The India Semiconductor Association (ISA), the apex trade body representing the Indian semiconductor and electronics industry, opened the 6th ISA Vision Summit on Monday,showcasing a host of Indian innovations.
In his keynote address, Dr. N. Seshagiri, Founder Director General, National Informatics Centre, pointed to the burgeoning opportunity in nanotechnology and suggested that India and China had an opportunity for leadership in human resource-intensive areas like nano testing. "Nano-electronics is yet another opportunity to energize the Indian economy in this and the next decade” ,he added.
Dr. Ajay Kumar, Joint Secretary, in the Indian government's Department of Information Technology, admitted that the 2007 scheme for encouraging semiconductors fabs and ecosystems received "lukewarm" response from industry possibly because the entry criteria were pegged too high -- excluding the small and medium sector. The policy has been reviewed and government is expected to green light a revised and more friendly policy.
Patricia Hewitt, UK's Minister for Trade and Industry and Chairperson of the UK India Business Council (UKIBC) said “Like India, Britain is a leading R&D center for chip design & testing and is home to a lot of indigenous product companies. UKIBC is working very closely with ISA to create platforms, where our product companies can share experiences and leverage each other strengths for mutual benefit.”
“Electronic Systems Design & Electronic Product Manufacturing (ESDM) is a big opportunity for India to drive growth. India has been seeing impressive growth across areas such as industrial, automotive, healthcare, telecom, consumer, etc., “said Dr. Biswadip (Bobby) Mitra, Chairman – ISA and President & Managing Director, Texas Instruments India. “The co-innovation between electronic OEMs and semiconductors is playing a pivotal role in driving this momentum. Also, an area of big opportunity for electronics and semiconductor innovation is energy efficiency. Through innovation in circuit design, architecture and systems, significant energy savings can be obtained across a wide range of applications”.
Pornima Shenoy, President, ISA said “Over the past six years, ISA has been working with the government as a knowledge partner and has been able to provide several relevant data points. Currently, DIT is looking at Special Incentive Package Scheme II and ISA has made few recommendations for the same”
On the sidelines of the summit, Ashok Kumar Manoli, Principal Secretary IT, BT and S&T, Government of Karnataka inaugurated the Technovation Exhibition, where finalists of ISA's annual Technoivation Awards showcased their products.(http://www.indiatechonline.com/isa-technovision-awards-2011-421.php )
Indiatechonline will feature some key exhibits in separate stories.
Feb 21 2011