SATHEESH S
The university curriculum should change its focus from clearing examinations to creating a passion for the subject
While at a surface level, it would appear that the technical community in India has been unable to imprint its DNA into world class products, it would be unfair to say that Indians have not contributed beyond the invention of zero. There are scores of innovative products that have been designed in India, about which we can be justifiably proud of.
Right at the top of the achievements list is ISRO’s mastering of satellite and launch vehicle technology. Their precision engineering has enabled the successful launches of many satellites including those of foreign nations.
That ISRO has achieved this, overcoming the technology embargo, speaks volumes about indigenous technological strengths.
In the early 90s, the telecommunication scenario in India was revolutionised by the installation of thousands of digital exchanges designed by C-DOT. Many of these were custom designed to operate in rural India without air-conditioning. Scientists from the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, have developed biomedical products ranging from blood bags to heart valves that are appropriate for the Indian conditions.
In the liberalised era, many MNCs have set up design centres in India, initially to utilise the lower costs. But these design centres have indeed moved up the value chain to define and design cutting edge products. Texas Instruments, India, one of the first such setups, has designed cutting edge Digital Signal Processors that control mobile phones. Similarly, Freescale Semiconductor, India, has architected and designed processors that form the core of many high end mobile phones.
A narrow viewpoint
It is a common refrain of many commentators that the IT behemoths like Infosys, Wipro, etc., are “glorified sub-contractors.” This is a very narrow viewpoint and belittles the contributions made by these companies. In addition to providing employment for thousands of engineers, these companies have made two fundamental contributions.
Today, India is a force to reckon with in the global IT landscape and an Indian company is taken seriously by potential customers, competitors and investors around the globe owing to the good work done by them. Prior to funding a startup in the U.S., many venture capital firms insist that the company set up a development centre in India.
Within India, the founders of these firms have demonstrated that it is indeed possible to build global corporations through honest means, with education and hard work as primary investments. A lot of entrepreneurs have started companies learning from the examples set by these pioneers.
The desire to move up from being an implementer of someone else’s dream has been the foundation of entrepreneurship. There are numerous instances of leading executives from large corporations chucking their cushy jobs to venture out on their own. Companies like Ittiam Systems, Mindtree Consulting are examples of these.
All the above examples are not to claim that we have arrived in the global product scene, but to say that the picture is not as bleak as being projected by some observers. Many of these examples show that component level intellectual property from India is indeed embedded into many high end products of the day, but we have miles to go before we launch globally successful products with Indian brand names.
The key to progressing to the next level lies in creating an ecosystem consisting of universities, corporations, industry associations and venture capitalists. Product companies would need people with higher technical competence in addition to people and project management skills.
The cash-rich Indian IT industry should seriously consider funding research projects in the universities. This will ensure a steady supply of PhDs, who can conceptualise and implement cutting edge products. This will also give rise to startups originating in the universities, as in the U.S.
The university curriculum needs to change its focus from clearing examinations to creating a passion for the subject. Industry associations can encourage innovative thinking among students by instituting awards for innovative ideas and also helping the innovators to refine their raw ideas into marketable products.
For the Indian industry, moving up the value chain from services to components and products is not just a “nice-to-have” requirement but a “must-have” necessity.
