Novartis to ramp up India development centre

Source: The Hindu, Business Line

Thursday, 31 January, 2008

Hyderabad: Global pharma major Novartis will ramp up operations at its India Development Centre located here and will hire 700 over the next 18 months.

“The total headcount in Hyderabad development centre will reach 1,000 in the next 18 months (from current 300) to support the increase in operations,” Ranjit Shahani, Managing Director, Novartis India Ltd, told newspersons here on Tuesday.

(Note: For a background note on Novartis' problems with India's patent law see "India's National Innovation System: Key Elements and Corporate Perspectives", p. 33)

Talent crunch in the West: Wipro sends international graduates to India for training

Source: Business Standard, 30.01.2008 India not stealing jobs from West: Premji

Press Trust of India / Toronto January 30, 2008

Countering the rancour in the West against outsourcing of jobs, Azim Premji, chairman, Wipro, said talent shortage made a mockery of the claim that India was stealing jobs from the West.

"Making rhetoric of jobs getting displaced in North America or Europe is not answering the question. What is of concern is how serious a shortage of technical talent is building up in the western world. Global companies are going to where not enough young boys and girls are getting into math, science and engineering. That trend is not being reversed," Premji said.

Jobs were getting displaced because there was not enough talent there to fill the jobs, Premji said.

He said as Wipro expanded into other countries, it often had to hire graduates from other disciplines and then send them to the company's campus in Bangalore to be trained in software engineering and other technical skills. (emphasis added)

Premji said that with the company's Canadian operations growing rapidly, it would need more and more skilled graduates there. He said he expected Wipro's Canadian business to grow by 50% a year as it took on new clients, while hiring more Canadian engineers, executives and technical staff.

"Canada is a focus market for us," Premji said over lunch at an Indian restaurant in Mississauga, just west of Toronto. "We believe we can grow this market quite aggressively," he said.

Canada has been a small part of the Wipro Empire. Its 500 staff in Toronto, Windsor, Ottawa and Calgary help generate around $100 million of the global company's $5-billion in annual revenues. The bulk of its staff works with Nortel Networks developing telecommunications switching equipment.

But the Canadian operation has gone from three clients to 20 in the past 18 months while adding 160 staff and setting up a dedicated sales team. Moving beyond telecom, Wipro is also courting Canadian insurance firms and energy utilities.

Reporting by Bal Krishna in Toronto

Boeing in technology venture with India's Wipro, HCL

Tue Jan 29, 2008 5:41am EST
Source: reuters.com

MUMBAI, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Boeing Co has entered into an agreement with the Indian Institute of Science and software firms Wipro Technologies and HCL Technologies to develop wireless technologies and other network technologies.

The venture, Aerospace Network Research Consortium, is for a period of four years and can be extended based on "mutual interests", according to a joint statement.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Wipro Technologies is the software services arm of No. 3 software exporter Wipro Ltd.

"We have a great need for advanced, affordable aerospace network R&D," Naveed Hussain, vice president for engineering and technology, Boeing India, was cited as saying.

Boeing last year signed a 10-year manufacturing deal with India's state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd worth more than $1 billion.

Boeing has said it sees business worth $80 billion in India's commercial sector and $15 billion in the defence segment over 10-15 years.

(Reporting by Rina Chandran; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)

