GTU TO PAVE WAY FOR TECH RESEARCH WITH RS 38-cr LAB
To be modelled on Taiwan’s ITRI, the laboratory will facilitate setting up of a domestic manufacturing base so that India can have locally manufactured electronic products
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Monday, November 21, 2011 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/201111212011112102234478359a3f87d/GTU-TO-PAVE-WAY-FOR-TECH-RESEARCH-WITH-RS-38cr-LAB.html)
Gujarat Technological University (GTU) is coming up with a first-of-its-kind electronics laboratory in the country to facilitate technological research and build an indigenous high-technology industry.
To be built along the lines of Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the Rs 38-crore lab will be set up on the new GTU campus in Chandkheda.
The labs will focus on two broad areas of tech research: Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) — the process of creating integrated circuits by combining thousands of transistors into a single chip — and mobile computing.
INDIGENOUS PRODUCTS
“Since adequate research facilities are not available for electronic companies in the country, their ideas never reach the execution stage. We usually have to outsource our ideas to countries like China. By setting up an interdisciplinary research laboratory, similar to ITRI, Taiwan,
we plan to facilitate a higher degree of collaboration between research and development in the country so that products are manufactured indigenously,” said Akshai Aggarwal, Vice Chancellor, GTU.
“The aim is to hone the skills of our students, promote entrepreneurship and transform the domestic technology industry into a global bedrock for innovation. We already have the names of companies who would like to use our facility,” added Aggarwal.
FIRST PHASE COMPLETION : 2013
The research facility will be built in two phases with the first — on 18,000 sq ft space at a cost of Rs 12.5 crore— expected to be completed by 2013. In the first phase the varsity will build an advanced embedded multimedia lab, a printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication lab and a wafer fabrication lab to develop highly sophisticated electronic logic and control devices known as integrated circuits.
The second phase will have a lab for research on solar-photovoltaics, smart grid, mobile and wireless technologies and robotics.
WHY IMPORT GADGETS ?
“Recently, Sam Pitroda, PM’s adviser, had remarked that by 2025, import of electronic products from East Asia will equal import of oil from West Asia. That’s a worrying situation. While our information technology and services have made us one of the fastest growing economies in the world, manufacturing accounts for only 16 per cent of the output. This is half of China’s share and much behind India’s targeted 25 per cent in the next 10 years,” said Aggarwal.
SKILL CREATION
Aggarwal says that while we have Entrepreneurship Development Institute and GIDC Electronic Estate, none of them can create skills.
He added: “It is time that technological universities teach their students circuit skills, device physics and characterisation skills and also provide facility to incubate ideas. Later on, with help from venture capitalists they can be on their own. We need to have more chip plants and research parks if we want to meet the demand for smartphones, laptops and other electronic products.”
GTU has already introduced masters programme in VLSI and Embedded Systems and Wireless and Mobile Computing. “By the time we are done with the first phase of the lab, 60 students would have completed their masters. We will also introduce a PhD programme for our students as well as others who are interested in research work. These researchers will be the workforce at our laboratories,” adds Aggarwal.
Yogesh Avasthi
Posted On Monday, November 21, 2011 (http://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/article/2/201111212011112102234478359a3f87d/GTU-TO-PAVE-WAY-FOR-TECH-RESEARCH-WITH-RS-38cr-LAB.html)
Gujarat Technological University (GTU) is coming up with a first-of-its-kind electronics laboratory in the country to facilitate technological research and build an indigenous high-technology industry.
To be built along the lines of Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the Rs 38-crore lab will be set up on the new GTU campus in Chandkheda.
The labs will focus on two broad areas of tech research: Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) — the process of creating integrated circuits by combining thousands of transistors into a single chip — and mobile computing.
INDIGENOUS PRODUCTS
“Since adequate research facilities are not available for electronic companies in the country, their ideas never reach the execution stage. We usually have to outsource our ideas to countries like China. By setting up an interdisciplinary research laboratory, similar to ITRI, Taiwan,
we plan to facilitate a higher degree of collaboration between research and development in the country so that products are manufactured indigenously,” said Akshai Aggarwal, Vice Chancellor, GTU.
“The aim is to hone the skills of our students, promote entrepreneurship and transform the domestic technology industry into a global bedrock for innovation. We already have the names of companies who would like to use our facility,” added Aggarwal.
FIRST PHASE COMPLETION : 2013
The research facility will be built in two phases with the first — on 18,000 sq ft space at a cost of Rs 12.5 crore— expected to be completed by 2013. In the first phase the varsity will build an advanced embedded multimedia lab, a printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication lab and a wafer fabrication lab to develop highly sophisticated electronic logic and control devices known as integrated circuits.
The second phase will have a lab for research on solar-photovoltaics, smart grid, mobile and wireless technologies and robotics.
WHY IMPORT GADGETS ?
“Recently, Sam Pitroda, PM’s adviser, had remarked that by 2025, import of electronic products from East Asia will equal import of oil from West Asia. That’s a worrying situation. While our information technology and services have made us one of the fastest growing economies in the world, manufacturing accounts for only 16 per cent of the output. This is half of China’s share and much behind India’s targeted 25 per cent in the next 10 years,” said Aggarwal.
SKILL CREATION
Aggarwal says that while we have Entrepreneurship Development Institute and GIDC Electronic Estate, none of them can create skills.
He added: “It is time that technological universities teach their students circuit skills, device physics and characterisation skills and also provide facility to incubate ideas. Later on, with help from venture capitalists they can be on their own. We need to have more chip plants and research parks if we want to meet the demand for smartphones, laptops and other electronic products.”
GTU has already introduced masters programme in VLSI and Embedded Systems and Wireless and Mobile Computing. “By the time we are done with the first phase of the lab, 60 students would have completed their masters. We will also introduce a PhD programme for our students as well as others who are interested in research work. These researchers will be the workforce at our laboratories,” adds Aggarwal.
