ICT: Education – Technology - Development
Uday B. Desai
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
IIT-Bombay, Powai
Mumbai, India
ubdesai@ee.iitb.ac.in
www.ee.iitb.ac.in/~ubdesai
Nov 19, 2006
FKSTA: Cape Town
Frontiers of Knowledge in Science
and Technology for Africa.
University Leaders’ Forum.
1
Cape Town
Indian GDP
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GDP for India: $650 billion (4th based on PPP, 128th otherwise)
Rural GDP: $150 billion (25%)
ICT GDP: ~ $25 billion

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ICT expected to contribute 4.5 to 4.8 % of GDP in the fiscal year
2006-2007
Indian GDP has shown a growth rate of nearly 8% for the past 5
years and growth rate is expected to continue for the next 5 to 10
years.
22%
56% of GDP from
Service Sector
56%
22%
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FKSTA: Cape Town
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Birds Eye View: ICT Penetration in India and Africa
India
2003
2004
2005
PCs
9.37
13 mil
17 mil
PC penetration
0.89 %
1.2 %
1.54 %
Internet Users
18.5 mil
35 mil
60 mil
Internet Penetration
1.75 %
3.24 %
5.44 %
Cell Phone Users
26 mil
47 mil
90 mil
Cell Penetration
2.47 %
4.37 %
8.16 %
Africa
Population
0.915 bil
Nov 19, 2006
• Population
1.19 billion
• Median Age
23.5 yrs
2003
2004
2005
PCs
11.7 mil
13.5 mil
17.5 mil
PC penetration
1.53
1.74 %
2.24 %
Internet Users
15 mil
22.5 mil
32 mil
Internet Penetration
1.82 %
2.62 %
3.7 %
Cell Phone Users
52.5 mil
80.7 mil
135 mil
9.35 %
15 %
Cell PenetrationFKSTA: Cape6.25
Town %
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ICT in India and Africa?
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Computer and Internet
Penetration in India and Africa,
almost comparable
Number of Internet users in India
almost twice that in Africa
Cellular penetration and users
much higher in Africa
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Key Reasons for ICT
flourishing in India
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Nov 19, 2006
FKSTA: Cape Town
Strong Emphasis on
Education even during hard
economic times
English proficiency
Liberalization of the
economy in 1991 by Dr.
Manmohan Singh, then
Finance minister and
present prime minister
4
Education …
IITs
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Sir Ardeshir Dalal
(early 1950s, shortly after independence)
Three proposals
(just about the blueprint for today’s
Science and Technology Research)

Set up research laboratories

Led to the establishment of the Council
of Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR)
 These proposals were
implemented when India was
going thru difficult economic
times
 Great testimony to the vision
of India’s first Prime Minister,
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
 Mr. L. S. Chandrakant, a senior
official of the Education Ministry
framed the IIT Act which gave the IITs a
unprecedented autonomy

Set up Indian Institutes of Technology
 Sir B.N. Sarkar Committee, planned

Technology Mission Program:
 Professor Norman Dahl (Mech.

Sir Dalal negotiated with the US
government for training scientists and
engineers under this program.
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FKSTA: Cape Town
the first IIT, took MIT as the model
Engrg.) of MIT and his colleagues
were the prime movers of IIT Kanpur;
a model subsequently followed by all IITs
6
Key Attributes
• Freedom
• Selection of best students
2% of those who appear for the
entrance exa m get in
Rourkee
Kanpur
• Long term vision and investment
Kahragpur
It took IITs after nearly 40 years
to get global recognition
IISc
There are 18
Besides 7 National
Institutes of
IITs
Technology
(NIT)
Nov 19, 2006
• Inculcate among them students the
spirit of excellence
More recently,
IIITs have
been started
(private and
govt.
initiatives)
• Should not worry about students
going overseas.
What was referred to as Brain Drain is
now referred to as Brain Bank
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Early ICT Initiatives:
Harness the Internet
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ERNET backbone
is a judicious mix
of terrestrial and
satellite-based
wide area
networks.
Daily traffic over
ERNET exceeds
20 Giga Bytes
Today we have
several private ISPs
ERNET
Educational Research Network, was initiated in 1986 by the, then Department
of Electronics (DoE) (now Department fo Information Technology – DIT), with
funding support from the Government of India and United Nations
Development Program (UNDP)
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Indian Council for
Agriculture Research-Net
Various Initiatives
Intranet and Internet for
Agricultural Universities and
Research institutions
171 institutions have been
connected.
All India Council of
Technical Education
Connectivity to AICTE
Recognized Colleges
and Regional Centers
48 Institutes
connected
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Gyan Vahini
EDUSAT
(Knowledge Vehicle
– Started Recently)
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Integrate Internet and
Intranet tools and
computer aided
techniques into the
Learning environment
Focus
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Upgrade the IT
infrastructure at all the
higher learning institutions
in the country. Connect
them on intranet and
internet to provide multiple
education services within
the institution.
Pilot project at Delhi
University
Nov 19, 2006
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FKSTA: Cape Town
The first Indian satellite
exclusively for serving the
educational sector
Provide interactive
satellite based distance
education system for the
country
Operational in 2006

