OECD Economic Survey of India 2017 : Indian economy is expanding at a fast pace, boosting living standards and reducing poverty nationwide; Hails India’s recent growth rate of more than 7 percent annually as the strongest among G-20 countries; Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Shri Shaktikanta Das and Secretary-General OECD, Mr. Angel Gurria jointly launched OECD Economic Survey of India in Delhi today.

The Indian economy is expanding at a fast pace, boosting living standards and reducing poverty nationwide.



Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) signs ten (10) more Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) pertaining to various sectors of the economy like Telecom, Pharmaceutical, Banking & Finance, Steel, Retail and Information Technology etc.; With this, the total number of APAs entered into by the CBDT reaches 140.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has entered into 10 more Advance Pricing Agreements



Discover healthy soils and thermal imaging with SRUC at Edinburgh International Science Festival

SRUC staff will be running interactive family activities based around thermal imaging of animals and healthy soils at this year’s Edinburgh International Science Festival.



China unveils leading research vessels to boost marine survey

China unveiled two domestic state-of-the-art marine geological survey vessels in Shanghai Tuesday.

One ship, Haiyang Dizhi-8 (Ocean Geology No.8) uses world-leading techniques to create high-resolution three-dimensional images of the seabed’s geological structure.

Haiyang Dizhi-8 is 88 meters in length, can cruise for up to 16,000 nautical miles and has a maximum speed over 15 knots per hour.

The other ship, Haiyang Dizhi-9, comes with the world’s best deep-water drilling system, able to dig 160 meters into the seabed at a water depth of 2,500 meters.

“The launch, one year ahead of schedule, will boost the fleet of long-serving ships,” said Zhong Ziran, head of China Geological Survey.

The new ships are also a great boost to China’s marine exploration for oil and gas.

Both ships are seaworthy in all kinds of waters.

China now has six marine geological research vessels in service, launching Haiyang-6 in October 2008.

It plans to unveil Haiyang Dizhi-10 at the beginning of May and put the three new vessels into service by the end of October.



News story: Oscar success: UK cutting-edge music technology in the mix

La La Land – awarded Best Original Music Score – features a next-generation synthesizer, developed by ROLI with support from Innovate UK.

The Dalston-based music company’s innovative Seaboard GRAND has gained widespread attention with La La Land, dominating the film and television awards season for its soundtrack.

ROLI has revolutionised the piano keyboard by replacing white and black keys with a continuous, touch-responsive surface. Its ’keywaves’ are sensitive to initial strike force, pressure and left–right finger placement.

The instrument is used in a seminal scene with Ryan Gosling’s character, Sebastian, joining a band fronted by musician John Legend. It marks the upturn of his career as the jazz purist comes to accept that the music he loves needs to evolve to gain a broader audience and survive.

As well as the Oscar, the film won a Golden Globe for Best Original Score and British Academy Film Award for Best Film Music.

Innovate UK has a long history with ROLI. We first supported the company on research and development for the technology that underpins the Seaboard. ROLI has also received grants from Innovate UK for further projects, including proof of concepts and prototyping. We continue to work with the team today.