Cash is king since the transactions are frictionless. CBDCs too should achieve ease of the level of cash. CBDCs should be concerned about data privacy. While meeting regulatory requirements, CBDCs should also be careful about the privacy of data. A layered approach can be adopted. There could be fully private transactions. At the same time, there could be partially private and fully auditable transactions. In banking and financial services, a trail is a must. At the same time, data in the system must be kept secure with appropriate protocols.

CBDCs should be scalable. Most blockchains, especially those based on proof-of-work, have scalability issues.

The Government must have better control of currency transactions and flows.

The twin objectives are external stability and internal growth.

Central banks across the world are experimenting with different kinds of models to issue the CBDCs. The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank has adopted CBDC approach that depends on consumers holding deposit accounts with the central bank. The Chinese model to distribute eCNY (digital Yuan) depends on the private banks to maintain the accounts of the customers. The European Central Bank, under consideration, envisages the licensed financial institutions to operate a permissioned node of the blockchain network and act as a distribution channel for the digital Euro.

Google feels that the CCI order could hurt the developer base in India. To follow the order, the developers would have to develop apps with different specifications for different app stores.

There could be sideloading of apps posing security risks. Sideloading refers to downloading of apps outside of app stores using the APK file. Google’s system is open source eco-system that has base-line level of compatibility. It becomes cost effective for developers to get their apps on Google Play Store.

The order also expects Google to enable forked version of Android. The CCI asked Google to make all its apps interoperable for all forks. It takes us back to early-2000 world where the eco-system was highly fragmented. Developers have to develop so many different versions. They were priced out. China has such a system right now. There are several Android forks there. There is a risk of user vulnerability with this. It is a big security issue. There is no central place where users are protected.

Data centres are vital parts of a digital initiative. Previously, they were centrally managed and on-premises facilities. These days they have changed to scalable and distributed models — there is the deployment of edge processing and cloud services with hyperscalers.

The transformation process includes:

Modularity: Here hyperscalers are used which have the core characteristic of modularity. A modular data centre follow’s a Lego-like approach. It adapts progressively to a design that is agile and flexible.

Resilience and Redundance: A modern data centre has to be resilient. Modularity allows replacement of individual physical components. It reduces costs as well as downtime. There is flexibility to scale up at the physical level as one can add components modularly. There can be outsourcing for maintenance.

Automation: Today’s IT infrastructure is supported by artificial intelligence for IT operations — AIOPs. It leverages AI to make IT operations visible. It alerts the users when specific thresholds are crossed or issues are detected.

Energy Efficiency: Data Centres consume massive electricity as their workload is intensive. Energy bills escalate every year as cost of power increases and the underlying demand too increases. To make them energy efficient, there should be separation of hot and cold air and there should be use of energy efficient technologies. There should be server consolidation and server decommissioning when they are inactive. Cooling systems could be made immersive.

FinOps is short for financial operations. These days corporates use clouds, but any cloud user is concerned with cloud costs which could go out of control if the user is not careful.

FinOps takes care of the financial aspects of cloud transformation. It ensures that a company does not use any servers, storage and networks any more than is absolutely necessary.

The data is analysed by the finance and engineering manpower. It is used to negotiate rates and bring about infrastructure changes with the cloud provider. The consumption architecture guides the corporates to bring about those changes in the architecture which reduces the costs. It leads to optimised cloud costs.

Cloud providers feed its billing data on open source platforms. One can access what is going on its cloud.

It is not a one-time operation. It is a continuous process. It differs from project-to-project.

In semiconductor space, material science research plays a vital role. Miniaturization has led to a situation that any further performance and capabilities improvement of chips comes from the experience of material science experts who run advanced machines and conduct experiments.

Memory enhancement in chips requires a knowledge of material science. The mechanical stress is witnessed in the micro-structures of chips. It may threaten the structural integrity of the chip. The stress properties are leveraged to enhance the performance of the devices. The physical properties of the materials are best utilised for optimum performance.

In the chip industry, they encounter electro static discharge — ESD caused by a static charge from human beings and the tools used in production. ESD permanently damages chips if there are no safe discharge mechanisms. It requires special semiconductor protection. The devices that protect are designed based on an understanding of material science, semiconductor processing and carrier transport physics. Material science experts collaborate with proceess development teams. They use CAD tools to simulate high-current transport mechanisms in semiconductor materials, and thus design small ESD protection devices.

In automobiles, CAN transeiver is backed up by ESD protection.

Some material science experts facilitate the work of semiconductor foundries. They specialise in the deposition and etching process. In deposition, a thin film of materials are deposited on a silicon wafer. In etching, film and materials are selectively removed from the materials deposited on the wafer.

