ICTE Sector as Important as Food and Energy: Secretary DIT, ICTE Sector is Important Like Food and Energy, Information Communication Technology and Electronics Sector, ICTE Sector Importance in India

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SME Times News Bureau | 01 Jun, 2010
The Information Communication Technology and Electronics (ICTE) sector is as important as food and energy, said R. Chandrashekhar, Secretary, Department of Information Technology (DIT) in his inaugural address at the CII Seminar on Collaborative R&D for Moving up the Value Chain in ICTE Manufacturing on Monday.

The Secretary went on to say that in the ICTE manufacturing sector in India, it is more important to move up the value chain rather than the volumes. It is metaresource finding applications in all sectors of economy be it defense, security, manufacturing and services. With consistent high growth of GDP, the ICTE demand is projected to be $400 billion by 2020.

"We need to leverage our skills and strengths in design, R&D, prototyping, testing etc as challenges faced by developing countries are unlikely to met by R&D in developed countries. The Multiplier Grant Scheme (MGS) of DIT is a step in the direction of promoting formation of Industry-academia linkages," he added.

He mentioned about the initiative on IT Research Academy to strengthen nation’s competitiveness by expanding the R&D base in IT.

The CII-DIT Study Report was released at the Seminar. The Report, besides identification of thrust areas for collaborative R&D, covers study of the R&D support models adopted world over, analysis of best practices, concerns of stakeholders. Recommendations have been made in the report on enablers for promotion of creation of industry-academia/ research institutions linkages and broadening of the scope of the scheme.

Meanwhile, Anil Wali, Managing Director, Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer (FITT) in his special address shared their experience in nurturing collaborative R&D and the role of incubators in commercialization of the developments.

He mentioned that academia is repository of Knowledge that is driving Innovation, Competitiveness and Economic development . Industry and other organizations are increasingly seeking collaboration with academia as a source of new knowledge as well as expert support for their tasks of product and process development. Today, the role of Academic Institutes include Resource Mobilization, Technology Commercialization, Collaboration with industry and Entrepreneurship

In order to facilitate formation of Industry-Academia linkages the expertise available at the academic institutes needs to be widely publicized. Examples of initiatives taken by FITT were shared.

Vinod Sharma, Co-Chairman CII National Committee on ICTE Manufacturing welcomed the initiative by DIT in promoting creation of linkages.

He stressed the need for transitioning in manufacturing from the domain of mature, low value added and price sensitive products to design led growth. He observed that we have been focused on costs for too long. According to him in context of the price sensitive domain, in which Indian ICTE industry is operating, focus on R&D would greatly help in moving away from the Bill of Materials (BOM) plus manufacturing model.

According to the CII discussion paper on Mission 5x5, India has potential to become the fifth largest manufacturing nations in five years. While we are far away from the target we are moving in the right direction.

The Session on "Collaborative R&D for moving up the value chain in ICTE manufacturing" was chaired by Satish Kaura, CMD, Samtel Group of companies.

In the Session presentations were made by Representatives from Moser Baer India, Tejas Networks, Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, IIT Bombay and DIT. Mr Satish Kaura remarked that we need to build an ecosystem enabling collaborative work. It is equally important to encourage inhouse R&D. Need of the hour is to take quick decisions on the projects received under the scheme. Creation of a mechanism outside the Government framework for project evaluation need to be considered.