GOVERNMENT TO SET UP ADVANCED INSTITUTE
FOR MICRO AND NANO ELECTRONICS – SHRI ARUN SHOURIE
GREATER
EMPHASIS REQUIRED FOR HARDWARE SECTOR
TWO-DAY
EXPOSITION OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, ELITEX-2003
INAUGURATED
The Government
has decided to set up an Advanced Institute for Micro and Nano
Electronics to give a boost to the IT industry in the country.
This was announced by the Minister of Information Technology,
Communications and Disinvestment, Shri Arun Shourie while inaugurating
the two-day Exhibition-cum-Seminar on Electronics and Information
Technology – Elitex 2003, here today. He said that the Principal
Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, Dr. R. Chidambaram
will help the Information Technology Department in deciding about
the form and structure of the new Institute. The Nano and Micro
technology basically refers to the development of extremely small
chips with higher capacity to be used in electronic and information
technology products including computers, mobile phones and entertainment
industry. Referring to the growing needs of IT sector, the Minister
said that there should be closer links between R&D sector,
industry and academia to maintain the advantage that Indian has
already achieved in this hi-tech sector. Shri Shourie said that
a congenial environment has to be created in the country to woo
technologists and entrepreneurs to set up modern world class infrastructure
in the country by providing them necessary facilities and conditions.
He also underlined the need for resurrecting the atmosphere of
self-reliance and said that innovative persons should be encouraged.
Stressing the need
for paying higher attention to hardware sector, Shri Shourie said
that the recent Union Budget has given good incentives to boost
hardware sector and it is up to the industry now to respond to
these concessions. He said that a lot of work needs to be done
in the hardware sector which had a turnover of Rs.37,000 crore
and an export of Rs.6400 crore during last year. The Minister
disagreed that India has missed the bus in the hardware sector.
Making a case for higher domestic demand for IT products, Mr.
Shourie said our country being of a sub-continental size, there
could be a higher demand for IT products which will ultimately
reduce the dependence on exports of the sector. He also pointed
out about cyber security and said that we must prepare the industry
to face the challenges in this regard.
Earlier in his keynote
address, the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of
India, Dr. R. Chidambaram urged the industry to increase investment
in R&D sector. Pointing out that while in USA, 80% of investment
comes from the industry to R&D, in India, it is in the reverse
with industry contributing just 1/5th of investments.
Asking for removing imbalance between hardware and software sector,
Dr. Chidambaram said that two-thirds of investment in USA goes
to hardware and one third in software, while in India, there has
been a significant growth in software sector, hardware sector
has been ignored. He also emphasised the need for greater synergy
between R&D and industry. The eminent Scientist pointed out
that transfer of technology from abroad is going to be still tougher.
He also called for greater preparedness in electronic security.
On this occasion,
the Minister inaugurated several IT products including a software
which mechanically translates English into Hindi. Apart from crucial
policy issues in the IT sector, the Seminars during the exposition
will cover the state-of-the-art technologies. It will also focus
on presentations from different States of India. The State Governments
are also exhibiting their available e-governance facilities and
the status of IT industry in their respective States. Earlier,
Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Shri R.R. Shah
said that the country has made quantum jump in e-preparedness
and its ranking has shot up from 54 to 37 in one year.
Some of the key sessions
during the Seminar include: Emerging growth areas, R&D led
success stories, enhancing e-readiness, innovation to enhance
digital unite, human resource development initiatives and global
IP protection and partnership. The Conference will witness
large scale participation from eminent personalities in both the
corporate and government IT sector. Some of the key speakers include:
Prof. D.B. Phatak, IIT, Bombay, Shri Rahul Mullick, WIPRO Infotech,
Dr. K.N. Gupta, Chairman, CCA, Shri S. Devarajan, VP&Head,
CISCO, Dr. Manoj Kumar, IBM Research Centre, Shri Vinay L. Deshpande,
Chairman, Encore, Shri Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM, Shri
Prithipal Singh, CMD, BSNL, Shri Anil Sinha, SPO, PCT, WIPO, Shri
Deependra Moitra, Infosys besides senior officials from the Department
of Information Technology.
Elitex-2003 is also
showcasing products, technologies, services developed by various
institutes. Some of the leading participants are: Centre for Development
of Advanced Computing(C-DAC), Ernet, Software Technology Parks
of India(STPI), Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering
& Research(SAMEER), Centre for Development of Telematics(C-DOT),
DOEACC, Centre for Materials for Electronics Technology(C-MET)
and CMC. Key technological products being showcased include: tools
related to computer development, e-learning and Media Lab Asia
initiatives in this regard, environment management in electronics,
professional and strategic electronics, IPR promotion, industrial
applications, health and biotech applications, e-commerce and
information security, centre for e-Governance initiatives and
tools related to knowledge based enterprises.