Surface engineering is vital for coating performance and it extends the life of components. Materials engineers can develop techniques that can deposit highly dense and porosity-free coatings to form a defect-free surface.

Materials engineers having experience in production and digital technology will have more opportunity in the semiconductor industry.

A draft bill has been released in November 2022 called Data Protection Bill. It restricts itself to personal data of the citizens. It is a short, crisp and to the point draft. The idea is to ensure the ease of doing business.

Some clarity is required whether the social media intermediaries would be immune to legal liabilities for their content under the IT Rules and whether they would be governed by the Data Protection Law. To begin with, the government insisted on the localisation of data within the country. The digital economy is based on the flow of data, and recognising this, the Bill allows transfer of data between countries and territories which are categorised by the government as friendly nations. It comes as a big relief to the Big Tech.

There are no provisions related to the criminal liability, and for breaches of the provisions, only fines have been prescribed. Previously, the fines were set at 2-4 per cent of the global revenue but are now fixed between Rs.150 crore to Rs.500 crore.

The previous bill talked of the hardware regulation. This has been dropped from the ambit of the Bill.

The new Bill has put in caveats for data on children.

One area that has not been addressed is the power of the government to exempt any government agency from all or any of the provisions relating to the processing of personal data. (Sec 35). It leaves room for misuse of power. This needs to be looked at afresh.

The Government is likely to pass the Bill in the Budget Session of the parliament. (February 2023).

The Government proposes to set up a Data Protection Board of India which will manage compliance framework.

Lab-grown meat is grown from cell cultures technology. It is often grown in a vat. The animal cells derived from livestock, poultry and seafood are used. They are copying stem cells extracted from a live animal or from the ovaries of a newly slaughtered animal.

The vat is filled with serum containing amino acids, sugars and other nutrients required for the growth of cells.

The cells are grown for around three weeks. These are then harvested, and are shaped into forms familiar to consumers, say a chicken breast.

The US FDA has permitted to meat grown from cells for human consumption. Some two years back, Singapore became the first nation to approve the sale of cultivated meat, say a chicken nugget product.

Many startups are working in his area. Though some products are approved from human consumption, they are not approved for sale. These must still conform to other requirements from the FDA and the US Department of Agriculture before these can be marketed.

Lab-grown meat is a critical milestone toward the future of food. Cultivated meat will soon be available to consumers in the US. The livestock industry is being scrutinised for environmental considerations, since cattle are a big source of methane, a greenhouse gas.

Crypto currency is an encrypted data string that represents a unit of currency. It is monitored by a peer-to-peer network of specialised computers called a blockchain. The blockchain serves as a secure ledger of transactions of buying, selling and transferring. Cryptos are mined, that is created by computer jocks in places with plentiful electric supply.

Money, according to Ken Moore of Mastercard, comes in diverse forms, e.g. data, digital goods, CBDCs, cryptos, NFTs and even solar credits. All these diverse assets could be routinely exchanged in everyday transactions for products and services.

There are three key themes. One is the diverse forms of money. Second is the overlay of technology on physical events such as shopping or dining. It includes immersive experience. Third theme is sustainability — designing, marketing and selling of products. A cloud point of sales moves processing to the cloud, and enables merchants to use their smartphones as PoS terminals.

The OTT boom began from 2018. The business has grown from almost nothing to Rs.17000 crore plus in advertising and pay revenue.

The top 20-30 shows are being created by a handful of studies — TVF BBC Studios and Applause. There are many content houses — Raj, D2R Films, Poor Man’s Production, Prakash Mehra, Banjay Asia. Applause works on a hub and spoke model — Scam 1992 of Hansal Mehta, Tanaav with Sudhir Mistra and Rudra with Ajay Devgn. TVF focuses on diversity of ideas. TVF has made 31 shows in the last three years. Its Kota Factory is a huge success. It went mainstream after a first season on YouTube.

The turn around time is important. BBC Studies had the formats ready which could be adapted. Such adaptation takes 7-9 months, as against 12-18 months if the idea is to be developed right from scratch. The original material is high quality adaptable material, e.g. Dr.Foster and Luther.

Most big OTT players have rich data on their audience. However, it is a moot point how much of this data is shared with the creators. It makes the job of creators challenging. There are some indicators — if a show gets a successive season, it is a proof that the show has worked. Another indication is the completion rate — the number of viewers the last episode gets when the series is finished. Ideally, it should be 70-80 per cent.

The global trends are known. Right now, there is fatigue on crime. This fatigue could travel to India. The content creators must be ready for the next wave, whatever it may be. In the last few years, a variety of genres have come up — comedy, drama and romance.

A film has a beginning, a middle and an end. In the series, every episode must have a beginning, a middle and an end. It is a difficult process to make it.