Germany's Industry 4.0 & Sustainable Education for 10k+ Indian Students

Vangapandu Venkata Nagaraju, popularly known as Raj VVN, is a dynamic  young serial entrepreneur who has emerged as a true pioneer helping thousands of Indian engineering students to learn the most advanced German technologies at their doorsteps in India.

“I have years of experience in the international business world in the fields of Aerospace, Automobile, Mechanical and Information Technology. Being an aerospace engineer, I always dreamt of being able to create an advanced technology platform that could offer skills in German technologies to Indian youngsters. It took time, but I am proud to claim that I did it,” says Mr. Vangapandu Venkata Nagaraju, a.k.a. Raj VVN, Founder and President, German Varsity for Advanced Studies, Germany.

While the rest of India woke up to the potential and effectiveness of virtual learning in the wake of COVID-19 induced lockdown of everything including educational institutions, Raj VVN visualised the need for virtual labs of Industry 4.0 technology a few years back and started working on bridging the void. With this ambition burning deep inside his heart, he created a sustainable learning ecosystem of laboratories that offered courses in Industry 4.0 technologies across the country.

“Due to COVID-19, everyone is talking of online learning and shifting their pedagogy online. But they’re still far behind compared to what we’ve been doing for years now. They still have to find an answer to the question on hands-on practice in the case of core engineering studies. We dealt with this years ago and our students are already moving ahead at great speed,” says Mr. Vangapandu Venkata Nagaraju with a proud smile.

Raj VVN envisioned this a few years back and created a platform for learning basics and advanced simulation techniques of Industrial automation applications with students sitting in their own classrooms or homes. Their work could actually be applied on Industrial robots placed in Germany, which are projected to their classrooms under the guidance of German professors.

Since 2014, this initiative has excelled by the name of “ARC – Advanced Robotics Control Labs” by Indo Euro Synchronization. Now, it is continuing its excellence under the name of “ARC Labs by German Varsity for Advanced Studies, Germany”.

“My vision has already produced fruitful results by skilling thousands of core engineering students in more than 50 research labs established and funded by the state and central governments of India, along with financial support from German collaborations,” elaborates Mr. Vangapandu Venkata Nagaraju.

On one hand, Raj VVN’s organisation is supporting Indian experts and students in India with exposure to German technology through his virtual labs, and on the other, nearly 500 students were taken to Germany to experience the high end technologies and get a chance for hands-on practice. More than 100 Indian professors also went to Germany with the students to experience the best training practices.

“This is the first and truly unique initiative wherein so many candidates were invited to experience the Industry 4.0 applications by travelling to Germany. Both the students and teachers have reported it as a once in a lifetime experience. I am happy that we could make it happen for them,” says Mr. Vangapandu Venkata Nagaraju.

It’s an understatement to say that he literally brought German technology to Indian academia’s doorstep. More than 10,000 students are benefitting with his virtual labs on a regular basis. Several of such students have also scored an opportunity to visit and witness the advanced technology live in Germany.

Mr. Vangapandu Venkata Nagaraju hails from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. Being a technology enthusiast, he always used to be in search of new learnings in the technology domain and sought opportunities across the world since his childhood. On his everlasting quest, he has been to several countries and currently resides in Germany since the last 10 years.

He finished his graduation in the field of Aerospace Engineering and earned his masters degree in the same field from RWTH Aachen University, Germany. During his bachelors and masters studies, he accomplished complex projects in Indian Space Research Organization - Sriharikota rocket launching station, India. He also worked at the Supersonics and Hypersonics Department at German Aerospace Centre, Germany. He worked on several major projects that included optimisation of the acoustic noise at launch pad during spacecraft launch, Rocket cone aerodynamics analysis, Mars capsule base flow analysis, etc.

He entered into the entrepreneurship world early in his career. Being an entrepreneur and observing the lack of technology in the Indian SME sector, he took several wonderful initiatives including the upgradation of learning ion technology from university level itself in the field of research and innovation by founding Indo-Euro Synchronization and later through his German Center for Advanced Studies. In this process of technology upgradation, he joined hands with world renowned research centers and took the initial step in the field of Industrial automation.

Today, he holds the responsibility of a director in four different international organisations located in Germany, Finland, Netherlands and India. He is the Founder and President of German Varsity for Advanced Studies, Germany, and the Indo Euro Synchronization. He is also the Course Director – EABW, Germany and a Trustee at the RO Foundation.

Currently, Mr. Vangapandu Venkata Nagaraju is also a part of NOS (National Occupancy Standard) committee member for Electronics Skill Council of India under the Skill India program by the central government of India with an agenda to benchmark and support the mechatronics and automation ecosystem by identifying the nation’s needs and developing job roles in the automation sector.

“With this new responsibility, I am finally able to serve my nation with a target of reaching more than 1,00,000 students with advanced and industry 4.0 applications. This is an area in which India still lags behind and really needs to improve to be able to become globally competitive. I am honoured to be able to contribute to this great aim,” concludes Mr. Vangapandu Venkata Nagaraju in a humble tone.

Website: www.rajvvn.com

Disclaimer: The views, suggestions and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Forbes India journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.