Between Holy Temples and Botanical Gardens: Indian Study Week, Part 2

Dear Diary, finally our group of Applied Data Science students @ HSLU Hochschule Luzern has safely arrived in Bangalore. In the evening at 7 pm, after passing the immigration section and changing our SIM cards (data is unbeatably cheap in India), we have checked in to the Lemon Tree hotel in “Electronic City” and enjoyed a fine Indian meal. The next day started early with a beautiful sunrise. We’ve had breakfast with some Business Analytics students from @JAGSoM University ( JAGSoM - Jagdish Sheth School of Management ). Afterwards, a yellow bus, built in 1950, took us to the hostel of the Bachelor students – young, curious and bright Indian people who welcomed us very warmly.

Together, we went on a sightseeing tour to the Dodda Basavana Gudi, one of the oldest Hindi temples in Bangalore (photography prohibited) and from there to the Lalbagh Botanical Garden being a home to many beautiful plants. Having just escaped the winter in Switzerland, we perceived the colors and smells even more intensely. At the end of the garden tour, there was time for an extended and very delicious Indian lunch.

Living and working in India: Bühler Group, Swissnex and more

What a day! On Monday, we went to Bühler Group , a Swiss family business in the fifth generation specializing in high-precision process technology. This hidden champion is virtually unknown to most people because the company is exclusively in the business-to-business sphere. Yet, we consume products made on Bühler machines every day. For example, most of the world's pasta is produced by Bühler equipment, most of the world's grain is processed on Bühler’s mills. Countless people wear eyeglasses, use smartphones, and read newspapers and magazines – all of which depend on Bühler process technologies and solutions covering our basic needs for food and mobility every day. Having this global relevance, Bühler is in a unique position to doing its part to protect the climate and reduce energy, waste, and water in its customers’ value chains by 50% by 2025. Bühler’s purpose is creating “innovations for a better world.”

So, what started out as a harmless company visit turned into an absolute highlight for us. In a rarely impressive presentation, Prashant Gokhale (President Buhler Group, Region South Asia and Managing Director), Venkatesh Kumar (Head of Human Resources & Administration) and Sunil Ranade (Head Strategy and Business Development) gave us very concrete examples of how Bühler is contributing to a more sustainable agriculture in India. Agriculture and food production consume nearly 2/3 of the energy produced and an equally high proportion of water. Technological advances in this area therefore carry a lot of weight. And invariably, Data Science and AI play an absolutely central role. Correspondingly, we had a very lively panel discussion as the topic fascinated us highly.

Roof Top Party: Meet and Greet with corporate and academic representatives

This highlight was followed by the next: In a typical Indian restaurant, we met Jonas Brunschwig and the crew of Swissnex in India, Consulate General of Switzerland . Jonas is the Consul General and the CEO of Swissnex, the Swiss innovation and research hub in India. We learned what it means to live and work in India, not only from the perspective of the (mostly) highly privileged expats, but also of the local people here. In the evening, we had the pleasure to attend a “Roof Top Party” at Jonas' residence and to meet all the corporate and academic representatives from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bosch , Dell Technologies , nasscom , and more – all playing a crucial role in our study week. I am just absolutely blown away by the warmth and openness of our Indian friends. We are very lucky to have the chance to meet professionals from various application areas of data science and gain insights into Bangalore’s stunning data science ecosystem!?

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To be continued (very soon).

Missed Part 1? See how it all started here.

Part 3 and Part 4? Here you go.

Your Applied Data Science Team @ HSLU Hochschule Luzern .