Siemens to set up R&D Center near Mumbai and a Software Center in Maharashtra

Siemens signs Letter of Understanding with Government of Maharashtra

Siemens Ltd has announced that the Government of Maharashtra and Siemens signed a Letter of Understanding on January 28, 2008, to support Company's expansion plans in the State. Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh, Honourable Chief Minister of Maharashtra and other dignitaries of the Government of Maharashtra delegation were in Europe to attend the World Economic Forum meet in Davos and made a stopover in Germany. A Letter of Understanding was signed by Mr. V K Jairath, Principal Secretary - Industries, Government of Maharashtra and Dr. Armin Bruck, Managing Director, Siemens Ltd. and Mr. V V Paranjape, Director, Siemens Ltd., thereby fully committing to put the projects on the fast track under Single Window Clearance and make them a success. The delegation including Chief Minister and other eminent dignitaries, visited the Siemens office in Berlin yesterday. They met with the senior management of Energy and Industry businesses of Siemens AG. They also visited the Traffic Management Centre and Turbine factory of the Company in Berlin. Siemens intends to develop additional manufacturing centers in Maharashtra. These will be for manufacturing equipment in the areas of Power Generation and Railway Transportation. During the discussion with the management of Siemens, the Government of Maharashtra committed to extend full support to Siemens and help Siemens India to expand its operations in the state. The CM delegation is on a 3-day visit to Germany to showcase the strengths of Maharashtra in Engineering and Automotive sector. Accompanying the CM's delegation are Mr. Johnny Joseph, Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra, V K Jairath Principal Secretary, Dept of Industries, Government of Maharashtra, and Mr. Rajiv Jalota CEO, MIDC. During this trip, the delegation will visit other German Companies such as Volkswagen, Hannover Trade and Exhibition Center. Siemens has a large presence in Maharashtra with its Headquarters located in Mumbai and 8 out of 18 factories situated in the state alone. Besides expansion plans in the areas of Power Generation and Railway Transportation, Siemens is also setting up an R&D centre at Kalwa, near Mumbai with 1000 people capacity and an additional software centre in the state.

Source: Equity Bulls

"Chrysler starts global car team"

Source: Business Week, 22.01.2008

By DEE-ANN DURBIN

DETROIT

Chrysler LLC said Tuesday it is starting a new product development team devoted to global midsize cars and will set up regional product development centers as part of its effort to expand overseas sales.

[...]

[T]he company will move aggressively to establish overseas product planning centers that will bring together design, engineering and parts sourcing and could eventually include manufacturing. Likely locations for the first of those centers would be Toluca, Mexico, where Chrysler already has an assembly plant, plus Beijing and Shanghai, China [..].

[...]

Chrysler said it also plans to use more common components and expand its engineering centers in China, India, Eastern Europe and Mexico as part of the realignment.

[...]

Microsoft cites poor implementation of IPR laws in India as a reason for not developing country specific products

Source: Press Trust of India, 22.01.2008

New Delhi, Jan 22 (PTI):

The global software industry generally refrain from developing India-specific products mainly because of high levels of piracy and poor awareness among law enforcement agencies, said a top Microsoft official.

Microsoft (India) Managing Director Neelam Dhawan today said enforcing IPR laws was a "challenge" and that the industry, as per studies, was losing almost 72 per cent of its revenue due to circulation of pirated software - a menace which hasn't been checked due to poor awareness among law-enforcing agencies here.

"We have the best IPR laws in the world but their poor enforcement acts as a deterrent to innovation. This is why we do not have a product made for India," said Dhawan, at a function to award Microsoft IPR scholarships to 33 law students from 11 law schools.

She said Microsoft is offering scholarships to law students to encourage them to specialise in the IT and Intellectual Property field.

"If India has to achieve the status of a truly knowledge-based economy, fostering innovation and creating a strong IPR environment is critical. The scholarship is an attempt to create a sustainable IPR ecosystem whereby we promote IPR practitioners in the country," she said announcing an award of Rs 80,000 each to the selected scholars.

Launching a legal on-line community portal "legaladda.Com," Dhawan said it was aimed to offer an online community for interaction between legal professionals and update people in the subjects like IPR on global trends. PTI

Continental in R&D activities in India

Continental AG invests Rs. 100 Crores in new plant in India Source: machinist.in Written by Anand

