DISCUSSING TECHNOLOGY: Minister for Science and Technology Ramachandra Gowda (centre) with Chief Competitive Officer, IBM, Antony Satydas (left) and Prior General CMI Congregation Antony Kariyal at a conference in Bangalore on Wednesday. — Pho to: Sampath Kumar G.P.

Bangalore: Minister for Science and Technology Ramachandra Gowda has said that the information technology sector of Bangalore has been contributing a great deal to the economic progress of the country.

He was speaking after inaugurating the first International Conference on Digital Information Management (ICDIM 2006) here on Wednesday. The two-day conference was organised by Christ College and Digital Information Research Management (DIRM), Chennai.

The Minister said the Government was keen on promoting the IT sector by extending the support it needed and by providing basic infrastructure. "Bangalore was the pioneer and has now become a model of the IT industry. The city plays host to several companies working for the IT sector. That apart, Bangalore is also known for the number of research and development centres devoted to IT," he said.

Mr. Gowda said that the success of the IT sector in Bangalore was visible with the promotion of generation of new knowledge and applications. "There are over 1,700 software companies in the city, and the cumulative investment in the sector is $ 2 billion. Over 40 per cent of our IT exports are in the hi-tech areas that include optical networking, WAP, blue tooth," he said.

He said the Government had formulated a strong policy for IT and its varied applications. There are a significant number of institutions today that offer IT programmes. "However, in the age of hi-tech, people are forgetting about basic sciences. We have begun to depend on `devices' for everything," he said.

He called upon students to opt for basic sciences rather than applied sciences.

Antony Satyadas, Chief Competitive Officer, IBM, said that human capital was replacing physical capital as a measurement of organisational value. Innovation is critical to compete in the 21st century. Top innovation priorities included extending the ability to collaborate, innovate business models and processes, and leverage information for business optimisation.

"According to the 2006 IBM Global CEO Survey, 87 per cent of CEOs believe fundamental changes are required in the next two years to drive innovation," he said.

Mr. Satyadas said policy makers should continue to adopt open standard based software solutions for flexibility and choice as well as for reducing costs. Academia, on the other hand, should establish new curriculum around the 4d web and drive innovative research with businesses. He also said that initiatives should be linked into grass root development projects.

Antony Kariyil, Prior General, CMI Congregation, spoke. Thomas C. Mathew, principal, welcomed the gathering, while Pichappan from DIRM proposed the vote of thanks.

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