking to overcome the challenge of ending poverty".
The other two finalists are David Auerbach, who co-founded 'Sanergy' which builds low-cost, high-quality sanitation facilities and Nargis Shirazi, founder of the Wo-man Foundation, which works towards improving sexual, reproductive health and rights of women in her home country Uganda.
The function on September 27 will be hosted by Hollywood actors Hugh Jackman, Jessica Alba and Katie Holmes and will have performances by American rapper Jay Z and singer Carrie Underwood.

DIPP sets up panel on 'Make in India'

Gearing up for the mega launch of 'Make in India' campaign on September 25, the DIPP has set up an 8-member expert panel for quick redressal of grievances and queries of global and domestic investors.
The team, which has members from private sector, is attached to 'Invest India', a joint venture between the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and industry body Ficci.
"The team would try to resolve issues within 48 hours. And in case they are unable to resolve within the time frame, it would go to the nodal officer of the respective department who would try to fix that within 72 hours and in the extreme cases, the query would go to the Secretary," a senior official said.
The initiative is one of the several steps which the government has announced in order to improve ease of doing business in India and attract investments to boost manufacturing in the country.
The official said that there is an urgent need to boost manufacturing
sector on a sustainable basis for long time in order to create jobs and boost economic growth.
"The sector requires lot of initiatives and lot of push by different departments and ministries and state governments. Mindset needs to be changed for things like approval and clearances of applications through online process," the official added.
Currently, to start business in India, an entrepreneur has to follow 12 procedures which takes 27 days. Similarly, enforcing contracts takes years.
"Our target should be that India should radically come up in improving ease of doing business. The DIPP has already taking several steps including delicensing sectors such as defence and railways and having a timeline for clearance of applications," the official said.
The DIPP is also planning a mega digital campaign in order to sell India as an attractive investment destination.
As per the latest World Bank's report on 'ease of doing business', India had slipped three notches to 134th spot. The report ranks 189 economies on various parameters relating to business and regulatory environment.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch the 'Make in India' campaign that will be attended by about a thousand global and domestic business leaders.
Several top global companies from countries including the US, Japan, Korea, Sweden, Poland, Australia, China, Italy, Germany and France are likely to attend the function.
The officials also said that prospective investors will be informed about India's growth story and the steps being taken by the government to improve investment climate here.
About 25 sectors have been identified which will figure in the campaign. They include auto, aviation, biotechnology, construction, chemicals, electrical machinery, electronics, food processing, IT/BPO, textiles, thermal power, railways, pharmaceuticals, road and highways.
"In these sectors, we want to grow. During the campaign, we would provide details about these sectors such as regulations, norms, policies and strength. These sectors have huge potential to attract investments," the official added.
State governments have also been asked to get involved in this initiative.
"The DIPP has done meetings with officials in states like Delhi and Madhya Pradesh on adopting best practices followed in different states," the official said.
Further, the official said that after the delicensing of several defence products, the DIPP was getting lots of enquires from global investors for investments.

Indonesia to host Asian Games in 2018

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) General Assembly on Saturday said Indonesia will host the 2018 Asian Games, five months after the original host Vietnam backed out due to financial difficulties.
Rita Subowo, president of the Indonesian Olympic Committee, made a presentation at the OCA General Assembly on Saturday morning before their bid won the nod.
“Indonesia is ready to host the next Asian Games in 2018,” Subowo told the OCA General Assembly.
“It’s our dreams to host again the Asian Games after 56 years. Now this is the chance for our youth generations to be able to participate, not only to compete, but also to be the host and welcome you all to our country,” he added.
Subowo said much of the infrastructure needed was already in place and Jakarta’s new airport and mass transit system would be finished by the time the games are held.
“Time is so short. That is the biggest challenge,” she said. “So from now on we have to work hard and we need the support of our friends and colleagues, not only in Asia, but also from all over the world.”

From nuclear diplomacy to energy self-sufficiency?

Nuclear cooperation from Australia and China may have renewed hopes for the sector; however, the key to energy security lies in reducing dependency on coal, plugging leaks, and investing in renewables.

For a sector that contributes less than three per cent to India’s current energy needs, the promise of nuclear cooperation from Australia and China has come as a beacon of hope for reviving its prospects.

Within months of assuming office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi ratified the additional protocol of the International Atomic Energy Agency, inked a civilian nuclear deal with his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott and convinced Japanese PM Shinzo Abe to speed up Tokyo’s nuclear cooperation process with New Delhi.

Even China, which has stayed away from ‘talking nuke’ with India for the longest time, agreed to bilateral civil nuclear cooperation with New Delhi during President Xi Jinping’s recently concluded visit. This has bolstered Mr. Modi’s prospects for Chinese backing of India’s Nuclear Suppliers Group membership.

India’s nuclear vision, which envisages about 63000 MW of installed nuclear power capacity by 2032, essentially has two goals — access to uranium and access to technology.

Former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and noted nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar said that import of high grade uranium from Australia is required for the growth of nuclear power sector in India.

According to the AEC, of the 20 commercially operating Indian nuclear power reactors, 10 are currently under IAEA safeguards and two more will come under safeguards by December 2014. The IAEA-safeguarded reactors are eligible to be fuelled by imported uranium.

With agreements to buy uranium from countries like Russia, Canada, Namibia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan among others, India has successfully diversified its energy sources.