Monday, 21 January 2008

Targets 60% CAGR in operations by 2012 New Delhi: Hanover-based Continental AG is looking to boost its India operations after their recent buyout of Siemens’ Automotive business. The recent acquisition of Siemens VDO by Continental AG for €11.4 billion has made Continental as the second largest auto component manufacturer in Europe (after Bosch) and 5th largest in the world. With the acquisition, the overall basket of offerings to the Indian customers has widened and the combined organization will enhance Continental’s ability to develop electronic solutions that improve vehicle performance. €11.4 billion buyout of Siemens VDO ushers in new era * Invests Rs 100 crores for automotive electronics plant in Bangalore * Focus on ‘affordable cars’ in growing markets like India and China * Company now has 6 manufacturing facilities and 3 R&D centres With an initial investment of Rs.100 Crores (17.5 Million Euros), the upcoming automotive electronics plant in Bangalore is one of the major investments for the new Continental in India. The new state-of-the-art manufacturing setup will also house an R&D centre. The Joint Venture facilities with Rico and Ashok Leyland will also attract fresh investments in the coming years. “In the next decade one of the main focuses of the automotive industry will be the so-called affordable cars, especially in the growth markets like India and China. The production of cars with a in price range of Rs. 5 Lakh (approx. 9000 Euros) will increase from current figure of 650.000 to approx 1.1 Million units by 2017.This is 70 percent increase. To cope with this demand we have to focus on solutions for the Indian market, people want safe, yet affordable cars”, said Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, Chief Technology Officer and Board Member of Continental AG. “Continental has developed strategies and products that are suited to these demands”, said Dr. Neumann. Continental aims to translate their extensive expertise in vehicle technology into low cost, affordable components and systems that are tailored to the Indian market. Their engineers in India are working on solutions that are optimized for our Indian market. “Localization also significantly reduces development and production costs and reduces the response time”, said Dr. Markus Distelhoff, Managing Director, Continental Automotive Systems, India. With the Indian emission norms and safety legislations getting stricter the automotives of tomorrow will have more and more electronics built into them. To address this, the automotive products out of Powertrain, Interior and Chassis & Safety portfolio as well as out of ContiTech division (being the worldwide market leader in non tire rubber products) will have an increased share of value addition in the vehicle. Dr. Markus Distelhoff said, “We expect our products such as diesel/gasoline injections systems, immobilizers, electronic control units for body electronics, steering and airbags, brake systems, instrument clusters and radios to contribute to our growth in India in the near future”. Since Indian market is also of interest to the ContiTech division, both as a manufacturing location and as a market for its products, Continental has stepped up involvement in that market this year. ContiTech is currently producing in Kolkata and Delhi. Through the current R&D facilities in Bangalore, Continental off-shores a lot of development work for its other locations in Europe and NAFTA. Besides engineering capacities, testing and validation services will also be provided from these development centers. The new Continental AG in India now commands a significant share of the Indian automotive supplies market, with 6 manufacturing facilities and 3 R&D centres. The company is targeting 60% compounded annual growth rate in its India business by 2012. Rs. 100 Crores (17.5 Million Euros) (Note: emphasis in text - i.e. characters in bold letters above - has been added.)

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ArcelorMittal may set up R&D unit in Kolkata

Source: The Economic Times, 21.01.2008

JAMSHEDPUR/KOLKATA: ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel company, is drawing up plans to set up a state-of-the-art R&D facility in Kolkata. The initiative, tightly under wraps at present, is being blueprinted. If it takes shape, it will not only give the steel company an address in Kolkata, but will also serve as a likely precursor to a more ambitious plan that the company has lined up to enter the rapidly-growing, lucrative business of engineering consultancy.

The company seems to have already appointed nearly 300 engineers to power its high-tech R&D hub. The new centre will take up consultancy jobs and cater to needs of ArcelorMittal plants in 27 countries around the world. In this job, it was assisted by Delhi-based Oman Consultants.

To house the R&D centre, the company is already believed to have taken up some 25,000 square feet of office space in Kolkata’s eastern fringes at New Town, Rajarhat, which is being developed as a Knowledge City. When contacted ArcelorMittal India CEO Sanak Misra declined to comment on the proposed R&D centre.

“I have no idea about it,” he told ET. R&D is obviously an important area for the company. Earlier, speaking on sideline of Jharkhand Enterprise 2007, group management board member and head for Asia, Africa, mining and CIS at ArcelorMittal Malay Mukherjee had said the company would like to collaborate in R&D with other steel plants in India, particularly with Steel Authority of India (SAIL).

A source confirmed: “The company has recruited some 300 people for the new R&D centre. There is a huge gap in the market between supply and demand for such consultancy jobs in India where new greenfield plants and huge capacity additions are taking place. Given our strong skillsets in the area, we hope to step into the arena and cater to the requirement of plants both here in India and elsewhere in the world.”

Domestic steel-making capacity is set to grow from 50 million tonnes in 2007-08 to 80 mt by 2010-11. By 2015, this may go up to 120 mt. Given this perspective, the field of a new plant design and technology has literally exploded. Currently, two big names largely dominate the field of engineering consultants — public sector Mecon and MN Dastur. ArcelorMittal has enormous domain knowledge and IP in the area of design consultancy.

