Global IT firms make R&D hip among students

Global Information Technology majors, who are often accused of siphoning off some of India's best minds are striking back. And how.

Companies such as Microsoft, Intel and IBM have launched a series of initiatives in the country to encourage science and engineering graduates to stay in college and not take up jobs immediately.

Chipmaking giant Intel has been conducting the Intel India Research Challenge for the last three years. Nearly 70 per cent of the participants are BTech students, while the rest comprise MTechs and PhDs.

According to Intel India Higher Education Manager Manav Subodh, "About 20-23 BTech students who participated in the contest last year went on to enroll in MTech programmes either in India or outside." Intel has also been working with academic institutions across the country to promote research and develop curricula.

Bangalore-based Microsoft Research (MSR) India has tied up with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to conduct summer schools for graduate students and faculty members in areas not covered in the curriculum.

"We are deeply committed to enhancing the research pipeline in India and building a strong research ecosystem. We undertake a number of initiatives like the summer school series, engagements with universities and PhD Fellowships to achieve these goals," MSR India Director-Strategy Vidya Natampally said.

The first of the summer schools on Algorithms, Complexity and Cryptology was held in May-June 2006.

The IBM India Research Laboratory, located inside IIT-Delhi, hosts academic visitors from foreign varsities and also provides support to the faculty and students from the IITs, IISc and leading B-Schools in India.

"We sponsor faculty awards, sabbatical grants, student fellowships, workshops and internships," said IBM India Research Lab Director Dr Daniel Dias.

Big companies setting up Research and Development (R&D) facilities in India is also a boon for researchers, said IIT Delhi Professor Anshul Kumar, of the Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering.

"There has been a marginal improvement in the number of students signing up for Post-Graduate and Doctoral programmes. Young researchers are lapped up by R&D labs even before they submit their final thesis," he said.