Manipal, Dec 15: “India is growing and the platform for nation building is a university. And, for the universities to move forward, the backbone is research,” said  Mr Faizal E. Kottikollon, Founder and Chairman, KEF Holdings, UAE after inaugurating the MIT-KEF R&D Centre at Manipal Institute of Technology here on Saturday.

The Centre is the brainchild of Mr Faizal an alumnus of MIT.

It was in 2012 that when he came to attend a alumni reunion , he shared the idea of starting a research centre for pre-fabricated building material with Manipal Academy of Higher Education. That idea took birth today with the inauguration of the first phase.

The Centre is a joint venture between MAHE and KEF Holdings, UAE, a multinational company that specializes in innovative offsite construction technology. The total investment for the Centre is worth Rs.16 crores with equal contributions from both partners.

The R&D Centre has been established under the aegis of Faizal and Shabana Foundation.

Later, at the valedictory of the two-day 3rd Global Alumni meet of Manipal Academy of Higher Education at KMC Greens, Mr Faizal and his wife, Ms Shabana were felicitated.

The concept of “manufacturing buildings” was brought to India by KEF in 2014. They established office in Bangalore and have since designed several buildings. All Indira Canteens in Karnataka have been designed and built by KEF.

“The idea is to design and then manufacture the components in a factory environment. We introduce robotics into this industry. And in the last three years we have grown by million dollars.  For me it is a great opportunity to involve my team and your professors here and bring this concept to reality. If we can manufacture aircraft and cars, why not buildings,” Mr Faizal reasoned.

It takes years to make building, but this concept is much faster. For example he said, “This building is of 50,000 square feet and after designing and manufacturing, it can be built in about two months,” he said.

The Centre aims at providing a cutting-edge research and development facility to upcoming Civil Engineering and Architecture students. It will be equipped with state-of-the-art prestressing lab along with material testing lab.

Director MIT, Dr Srikanth Rao welcomed the gathering and said, “We look forward for the research work to start and for the results of research to benefit students and faculty. Present on the occasion were Mrs Vasanti R Pai, Trustee MAHE Trust and wife of Chancellor, Dr Ramdas M Pai, Dr Ranjan Pai, Chairman, MEMG, Bengaluru, Pro Chancellor, Dr H.S. Ballal, Vice Chancellor, Dr H Vinod Bhat Shabana Faizal, Co Founder and Vice Chairperson of KEF Holdings and other officials of the MAHE and KEF Holdings including the CEO of KEF, Mr Richard Pattle.

 

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Bengaluru, May 4: Royal Challengers Bengaluru pressed the self-destruction button halfway but a blazing fifty by captain Faf du Plessis had enough torque in it to carry them to a four-wicket over Gujarat Titans in their IPL match here on Saturday.

Du Plesiss (64, 23b, 10x4, 3x6) and Kohli (42, 27b, 2x4, 4x6), who added 92 runs in just 35 balls for the opening wicket, were in prime touch as Royal Challengers moved past a frail target of 148, braving some nervy moments, most of it their own creation.

The win also lifted RCB to seventh place on the table with eight points from 11 matches, and kept their mathematical chances of making it to the play-offs alive.

Du Plessis and Kohli dealt in boundaries as the home side racked in 92 runs in Power Play, that contained 10 fours and seven maximums.

Both Du Plessis and Kohli were severe on all GT bowlers, as the latter began the butchering with two sixes off pacer Mohit Sharma in the first over.

Du Plessis was in no mood to play the role of a sidekick as he waded into left-arm pacer Josh Little with a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 4 in the second over that produced a total of 20 runs.

The Titans introduced IPL debutant left-arm spinner Manav Suthar in the hope of containing Kohli at least, but the ploy was foiled spectacularly.

The RCB talisman showed his increasing comfort against spin, clobbering Suthar for two successive sixes.

Du Plessis reserved his punitive blade for Mohit, whom he carted around for four fours in the fifth over, as the South African reached fifty in just 18 balls before falling to Little.

RCB entered a phase of struggle from there as they lost last match centurion Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green between the sixth and 10th overs for just 20 runs.

Little (4/45) and spinner Noor Ahmad (2/23) were the chief perpetrators as RCB slipped from 92 for 1 to 112 for five.

Ahmad soon ousted Kohli as RCB were 117 for six but Dinesh Karthik (21 not out, 12b) was cool under pressure as RCB notched their overall fourth and third win in a row of this season.

Before RCB batsmen joined the party, their bowlers came up with an immaculate effort on a supportive pitch to bowl GT to a modest 147.

There were a couple of good partnerships – 61 between David Miller and Shahrukh Khan and 44 by Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan – but the Titans lacked that one big innings or a stand that could have given them a firmer grip on the match.

In fact, they seemed distinctly incapable of accelerating even in the Power Play as their top-order batters struggled against RCB pacers, Mohammed Siraj (2/29) and Yash Dayal (2/21) who stuck to a wonderful length.

That GT managed to strike just two fours in Power Play offered ample evidence to their struggle and RCB bowlers’ accuracy.

The Gujarat side’s Power Play score of 23 for three was the lowest in the segment this season, and it was mainly due to Siraj’s domination upfront.

He consumed an out-of-form Wriddhiman Saha with a fine outswinger which the GT opener wafted to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps.

Shubman Gill followed soon as his attempted swat to the on-side off Siraj took a leading edge and ended in the hands of Vysakh Vijayakumar at deep point.

Green fetched the third wicket for RCB in the Power Play when he jettisoned in-form B Sai Sudharsan, whose feeble pull close to the body was snaffled by Kohli at mid-off.

Miller (30, 20b) and Shahrukh (37, 24b) tried their best to drag GT out of the woods with a well-paced 61-run alliance off 37 balls for the fourth wicket.

Miller, who was fortunate to get dropped on 23 off Green by Karn Sharma, played archetypal power shots.

He punished leg-spinner Karn for a couple of sixes – a pull and a loft over extra cover – but fell to the same bowler when a miscued heave was grabbed by Maxwell at deep.

But a bigger misfortune was in store for the visitors as Shahrukh, who backed up a tad too far to Rahul Tewatia’s soft drop, could not beat a throw from Kohli to the non-striker’s end.

For the sixth-wicket, Tewatia (35, 21b) and Rashid (18, 14b) added 44 off 29 balls, but the latter’s desire to be innovative against Yash Dayal saw the ball crashing onto the stumps.

Tewatia, who punished Karn for 18 runs (4, 6, 4, 4) in the 16th over, departed soon.