Switzerland's Roche to expand R&D capacities in Germany

Basel, 18 January 2008 (Press release by Roche)

Roche to invest 430 million Swiss francs (approx. 266.5 million euros) at sites in Germany and Switzerland

Centres for the research, development, production and filling of innovative biopharmaceuticals to be expanded

Roche has approved extensive investment plans for its Penzberg, Mannheim and Kaiseraugst sites. Around 280 million Swiss francs (aprox. 174 million euros) will be invested in expanding biotech drug research and development activities at Penzberg in Germay's Upper Bavaria region. This decision will ensure that the company’s own value added chain is exploited to its full potential in the development and production of biopharmaceuticals mainly for oncology applications. (Also see a report on marketwatch.com.)

A total of some 150 million francs will be invested at Mannheim and Kaiseraugst in expanding modern syringe filling capacities for drugs such as Mircera, Pegasys or Actemra.

Commenting on the decision, Roche CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Franz B. Humer, said: "After conducting a thorough evaluation of our production sites in many regions of the world and taking on board local business conditions at each, we have decided to make investments at these three sites in Germany and Switzerland. With our biopharmaceuticals heavily in demand, this step will both safeguard and expand production. Investments like this are very much long term in nature and they create hundreds of jobs in and around the company. It is therefore essential that a stable, industry-friendly environment be maintained in the long term".

The decision means that Roche’s investment in Pharma production equipment in the last five years has totalled around 1 billion Swiss francs (about 600 million euros) each in Germany and in Switzerland, resulting in the creation of several hundred new jobs.

The Roche Group - a pioneer in the biotechnology sector
Roche has invested in biotechnology from the outset, identifying important trends and technologies as they have emerged. Research has been pursued in the key areas of genetics, genomics and proteomics, and cutting-edge technologies – monoclonal antibodies, PCR and molecular genetic tests - have been developed to permit the broad application of biotechnology in medicine.

The Roche Group is now a leading supplier of biotechnology-based products for physicians and patients. Medicines and tests taking the patient’s individual genetic characteristics into account are already available today.

Today, five of the Group’s top ten pharmaceuticals are products of biotechnological research; they account for around 45 per cent of the Pharma Division’s total sales. Measured by sales and production capacities of biopharmaceuticals, the Roche Group is the world’s leading biotech company.

About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world's biggest biotech company and an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, a market leader in virology and active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammation, metabolic disorders and diseases of the central nervous system. In 2006 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 33.3 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 8.7 billion Swiss francs. Roche has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai, and invests approximately 7 billion Swiss francs a year in R&D. Worldwide, the Group employs about 75,000 people. For further information please visit www.roche.com

US-based doctors' group to conduct diabetes research in India

Chennai, (PTI): A US-based doctors' body, whose research has proved the efficacy of low-fat vegetarian diets in reversing blood sugar levels of diabetic patients, is set to conduct two similar studies in India.

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine had found that a vegetarian diet with less oil and no milk products could remarkably bring down blood sugar level, cholesterol, blood pressure and weight even in people suffering from diabetes.

The committee's founder Dr Neal Barnard has initiated steps to conduct the two similar studies -- one on adult patients and another on children -- in collaboration with Indian physicians.

Barnard who is here for a week-long visit to India, was holding talks with doctors in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Hyderabad, Goa, Coimbatore and Puducherry on conducting the study as well as propagating the efficacy of vegetarian diet in the treatment of diabetes.

The studies would commence this year and selection of patients and funding processes would commence soon, Barnard told PTI.

"Our aim was to prove and promote the efficacy of food in diabetes treatment rather than use of medicines," he said.

Source: The Hindu, 16. Jan. 2008

Made in Mumbai, wanted by the world

Reshma Patil , Hindustan Times

Email Author

Mumbai, January 15, 2008

First Published: 01:03 IST(15/1/2008)

Last Updated: 13:03 IST(15/1/2008)

The world’s smallest wearable cardiac monitor, a toffee-sized silicon locket, is almost ready at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B).

While the tiny computer that can store a week’s electrocardiogram (ECG) data awaits a manufacturer, it is already in demand. IIT engineers borrow it, rig some adjustments and the locket meant to monitor a heart without hospital visits measures tremors in buildings instead.

“I would be the first to buy one for my mother. The basic device is like plug-and-play,’’ said IIT’s professor Rakesh Lal, of the School of Bioscience and Bioengineering, who conceptualised the project with professor S. Mukherji. “There isn’t another product like the silicon locket,’’ Lal told HT from the University of California where he is a visiting fellow. Similar ECG monitors in the market are walkman-sized or bigger.