With reactor deals with Russia (1000 MW at Kudankulam), France (Areva/1600 MW at Jaitapur) and the U.S. (about 1000 MW in Gujarat/Andhra Pradesh), India has managed to get access to three different streams of technology with different capacities. While this is undoubtedly beneficial to Indian interests, it also means a longer time period for technology absorption.

“The main problem now is with liability laws and that too largely with U.S. companies,” according to government sources.

“Russian companies are largely state-owned…if there’s a fear the state could assuage those concerns…but U.S. companies are not state-owned…so we’re finding it a little bit more difficult…the problem with the French is the cost,” the sources said.

While global nuclear legislative practices channel the liability exclusively towards the operator, Indian Nuclear Liability Law 2010 brought in supplier liability too.

Arguments, thence, have been made for quantifying the suppliers’ liability instead of keeping it open-ended. “U.S. companies feel if there is an accident, liability could have a bearing on corporates in the nuclear power sector. But there is a slim chance of India diluting its position (on supplier liability),” said the sources.

A troubled project

Though promise of fuel imports for the nuclear industry has boosted hopes, the example of the Rs. 17,000-crore Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project reveals the limitations of nuclear diplomacy for energy security. Conceived way back in late eighties, the project that symbolised Indo-Russian cooperation in civilian nuclear energy, had a bumpy ride. Though the Rajiv-Mikhail Gorbachev agreement was signed in 1988, for constructing two pressurised light water nuclear reactors, each with the capacity of 1,000 MWe at Kudankulam, the ‘first pouring of concrete’ for this project happened only in 2002. And, the gestation period for the construction of this nuclear reactor, which is otherwise just five years, extended beyond 12 years. A range of reasons contributed to this — delayed supply of the components, installation, incorporation of additional third generation safety features and anti-nuke agitation, escalating the expenditure from Rs. 13,171 crore to over Rs. 17,000 crore.

The reactor is set for commercial generation in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, the People’s Movement against Nuclear Energy, an anti-nuclear power movement based in Idinthakarai, has vowed to stall the move to construct four more reactors while demanding comprehensive investigation about the first two reactors.

“Besides scrapping the KKNPP completely in the best interest of the people living in Southern Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Kerala, the public opinion on the country’s nuclear policy should be elicited through a nationwide debate,” says S.P. Udayakumar of PMANE.

Undeterred

The challenges faced by the nuclear industry, however, will not deter Modi’s pursuit of nuclear diplomacy.

In a closed-door interaction with scientists at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in July, the PM asked them to keep up to the target of tripling nuclear power generation by 2023.

Power Minister Piyush Goyal, however, intends to tread cautiously on the nuclear energy path. “Everything depends on the costs and assurances that dependence on nuclear energy would not come at the cost of India’s sovereign interests,” he said.

In historic vote, Scots decide to remain with the UK

The people of Scotland voted 55 per cent to 45 per cent against independence in a vote that saw an unprecedented turnout.

Scottish voters have rejected independence, deciding to remain part of the United Kingdom after a historic referendum that shook the country to its core.

The decision prevented a rupture of a 307—year union with England, bringing a huge sigh of relief to the British political establishment. Scots voted 55 percent to 45 percent against independence in a vote that saw an unprecedented turnout.

A majority of voters did not embrace Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond’s impassioned plea to launch a new state, choosing instead the security offered by remaining in the United Kingdom.

Salmond conceded defeat, saying “we know it is a majority for the No campaign” and called on Scots to accept the results of the vote.

Salmond had argued that Scots could go it alone because of its extensive oil reserves and high levels of ingenuity and education. He said Scotland would flourish on its own, free of interference from any London—based government.

Nonetheless, the skilled 59—year—old leader of the Scottish National Party came close to winning independence his long—cherished goal and still won a promise of new powers for Scotland from rattled London politicians.

Many saw it as a “heads versus hearts” campaign, with cautious older Scots concluding that independence would be too risky financially, while younger ones were enamored with the idea of building their own country.

The result saves British Prime Minister David Cameron from a historic defeat and also helps opposition chief Ed Miliband by keeping his many Labour Party lawmakers in Scotland in place. His party would have found it harder to win a national election in 2015 without that support from Scotland.

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a Scot, returned to prominence with a dramatic barnstorming campaign in support of the union in the final days before the referendum vote. Brown argued passionately that Scots could be devoted to Scotland but still proud of their place in the United Kingdom, rejecting the argument that independence was the patriotic choice.

“There is not a cemetery in Europe that does not have Scots, English, Welsh and Irish lined side by side,” Brown said in his final speech before the vote. “We not only won these wars together, we built the peace together. What we have built together by sacrificing and sharing, let no narrow nationalism split asunder.”

For his part, Cameron aware that his Conservative Party is widely loathed in Scotland begged voters not to use a vote for independence as a way to bash his party.

The vote against independence keeps the U.K. from losing a substantial part of its territory and oil reserves and prevents it from having to find a new base for its nuclear arsenal, now housed in Scotland. It had also faced a possible loss of influence within international institutions including the 28—nation European Union and the United Nations.

The decision also means Britain can avoid a prolonged period of financial insecurity that had been predicted by some if Scotland broke away.

In return for staying in the union, Scotland’s voters have been promised significant though somewhat unspecified new powers by the British government, which had feared losing Scotland forever.