Danish unit plans Kolkata IT facility

Denmark-based Centre for TeleInfrastruktur (CTIF), which launched its India operations in Kolkata at the Calcutta University (CU) in December 2007, has applied for land for an independent campus in Kolkata.

CTIF, a worldwide research centre, will start PhD courses at the Radio Physics and Electronics department of CU from July this year. The Masters programme would be started in 2009.

The courses would evaluate students on the basis of research projects. The innovations would also be commercialised.

Speaking at a press conference in Kolkata, Ramjee Prasad, director of CTIF, said, "We plan to initiate research-baed education at CU. We have also applied for land for an independent campus which we plan to set up within the next seven years."

"When we start our PhD courses in July this year, we will be able to accommodate around 10-12 students initially at the CU campus. These would be employees of TCS and Nokia, who have confirmed their participation. We will train the students in research-based project work and their evaluation would depend on the kind of innovation they can come up with. Also, the innovation would be commercialised so that the thesis is not forgotten once the student completed course."

"We have also spoken to BSNL in Kolkata which has also shown interest in sending employees to pursue this course," Prasad added.

According to Prasad, the companies sending employees to pursue the course will bear all expenses.

Debesh Das, West Bengal's information technology minister, said, "CU and CTIF are well known for quality research. While the government will grant the CTIF adequate land to begin an independent campus, CU and CTIF will be able to complement each other with the expertise they have in the field of research."

The independent campus for CTIF, which is expected to be operational in another seven years, is expected to house 1,100 people. It is expected to house 200 students each for masters and PhD programmes, along with 100 faculty and 100 non-teaching members. The campus is also expected to have 500 engineers.

"Funds will be provided by the companies sending their employees for research activities at the campus, from European Commission as well as from the West Bengal government," informed Prasad.

As of now, the new CTIF centre at CU is expected to benefit several information technology (IT) companies as well, in terms of skilled manpower capable of bringing about innovations which could be Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) protected.

For instance, WIP Labs, which is a premier innovation company, will be able to find ready talent at the CTIF who could join its laboratory at Taratola in Kolkata, operational from July this year.

WIP Labs is into possessing wireless networking as the core competence in 3G, WiMAX, Wi-Fi and future generation wireless technologies with the focus to become the world leader in 4G. The objective of WIP Labs is to generate Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs), lead standardization, and bring products to commercialization.

According to Rajeev Prasad, director of WIP Labs, "Once our laboratory is functional in Kolkata, we will make products on the wireless innovation platform, solutions for network planning, mobile applications, among other services and products. We will start with around 20 employees in July this year."

Added Das, "With CTIF, a centre to churn out quality researchers who could bring about innovations that could be commercialised, is sure to attract several quality industries and companies to West Bengal. The government has also decided that its thrust areas would be chip designing industries, animation and multimedia companies and wireless companies."