The demand for a user-friendly cardiac monitor is urgent in India, where, as top cardiologist Devi Shetty puts it, ‘heart disease is like an epidemic.’ “Indians are genetically three times more vulnerable to heart attacks than Europeans,’’ Dr Shetty, chairman, Narayana Hrudayalaya, told HT from Bangalore. “The average age of my patients in India is 45 years. Fathers bring their young sons for bypass grafting.”

Indians and South Asians are prone to a first heart attack at age 53, and the World Health Organisation estimates that 60 per cent of the world’s cardiac patients could be Indians by 2010.

“The locket is a hi-tech solution delivered in a low-tech fashion,’’ said professor Dinesh Sharma, who heads the project, funded by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) at IIT’s microelectronics department. “A user could also send its data card to a hospital to download ECG.’’

Algorithms fed in its system enable the locket to distinguish between jerks from running, working out or climbing stairs, and irrythmic heartbeats. Worn with five electrodes on the chest, a sensor in the locket records the heart’s electrical activity or ECG.

If it detects abnormalities, it can automatically transmit the last few seconds of ECG data to a central server using a mobile phone interface.

“We use trans-telephonic ECG devices to transmit ECG from villages through telephone lines, but the IIT device is more sophisticated,’’ said Dr Shetty. “It definitely has clinical applications, however, they’ll have to come up with a perfect product, since you cannot take chances with life.”

When a user feels uneasy, he can press a locket button to ‘mark’ that data so a doctor can later scrutinise marked segments and check the heart’s activity before the irregularity. Connected to a cell phone, the locket can be programmed to send SMS containing marked data to a doctor. Software in the locket forwards the data to the mobile, which sends the SMS.

TCS chief technology officer K Ananth Krishnan said, “TCS is always looking to collaborate with institutions to identify new technology areas and mutually develop intellectual capital.’’

Source: The Hindustan Times

Indian R&D centres drive US patent rush

BANGALORE: When Pallavi Mahajan, an engineering manager with networking biggie Juniper Networks, filed two hi-tech patents with the US patents department, it seemed a routine affair. After all, patent filings from the research and development (R&D) hubs of MNC centres in India have been de rigeur. But the extent of technological prowess comes to the fore only when one takes a look at her achievements. Her first patent filing — which has been approved by Juniper’s patent panel — talks about the idea of how to centrally configure a multi-chassis router. A multi-chassis router includes a control node coupled to the plurality of chassis by communication links. “Three of my patents have been approved internally while 14 from the India research centre are pending for approval,” said Ms Mahajan. “Most of the patents are granted for innovations that solve a tough customer problem. It is not research for research’s sake.” Notably, the number of patent filings from India R&D centres have been growing over the years. It is the quality and hi-tech bit that’s changing. More and more cutting-edge products are being developed in India. While outsourcing lower-level technical jobs to India has been a practice of multinational technology firms, the increasing reliance on Indian R&D operations is a growing trend. Recently, Intel India has won a patent on garbage collection (GC), a critical function in all computing devices that run Java and .NET. It involves fast efficient allocation and reclamation of system memory. Since all applications have to be paused before GC can happen, GC pause times have to be small so that the impact to the performance of user applications is limited. The patent describes an invention that allows the multiple phases in GC to proceed in parallels and thus the whole GC process finishes faster and applications can resume quickly. To boot, Adobe has issued 33 patents from India in the last nine years, out of which, 25 have been approved internally, and are pending to be sent for approval at the US patent office. The patents are related to Adobe technologies in print, video, images, layout, animation, web applications, rich media & mobile content, online forms and e-learning, among others. Adobe India has also delivered the first India-bred product — Pagemaker 7 — which has become a global standard. Dr Naresh Gupta, vice-president and managing director, Adobe, had set up the Indian R&D operations with a handful of people. Today, Adobe is driving even greater innovation with powerful, compelling software solutions from India, he said. Microsoft has a dedicated team at its India development centre which drives certain aspects of the Visual Studio product. The entire tooling work for Microsoft’s software for mobile devices (read: Office Communicator Mobile, SQL Mobile, Office Mobile and Visual Studio for Devices) is carried out at the Hyderabad centre. To boot, MSIDC also holds complete ownership for developing the Virtual PC 2007, which was released in March 2007. The numbers have been good as well. Since US patent filing - and approval - is a long-drawn process, which takes anywhere between 36 and 48 months, it is difficult to fix an exact number of patent filings from India. What’s important is that the Indian centres’ rate of innovation is extremely good compared to more mature R&D centres in the US and Europe. In terms of overall patent filings, industry experts point out that the top five emerging markets had filed 3,500 patents between 1999 and 2003. A government report in the US has pointed out that US patent applications from China, India, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan rose 759% during 1981-2001, while the patent applications from the US grew 116% during the same period. Source: The Economic Times 8 Nov, 2007, 0227 hrs IST,Chiranjoy Sen, TN

