TI must precede IT, says Mashelkar

PUNE, APRIL 5: IT is not the key,'' could almost sound like blasphemy if taken out of context in today's world, but Dr Ragunath Mashelka...

PUNE, APRIL 5: 8220;IT is not the key,8221; could almost sound like blasphemy if taken out of context in today8217;s world, but Dr Ragunath Mashelkar feels that 8220;IT must be preceded by TI8230;Technological Innovations.8221;

While delivering the Foundation Day lecture on the 13th Foundation Day celebrations of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing C-Dac, Mashelkar emphasised on knowledge-based economics.

In today8217;s world there were three Cs that decided the success of most e-commerce start ups. 8220;Content, Convergence of technologies and Customisation.8221; In a scenario where everybody was getting into the business and competing on a global scale, these three would make or break a set up.

8220;If you make mistakes or are not up to date then nobody will be coming back. And you must know what your customer wants,8221; said Mashelkar.

In a world that was going digital and herbal, India offers tremendous opportunities, Mashelkar feels. 8220;All you need is a good bandwidth and grey matter. While one is material infrastructure, the other is intellectual infrastructure. We have ample amount of the former but our material infrastructure needs to be strengthened,8221; he said. Only then would India make a dent globally.

The world was turning into an arena where strategic alliances were being struck up and India needed to do the same. Emphasising that we were no longer isolated, as the IT stocks meltdown had indicated, knowledge would have to be channelised into sound economics.

With the future bringing in a massive young force of below 20 year olds, says Mashelkar, India would have no dearth of leaders. 8220;They have to be taped and their curiosity encouraged so that they can ensure a bright future.8221;

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Lauding the work done by C-Dac, Mashelkar said that the technological innovations achieved by the Centre would help India8217;s IT fortunes. A point that was reiterated by Dr R K Arora, executive director, C-Dac who announced a 80 per cent growth in the Centre8217;s annual income.

8220;We have earned Rs 70 crores in 1999-2000,8221; said Arora, while their Param 10,000 had notched up nearly 300,000 log time at the centre. A number of products developed by the centre including the Param Anant, a new super computer that promises to take super computing to low end users, was also formally announced on the occasion.