NID to design handsets for mobile major

The National Institute of Design (NID) has bagged a project to design mobile handsets for a leading global mobile manufacturing company.

"We have received a project to design mobile handsets from one of the leading mobile manufacturing company in the world. We have successfully conducted trials in the Indian market and are awaiting results from the international markets," said Prashant Singh Kutaula, chief operating officer, NID. Kutaula refused to divulge the name of the company.

The National Design Business Incubator (NDBI) at NID was set up with the help of the Department of Science and Technology. NID works under the aegis of the Union ministry of science and technology.

The incubator, within the first year of its functioning, has designed and developed the 'Kids only equipment'.

The equipment is made of ultra violet plastic material and is tubular in nature than the traditional equipment made up of glass fibre. It is designed in modular form and has over 12 games and costs Rs five lakh. The first such equipment has already been installed in Wide Angle multiplex at Gandhinagar- Sarkhej Highway.

The equipment was designed by Amit Paul, an incubatee at the National Design Business Incubator. The incubator plans to sell over 100 such equipment in the next one year and has already been receiving enquiries from various schools and municipal parks across the country.

The NDBI is also designing bio-degradable disposable paper mug to be used by the Indian Railways in its lavatories.

The bio-degradable disposable paper mug is being designed by one of the post-graduate student of NID and an incubatee at the NDBI.

"The railways may also assign NDBI to design and develop other products and components for the interiors of the railway coaches," said Kutaula.

At present around seven incubates are working on designs of their products at the incubation centre and their products and designs are expected to be in the market within the next two years.

Recently NDBI had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad to promote new enterprises.

According to a white paper released by Elcoteq Network Corporation, one of Europe's leading global electronics manufacturer, the electronics hardware manufacturing sector in India - of which telecom manufacturing is a major component - could catapult to a size of over $50 billion by 2008.

More than 25 per cent of the telecom equipment in India is imported and around 20 lakh handsets worth $130 million are imported into the country every month, the paper said.

Even mobile handset manufacturers like Nokia have announced plans to set up manufacturing facilities in India. Given the growth potential of the mobile handset market in the country, NID eyes huge business possibilities in the handset designing business.