India announces massive investment in skills creation and science and technology

India announces setting up of 30 new Central universities, and several new IITs and IIMs. See details below.

Source: Press release, dated January 3, 2008, issued by India's Press Information Bureau

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated the 95th Indian Science Congress at Visakhapatnam today. Speaking at the occasion, Dr. Manmohan Singh reiterated the Government’s commitment to invest more in science education. The Eleventh Five Year Plan is in fact a National Education Plan, the Prime Minister said. He stressed on the need for a global response, a national response and a local response to meet the challenge of climate change. Dr. Singh also urged the scientific community to tap into our traditional knowledge base, to develop environment-friendly and efficient technologies.
[...]

===
Our Government is committed to investing more, much more, in education, especially science education. The Eleventh Five Year Plan is in fact a National Education Plan. The Plan allocation for education has been stepped up from 7.7% of gross budgetary support for the Plan, in the 10th Plan, to over 19% in the 11th Plan. In nominal terms there is going to be a five-fold increase in spending on education in the 11th plan. This is an unprecedented increase in financial support for education in India.

We are planning to fund thirty new Central Universities, five new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, eight new Indian Institutes of Technology, seven new Indian Institutes of Management, and twenty new Indian Institutes of Information Technology.

We are also launching a Mission on Vocational Education and Skill Development through which we will open 1600 new Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Polytechnics, 10,000 new vocational schools and 50,000 new Skill Development Centres.

We will ensure that annually, over 100 lakh students get vocational training – which is a four-time increase from today’s level. Detailed plan for implementing these proposals will be spelt out in the next six months.

To enlarge the pool of scientific manpower, and foster research in the sciences, a programme entitled “Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research” (INSPIRE), is being launched. Under this programme, over the next 5 years, one million school students will be given science innovation scholarships of Rs. 5,000 each. The Plan will also support Scholarships for Higher Education (SHE), providing 10,000 scholarships per year of Rs. One Lakh, to attract talented students to enroll in B.Sc. and M.Sc. courses.

Our strategy for the promotion of science education in the 11th Plan will aim at (a) expanding and strengthening the Science & Technology base in our Universities, and (b) promote excellence through competitively secured funding at centers for advanced research. In addition, discipline-specific education programmes will be launched in strategic sectors like nuclear sciences and space sciences to capture talent at the “plus-two” stage itself.

All this marks a quantum leap in the infrastructure available for good quality teaching and research. At the last Science Congress I gave you my assurance that we are willing to increase the annual expenditure on science and technology from less than 1% of our GDP to 2% of our GDP in the next five years. That assurance stands.

We must make science a preferred discipline of study for our students. We must attract the best and the brightest young people to a career in science. We need, I believe, both a qualitative improvement and a quantitative expansion in the pool of science students in India. This means we will also need more teachers. We will need an army of teachers, especially in the basic sciences and in the field of mathematics. Shortage of good teachers is an immediate challenge.

I urge our academic community to come forward with innovative ideas to help us overcome and meet this challenge effectively. Tried and tested methods will not suffice. We need fresh creative thinking. Out-of-the-box solutions. The academic community too must be willing to think creatively.

===
Excerpted from the above mentioned press release

India’s National Innovation System: Key Elements and Corporate Perspectives

New publication by Research Project Global Innovation

India’s National Innovation System:
Key Elements and Corporate Perspectives

Working Paper 51, January 2008

Authored by:

Cornelius Herstatt, Rajnish Tiwari, and Dr. Stephan Buse

Institute of Technology and Innovation Management
Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Hamburg, Germany
Corresponding author: rajnish.tiwari@tuhh.de

Executive Summary

In recent years India has emerged as a major destination for corporate research and development (R&D), especially for multinational corporations. India’s domestic institutions like Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) have set prestigious milestones of international standards. Not surprisingly, at Governmental levels a number of international cooperation agreements in the field of science and technology have been signed with India. After years of self-imposed seclusion, principally motivated by post-colonial India’s insistence on the “development of indigenous technology”, India finally seems to have joined the global mainstream of innovation.

