A new method to design artificial honeycombs

Written for Science Media Center @ IISc (Publication link)

We have all seen what honeycombs look like, and the more fortunate among us have slurped honey off them too. What we don’t know is, honeybees have somehow hit upon the most efficient structure possible. Artificial structures that are built like a honeycomb allow us to achieve maximum stability at minimal cost, using minimal material.

Honeycomb structures are commonly used in aerospace and other fields of engineering due to their property of being lightweight, yet sufficiently strong. They have a tremendous ability to absorb energies arising out of high-velocity impacts. Honeycomb materials in aluminum, fibreglass and composite materials have been featured in aircraft and rockets since the 1950s. To strike closer home, honeycomb-shaped packaging material is common – in cardboard packaging, for instance.

Researchers at the Aerospace Engineering Department, IISc, have come up with a novel method of designing the peculiar geometric configuration of honeycombs. Various types of structures have been explored for designing honeycombs. One is, using a structure called “auxetic” lattice: when they are stretched in one dimension, unlike conventional structures, they show an increase in length in the other dimension(s). These kinds of materials have potential application in the field of artificial medical prosthetics and aerospace.

While research has grown in fabricating structures with complicated auxetic geometries, attention has scarcely been given to structures with combined conventional and auxetic cores. The beauty of the combined design is that it has a superior “band gap property” in addition to having the advantages of the honeycomb structure. The periodic arrangement of lattices in a honeycomb core implies the structure will not feel the effect of loads.

“This design garnered wide praise when it was presented at the recent SPIE [international society for photonics and optics] conference in the USA”, said Professor S Gopalakrishnan. “We want to build a sandwich structure with this design for the core.” A sandwich structure has a lightweight, deformable core sandwiched between two high strength layers. Such a structure, lightweight yet stiff, is in high demand in aerospace applications.

Researcher Sushovan Mukherjee will be collaborating with a lab in University of Bristol, UK, where the fabrication of this structure will be carried out.

About the authors:

Sushovan Mukherjee and Prof S Gopalakrishnan are at the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Collaborator Fabrizio Scarpa is at the University of Bristol, UK.

About the paper:

The paper appeared in the journal Proc. SPIE 9434, Nanosensors, Biosensors, and Info-Tech Sensors and Systems 2015. http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/proceeding.aspx?articleid=2241699

Sustaining the new wave of start-ups in India

Written for Science Media Center @ IISc. Publication link

The world has seen an explosion of new start-up ecosystems. This comes with a global explosion of technological entrepreneurship known as new technology ventures (NTV). These start-ups have the potential to significantly increase employment and rejuvenate industries. They mainly focus on knowledge-intensive products and services. Professor M H Bala Subrahmanya, Chairman, Department of Management Studies, IISc, talks about how we can sustain and reap benefits from this new wave of start-ups in his special article in the Economic and Political Weekly.

India, recognised as one of the high potential sources of start-ups across the globe, has its “Silicon Valley” that is Bangalore. India boasts of a growing population of ‘young technocrats’ who are the potential sources of start-ups through NTVs. This new wave of start-ups, if nurtured, will bode well for India through job creation and regional development.

From geographical location to local policy, a lot of factors influence the emergence and survival of a start-up. Now, what exactly is a start-up? A ‘start-up’ is, in general, a new venture which has no previous history of operations. While the idea is not necessarily new, it is not tied to other organisations. They are unfamiliar and without precedence. The level of risk varies; investment could be shared.

India is under the third wave of evolution of start-ups. It is necessary to know about the origins and economic contribution of the original start-ups to ably deal with the new wave of start-ups. Cottage industries that sprung outside of agriculture were the earliest form of start-ups. Smiths, shoemakers, builders emerged to provide inputs and services to agriculture and to cater to the non-food needs of the rural population. While these played a major role in initial economic diversification, they suffered under ‘industrial revolution’. In India, though, it remained a major source of entrepreneurship for low income, less-educated households. So much so that, in the present day, their employment exceeds that of the organised sector.

Small Scale Industries formed the second phase of the start-up growth. Policy intervention by the Indian Government has been instrumental in the promotion of this sector. They contributed to the increase of employment, production, and exports. The education level of the entrepreneurs improved ranging from school level to technical and non-technical graduates. Even though this sector employed more than the organised sector, it remained technically obsolete. The policy was also biased against gradual growth from micro to large industries; benefits were better when you remained small. There is need to nurture and strengthen this sector so that they converge into multinational corporations.

But we have failed in integrating them with the organised sector. Unlike in the past, the new generation start-ups have more sources of entrepreneurship in the form of higher education institutes, research and development laboratories, technology business incubators and accelerators, aided by ‘reverse brain drain’ of highly qualified and resourceful Indians. In general, the entrepreneurs are technical graduates or more. The start-ups are more technology or knowledge-based.

They have a good ecosystem to thrive what with a strong base of diversified sources of entrepreneurship and encouragement from policymakers. The enactment of Limited Liability Partnership and Exchange platforms on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange encourages early corporatisation and further fundraising. Additionally, initiatives of National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), Tata and some other MNCs like Microsoft and Cisco promote start-ups. Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, has launched Technopreneur Promotion Programme to promote individual innovators to become technology-based entrepreneurs. Promoting Innovations in Individuals, Start-ups and MSMEs (PRISM) is open to any Indian citizen with an innovative idea and the wish to translate their idea into working models.

However, India’s policy for promoting new start-ups is in its infancy. It focuses on the generation phase and not yet on the subsequent phases of growth. There is need to view the new generation start-ups in a distinct framework.

“Cultivating the start-ups to grow into medium and large firms gradually is the ideal path for transforming these start-ups. There should not be any scalar bias and evolution should be encouraged” said Prof. Subrahmanya.

“Most start-ups would have already prepared for the worst-case scenario. Instead of a protective environment, policymakers should encourage them to seek out their own marketing strategies. Allow them to ‘swim and/ or sink’ as they deserve”, opined Prof. Subrahmanya.

Some of the failed entrepreneurs might try to restart a new venture, wiser from their past mistakes. Some might go and work for large firms. This attitude will help towards the evolution of a better ecosystem. This will lead to ‘entrepreneurship development and graduation’.

“My vision is to see that all these start-ups emerge on a large scale and grow to converge into a vibrant organised sector which will be the sign of a developed country. I would like to see a gradual and steady decline of the unorganized sector in our country. Then we will see a vibrant Indian economy”, said Prof. Subrahmanya.

About the author: M H Bala Subrahmanya is Chairman, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore.