Engineers award Premji

The Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE), considered the largest professional engineering society in Europe, plans to widen its presence in India by opening two offices, in Bangalore and New Delhi.

IEE also plans to organise at least four major international conferences in India.

Paul Jackson, director of professional operations, IEE said that the role of IEE is to connect engineering professionals across the globe.

"India has emerged as a hub for development and technologies and this warrants an increased presence of IEE in India," said Robin Saxby, chairman, ARM Technologies, a UK-based processor technology licenser.

Talking about the company's India plans, Saxby said, "We have grown ahead of our plans for the country in technology and commercial terms and as systems companies like Nokia are setting up manufacturing operations in India, we expect to grow."

He added that India has an intellectual property protection regime in place, making it more suitable for business. At present, the company has a 120-member team in India and 25 contract engineers.

IEE awarded the Faraday Bronze Medal to Azim Premji, chairman, Wipro Limited for his contribution to the industry and society at large.

Azim Premji said India has a strong knowledge-based engineering capability and government policies are now supportive of industry. Within a short period the government will come up with hardware parks.

Thus India will provide a base for both design and manufacture. IEE aims to float a body - the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) - by March 2006 following an agreement to join forces with the Institute of Incorporated Engineers. The body, IET, will have a global membership of around 1.6 lakh members.