In January 2007 the Institute of Technology and Management at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) launched a research project titled “India's Innovation System: Exploring the Strengths”. The one-year project was initiated in cooperation with Honolulu-based East-West Center. The aim of the project was to better understand the emergence of India as an increasingly important R&D hub for both large and medium-sized multinational firms, which in a certain sense may be regarded as curious since India is generally thought to suffer from disadvantages caused by poor infrastructural facilities, red tape and corruption. This project therefore aimed to examine, evaluate and ultimately comprehend the elements and inherent strengths and weaknesses of India’s innovation system and its chances for the global economy, particularly in knowledge-intensive sectors.

A preliminary field study was carried out in National Capital Region of Delhi in February 2007, by conducting 22 explorative talks / interviews. The participants included Government officials dealing with issues related to India’s National Innovation System, researchers and senior level management of some publicly-funded research institutions, one representative of a major industry association and some privately-held firms. Later in summer 2007 a 6-weeks field research was conducted by the authors in the National Capital Region of Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore. In addition to that a small number of pre-operational interviews was conducted in Germany. The authors interviewed representatives of private firms as well as Governmental / institutional bodies (85 in total). This study is unique in the sense that it not just undertakes an extensive effort to bring out comprehensive, factual data on various components of India’s innovation system – many hitherto not widely known – but also in the sense that it enables an empirical characterization of this system as perceived by various stakeholders, both domestic and foreign.

Based on our research we draw the following picture concerning India’s Innovation System of today:

India is in the process of emerging as a major R&D hub for both large and medium-sized multinational companies in various industries. This development is mainly owing to the availability of skilled labor produced in world-class elite institutions. Cost advantages, e.g. in the form of low wages are still present but receding due to substantial wage hikes often ranging between 15 and 25% per annum. The striking finding is however about market-driven factors. Of late, India’s market potential, in the meantime ranked as 3^rd largest worldwide by the Global Competitiveness Report 2007-08, has emerged as a crucial driver. Rising income levels of India’s billion-plus population are creating unique market opportunities for firms, both domestic and foreign.

In India the Government has historically played a major and in most cases a singularly positive role in the formation of its innovation system. India, ever since its independence from British rule, has invested much time, resources and efforts in creating a knowledge society and building institutions of research and higher institutions. Despite explosive population growth literacy rate in India grew from 18.3% in 1950-51 to 64.8% in 2001 thanks to concerted Government efforts; female literacy rose from a mere 8.9% to 53.7% in the same period. Moreover the quality of education in India is generally ranked as very good. According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2007-08 the quality of mathematics and science education in India is ranked as 11^th best in the world, much ahead of 29^th placed Japan, 36^th placed Germany, 45^th placed United States and 46^th placed United Kingdom.

Nevertheless, India is faced with major challenges related to infrastructure and bureaucratic hurdles. The quality of education, notwithstanding such excellent rankings as stated above, in many institutions does not reach the standards required for (cutting-edge) R&D efforts. Moreover, a booming economy is leading to shortage of qualified and experienced skilled labor – which result in inflationary wage growth and high attrition rates, which generally lay in a double-digit range.

With the Government maintaining a pro-active role many of these problems may however be expected to get resolved to a manageable extent. In its Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-12) the Government has announced massive investments in infrastructure and education sectors to enhance both the quantity and the quality.

Industrial firms in India have recognized their chances and are investing heavily in R&D capacities. India is also a beneficiary of global mobility and exchange of talents, technology and resources as much as the world, especially the developed Western countries, have profited from India’s export of brain power.

In sum all these developments raise hopes for a further improvement in the conditions of India’s National Innovation System.

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Missing at the Indian Science Congress: science, scientists

Source: Amitabh Sinha (The Sunday Express)
Posted online: Sunday, January 06, 2008 at 0000 hrs IST

This year’s event prompts Govt to rethink its association: dismal attendance, ‘old’ papers, ‘frustrated’ experts, rehashed seminars

Vishakapatnam, January 5. It started in 1914 at the Asiatic Society in Kolkata to “stimulate scientific research in the country through a gathering of research workers.” But 94 years later, at a time when borders between different science disciplines are fast disappearing, the Indian Science Congress is facing a crisis of identity.

