S. Sivasubramanian. — Photo: S. Siva Saravanan

CHENNAI: When officials of Bharathiar University, Coimbatore and the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) visit Bangalore next week, they will be taking yet another step in realising the dream of setting up a research and development park on the university campus.

The park is envisioned as a nodal centre for generating knowledge products and processes. Before it is set up, the university plans to accommodate a few corporates whose R and D projects will be touted as a model for attracting bigger investments.

According to Vice-Chancellor S. Sivasubramanian, though Indians across the globe contribute to a third of the software development activity, India's share in the global software trade is just two per cent.

"The park will seek to create original software and knowledge products and processes with global acclaim," he told The Hindu here before leaving for Mauritius to attend an education expo. "Our university could become the first academic institution to act as a catalyst for original software products creation activity. We felt it should be done along with a government agency."

!09-acre plot

The administration has been discussing the issue with the ELCOT for sometime now. It wants to create the park on a 109-acre plot. The land will be leased out to the ELCOT which will bring in corporates for creating R and D cells. The corporates will set up three or four research fellowships each, in different departments.

To attract big corporates, Dr. Sivasubramanian, along with ELCOT officials, will make presentations at an IT meet next week in Bangalore.

"In Bangalore we plan to identify some corporate investors, " he said. Before that "we are asking a few of them to start Rand D centres in the university. We can carve out 10,000 sq ft or so for them in some buildings."

Rs. 2 crores sanctioned

Dr. Sivasubramanian said on Monday, the State Government sanctioned Rs.2 crores to the university for the BU-DRDO Centre for Life Sciences. The Defence Research and Development Organisation is contributing Rs.14 crores out of the Rs.18 crores the project requires. The rest has to come from the State.

The Centre will work in Information Technology, Biotechnology and Nanotechnology and develop products and applications for the Defence Ministry. These could also have civilian uses.

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