First phase of Edusat State
Network to be launched in
9 states

Jammu and Kashmir,
Kerala, Rajasthan ,
Haryana, Punjab , Madhya
Pradesh, Tamil Nadu ,
West Bengal and
Uttaranchal
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Today …
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Internet is ubiquitous on
all educational campuses
VSAT based distance
education is picking up
strongly
Plans for Internet based
HDTV quality video for
tow way interactive
distance education.
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For Example:
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IIT-Bombay has 14
universities/colleges on
VSAT based Distance
Education Networks
Amrita Univ. has 42
universities/colleges on
their VSAT Distanced
Education Network
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Industry Interaction
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Knowledge (ICT) Industry

India has embraced the knowledge industry
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Fundamental belief:

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In 21st century, economic growth and wealth generation are
driven by acquisition and use of knowledge
Knowledge:
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research skills
information assessment skills
ability to innovate
ability to implement
capacity to continuously learn
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India’s educational
base has been a great
asset in this endeavor
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Industry Interaction
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Once the economy was
liberalized (1991), industry –
academia interaction flourished

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Almost 40 years after IITs
establishment
A long sustained vision is mandatory
Industry sponsored projects
increased
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IPR sharing is still contentious

Big jump in industrial consultancy
Both, IITs and Industry are anxious
to partner and leverage each others
expertise
Today, for every Rupee that govt.
gives, IITs and IISc generate about
0.3 to 0.4 Rupees thru industry
interactions, endowments, and
sponsored research
Nov 19, 2006
Bulk of industry partnership in ICT
is with multinationals

Industry started looking at IITs in all
earnest after 1996-98 time frame:
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Microsoft
Intel
Analog Devices
Texas Instruments
Bell Labs
Motorola
Nokia
Ericsson
Qualcom
Cisco,
HP
…
And Startups
Indian industry is coming forward,
but slowly
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Entrepreneurship another route
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Entrepreneurship
• To encourage
entrepreneurship
and foster
commercialization
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Technology Entrepreneurship
began at educational institutions in
mid to late 90s
The drivers for technology
entrepreneurship were
of innovations IITs
and IISc have
established
business incubators
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• Business incubators
are seen as a link
between mind and
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market
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Boom in the IT sector across the
globe
Translate Ideas to Wealth
IIT alumni played a big role in this
boom
In silicon valley, a large number of
startups were by IIT alumni
Latent thirst among faculty and
students to translate their
innovations to products
Strong belief in technology
entrepreneurship as a driver for
social change
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Some Illustrative Business Incubators
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IIT-Madras (early starter)
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Society for Innovation and
Development (SID)
IIT-Delhi
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Business incubation led by
Ashok Jhunjhunwala
IISc
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Foundation for Innovations
and Technology Transfer
(FITT)
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Society for Innovations and
Entrepreneurship (SINE)
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Science and Technology
Entrepreneurs Park (STEP)
IITK
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IIT-Bombay