So much so that top scientists have kept away from the latest edition that began on January 3 here, flagged off by none else than the Prime Minister himself. The Congress ends tomorrow but attendance is at a dismal low at most of the sessions, papers being presented are two or three years old, and the government is left wondering “what it needs to do in this situation.”

Barring full halls for lectures by the three Nobel Laureates invited this time, Paul M Nurse (Medicine), Roger D Kornberg (Chemistry), and Robert Curl Jr (Chemistry), a top official in the Science and Technology Ministry told The Sunday Express: “For the past three years, hardly anything of relevance has come out of this Congress.”

The Ministry provides a grant of Rs 1 crore every year to the Congress which is supposed to showcase the best of Indian science and popularise it among young scientists and students. But now, the official said, the Ministry is forced to “rethink whether to continue its association with the body of scientists (Indian Science Congress Association) who are running the show.”

“I am sorry to say so but the Science Congress has become more of a mela,” says Prof C N R Rao, chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister, who is among the country’s top scientists who has skipped the Congress here. “I have become frustrated with it. I have my research to attend to and decided to stay away,” he said.

He’s not the only one to have skipped the event. Of the 41 laboratories under the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), only two are represented by their directors. Indeed, the director general of the CSIR himself has not shown up.

Premier scientific institutions like the Indian Institute of Science, TIFR, various IITs etc., are either not represented at all or have a mere token presence. Moreover, not a single top-level scientist has turned up from the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) or the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) or the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR). The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had a team led by its director G Madhavan Nair but its session on community development through space applications was a rehash of ideas already expressed at several other fora.

Some of the big names who were scheduled to speak pulled out at the last minute. National Knowledge Commission chairman Sam Pitroda was listed for a lecture on Friday but as was revealed later, he had never sent in his confirmation. Secretary of Department of Biotechnology M K Bhan could not make it because of poor health.

“It is disappointing to see that the Science Congress is not able to attract the best of scientific minds in the country. I am very concerned with this,” admits celebrated agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan, one of the few well-known faces present here. “We must look at making better arrangements and doing whatever is necessary to ensure that the top scientists attend this event.”

Prof Vijaylakshmi Ravindranath, director, National Brain Research Institute, who was here for the first two days, said the event needed some structural changes. “It is a wonderful platform for the Indian scientists to showcase their work,” says Dr Ravindranath, the only woman to head a major laboratory in the country.. “But I think the organising committee must do something so that this does not become irrelevant.”

AMD expands its R&D in India

BS Reporter / Hyderabad January 05, 2008

Opens fourth facility in the country at Hyderabad to develop cutting-edge tech.

AMD, a global player in processing solutions in computing, graphics and consumer electronics markets, has further expanded its R&D operations in India by opening a new facility in Hyderabad on Friday.

The 30,000 sq ft facility, its second in Hyderabad and the fourth in the country, will work along with its Bangalore facilities to develop cutting-edge technologies that would enable the convergence of PCs and CEs.

The centre currently employs 120 professionals, and is scalable to another 100, Dasaradha R Gude, vice-president and managing director, AMD R&D Centre India, said. The company has a headcount of 650 in the country, with 450 working out of Hyderabad.

Commenting on the company reporting losses for the last three quarters, including a negative impact due to the acquisition of ATI Corporation, Dirk Meyer, president and chief operating officer of AMD, said the company would be back to financial health and start making operating profits from the third quarter of 2008.

According to him, the company plans to launch AMD Fusion, the code name for its next-generation microprocessor, by June 2009, besides looking at developing products that enable Internet access through mobile handsets.

On the agreement with SemIndia for the proposed wafer fabrication and assembly plant-test-mark-pack operations in Hyderabad in November 2005, Meyer said that AMD at present neither has plans to make any investments, nor does it plan to outsource component manufacturing from India.

“AMD will be providing its technical and manufacturing expertise on the project, while SemIndia will be the manufacturing entity,” he said, refusing to divulge further details.

AMD currently commands a 21.5 per cent share in the 6.6-million unit processors market in India and enjoys a 23 per cent share globally. “Our vision is to corner half or at least one-third of the 250-million units of the global market, going forward,” he said. Source: Business Standard