Automation association mulls tie-up with IITs

The Automation Industry Association (AIA) is in advanced talks with IITs in order to launch a first-of-its-kind course on the automation industry.

The association also plans to beam tutorial programmes on automation engineering through education satellites in the coming few months.

"Of all the engineering students who pass out every year, around 80 per cent of them opt for IT while very few go for fields like automation which are growing rapidly by over 15 per cent every year. The initiative to tie-up with institutes like IITs is a step to foster stronger academic-industry partnerships," said J P Singh, president, AIA.

The automation industry in India is reportedly worth around Rs 4,500 crore, of which 60 per cent consists of the hardware sector while 40 per cent is made up of the automotive services.

The export of automation services to companies abroad is now contributing around 25 per cent of the revenues from the service sector, said Singh.

In a seminar advocating automation in the textile industry, AIA announced its plans to start training programmes for textile machinery manufacturers in the country.

For this, the association plans to leverage the expertise of its 35-member companies across the country and work with other manufacturing companies in the country.

The association closely follows the model of the Control System Integrators Association (CSIA), US, and hopes to collaborate with it in the near future.

AIA is also planning to build a better brand value for the association by holding 'CEO events' to attract top CEOs in the country.