IIT-Kharagpur
SIDBI Innovation & Incubation
Centre (SIIC)
RBTI: Rural Technology
Business Incubator (launched
by IIT-Madras)
Department of Science (DST)
supports entrepreneurship and
knowledge transfer through its
STEP and Technology Business
Incubation initiatives
There are other private
business incubators in India
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Cluster Approach for Industry-Academia
Interaction
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I am just coming from Mobile Multimedia
Workshop in France
Interesting concept for Industry-Academia
interaction
Cluster of
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Big enterprises
SME (small and medium enterprises)
Academia
Number of partners could be 10 to 20
Clusters in a confined geographical region
I am going to propose to explore this approach
in India
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ICT for Development
Nov 19, 2006
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Extensive Fiber Deployed in India
Housing Complex B
Housing Complex A
1
2
Fiber drop
4
3
6
5
Fiber drop
500 mts
Rural
Road
Serves Bldg 1,2,3
URBAN
Serves Bldg 4,5,6
Fiber to curb is easily
available in metros
Even fiber to home is
possible
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Access Technologies in India
Access Tech.
LAN
ISP
(“Last Mile Prob”)
Wireless
(line of sight)
Wired
10/100
Mbps
WiFi
802.11b
(Hot Spot)
Dial-up
Cable
Satyam
(56.6 Kbps)
Modem
Reliance
Fiber in
DSL
802.11b
Based
Nov 19, 2006
Tata
corDECT
…
the Loop
Cell Phones
802.16d,e WiMax
Based
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First Initiative for Rural Access:
corDECT, developed by TeNeT Group at IIT-Madras
Earlier version guaranteed 70 kbps
Broadband CorDECT 2 Mbps
Always on, supports telephony
Commercially deployed in few
thousand villages
n-Logue; Chirag
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• Many success stories; all of them
very encouraging
• Scalability and sustainability is still
and concern
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A Large Number of
Initiatives
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VSAT Connectivity
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Drishtee dot. com Ltd.
ITC eChoupal
Kuppam i- community, Andhra
Pradesh
Akshaya- Kerala Govt's
Hundred Percent ICT Literacy
Project
Information Village Research
Project- by M. S. Swaminathan
Research Foundation
TARAhaat
GRAMDOOT
e-Governance projects
…
PURA: Providing
Urban Amenities to
Rural Areas
Nov 19, 2006
Project drive by
President of India
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Mission 2007
(major initiative)
Connecting
100,000 villages
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Low-Cost Telemed:
A3 Remote Patient Monitoring
WiFi /BT
Cell Phone
(SMS,GPRS,EDGE,
CDMA)
WiFi /BT
Smart Phone
P
a
t
i
e
n
t
WiFi/BT
ECG
Gluco
A3
RPM Server
WiFi /BT
BT/WiFi
GPRS
Interface
(GPRS/3G1x
& WLAN
enabled)
Doctor
Laptop
Desktop
WiFi /BT
• Protocol converter
• wireless communicator
Nov 19, 2006
A3 Wall Set
•Communication
Sever
•Scheduler
•Data Multiplexer
•Hotlink to doctor
•Patient Data Management Software
•Patient Data Repository
•Diagnostics Algorithms
•Data Mining
•Trend Detection Algorithm
•Statistical Data Analysis
•WML/HTML Server
•Hotlink to A3 Wall Set
•Hotlink to Doctor (SMS)
•Interface to other external health
management
systems
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GPRS/EDGE/3G1x enabled
Healthcare care van
Will have ECG, Oxymt,
and other sensors
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Impacting Role for ICT in Rural
Areas
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ICT will be impacting to rural areas once it
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Enables the process cash flow
Enables villages to be part of the national
market
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Enables alternatives for fair loans
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Helps monetize more villages
Frees the villager from informal sources like chit
funds, money lenders, bishi’s, etc.)
Enables rural trade
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ICT as a Techno-Socio-Political System
Education
Technology
ICT
for
Development
Govt./Policy
Community
Organization
Financial
Institutions
Nov 19, 2006
Industry /
Local Entrep.
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•
All components
play a critical
role
• Nevertheless, top
three are more
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critical
Concluding Remarks

India
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To harness ICT in
developing nations, price
point is most crucial
In most of the African
countries, annual cost of
Internet access is higher than
the average yearly income!
Cost of Internet access can
be lowered thru

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
India
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Create Impulses.
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Nov 19, 2006
FKSTA: Cape Town
competition,
deregulation,
foreign investments in
Information and
Communications Technology
sector (ICT)
and in some cases,
government subsidies only in
the initial phase.
Impulses pull up the base
and raise the avg. level
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Finally …
“It is not our abilities that will determine what
we truly do …
it is our choices”
A minor variation on quote by Dumbledore
from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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