ET OnlineIn January 2013, Kumud Srinivasan was appointed the first woman president of the computer chip maker Intel Corp. Since then, she has been steering Intel's India R&D efforts and the company's increased focus on solutions for the Indian market. We chatted up with her about the new government, wearables, IoT and the way forward for Intel R&D efforts in India. She also tipped us about Intel's plan of cleaning the Ganga! Read on to know more..
Intel has been focusing a lot of R&D efforts towards India based solutions. Is that owing to government's Digital India Vision?
Intel India's R&D center is a microcosm of Intel itself. We currently have 6900 employees and we work on both global and local solutions. The new government's own digital India program is of course enhancing our India focus. But there are also some exciting market segments that are unique to India who are asking for more focused, customized solutions. Think about services- as we move towards the mobile world and towards IoT- there is more need for customized solutions. As a result of that as well, our focus on customized solutions has gone up.
Tell us about some of the India specific work happening out of Intel R&D center.
We are doing a lot of work around wearables and Internet of Things. Generally speaking, we keep the underlying platform the same but the way applications are designed and operated upon it can differ greatly. For example- one of the things that we have introduced in the market is the mobile health solution - it is a combination of IoT and wearables. It is being taken to the market with our partner BPL. But it is an example of our backend tech with a front end wearable device that monitors vital stats like BP, blood sugar, heart rate etc. We prototyped the device but of course we are not the ones manufacturing it. We also designed the backend for storing the data and analysing it. All the technology to do this stuff exists- it is about the way we put the stuff together to bring out an end to end solution which was unique to India. Solutions like these are going to be critical to India. It is a question of when and not if.
Coming to the government vertical, Intel wants to tap all the pillars of Digital India where we are relevant. We are clear that we are a building block supplier, not an end device one. So one big opportunity is IoT. If you see what it involves- it has sensors on the edge and gateways that act as connectors and then you have the backend- Intel operates through the entire value chain.
One of the key missions we are participating in as a part of Digital India is cleaning the Ganga. We are working with the government to create a plan for putting sensors in the water. Where and how many is still under works. When it comes to the backend infrastructure like servers etc- we have been working with the government for a long time. Because whether it's smart cities or surveillance, you always need systems at the backend. If you look at companies that operate in this space, Intel is the only company that has end to end solutions to offer. One of the pillars of Digital India is high performance computing. There too we are a very big player.
The other part is skilling and innovation- that is also significant for us. We launched a campaign called Innovate for Digital India a couple of months back. These things are not only helping in talent recognition but also developing the technology ecosystem as a whole in India.
Has the optimism and business discourse changed with the Modi led government? Especially given the PM's focus on technology and making in India?
Yes, the overall industry is more hopeful than ever those things will take form quickly but we have our implementation challenges to deal with. The government has certainly managed to put forth a very compelling vision. The government has managed to get the attention of MNCs and there is a lot of merit in that. All this attention and commitment is a good sign.
What is your roadmap for mobile and wearable devices' chips? Qualcomm has left a huge gap there and others are busy lapping it up...
We have a roadmap on chips and we are very excited about SoFIA. We believe it can address the computing power as well as modem technology. That is going to come into this market segment very quickly and we are excited about that. We will be working with OEMs to bring more and more products in the market.
We do have a roadmap for processors that are going to go into wearables. Our CEO demonstrated some interesting wearables at CES this year- one of them was a safety watch that we created the prototype of here in India. I think the future of wearables in India is going to be strong. It may not be the same kind of wearables as you see in the western world. It may not be so much geared towards fashion. My sense is that wearables will be very big in health. The combination of IoT and wearables is going to work wonders in India.
What sort of support and policies would you like to see from the government?
R&D is need driven and we see need for investing in India increasing. The theme that we want the government to focus on is Design in India. PM talked about Design in India. Making in India without designing in India is not feasible.
In all the policies designed for the Electronic Systems Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector- a lot of focus has been on the M. We believe that we need to see more focus on Design. That kind of R&D ends up creating a ripple effect and that's what we want to talk to the government about. We are expanding rapidly and seeing PM's vision around Digital India and Design in India- I see the opportunity for us to do even more. What I want to talk to the government about it how they can play more of an enabling role like governments of Israel, Malaysia, Singapore. The concept is not new- we have done it for sectors before. But for captive R&D centers, we don't have incentives to design from ground up. There are SEZ's but they arent for captive centers. We should consider having that. They bring about ease of business. I want to talk to government about accelerating and scaling up the R&D work that is already happening in India.
Design in India can have a very profound effect on Make in India. Intel India is a microcosm of Intel and we want to keep it that way. Intel R&D will increase focus on developing local, customized solutions for the Indian market- because the market segments that are growing in India- particularly mobile and IoT call for more custom solutions than we have ever needed before.
Intel has been focusing a lot of R&D efforts towards India based solutions. Is that owing to government's Digital India Vision?
Intel India's R&D center is a microcosm of Intel itself. We currently have 6900 employees and we work on both global and local solutions. The new government's own digital India program is of course enhancing our India focus. But there are also some exciting market segments that are unique to India who are asking for more focused, customized solutions. Think about services- as we move towards the mobile world and towards IoT- there is more need for customized solutions. As a result of that as well, our focus on customized solutions has gone up.
Tell us about some of the India specific work happening out of Intel R&D center.
We are doing a lot of work around wearables and Internet of Things. Generally speaking, we keep the underlying platform the same but the way applications are designed and operated upon it can differ greatly. For example- one of the things that we have introduced in the market is the mobile health solution - it is a combination of IoT and wearables. It is being taken to the market with our partner BPL. But it is an example of our backend tech with a front end wearable device that monitors vital stats like BP, blood sugar, heart rate etc. We prototyped the device but of course we are not the ones manufacturing it. We also designed the backend for storing the data and analysing it. All the technology to do this stuff exists- it is about the way we put the stuff together to bring out an end to end solution which was unique to India. Solutions like these are going to be critical to India. It is a question of when and not if.
One of the key missions we are participating in as a part of Digital India is cleaning the Ganga. We are working with the government to create a plan for putting sensors in the water. Where and how many is still under works. When it comes to the backend infrastructure like servers etc- we have been working with the government for a long time. Because whether it's smart cities or surveillance, you always need systems at the backend. If you look at companies that operate in this space, Intel is the only company that has end to end solutions to offer. One of the pillars of Digital India is high performance computing. There too we are a very big player.
The other part is skilling and innovation- that is also significant for us. We launched a campaign called Innovate for Digital India a couple of months back. These things are not only helping in talent recognition but also developing the technology ecosystem as a whole in India.
Has the optimism and business discourse changed with the Modi led government? Especially given the PM's focus on technology and making in India?
Yes, the overall industry is more hopeful than ever those things will take form quickly but we have our implementation challenges to deal with. The government has certainly managed to put forth a very compelling vision. The government has managed to get the attention of MNCs and there is a lot of merit in that. All this attention and commitment is a good sign.
What is your roadmap for mobile and wearable devices' chips? Qualcomm has left a huge gap there and others are busy lapping it up...
We have a roadmap on chips and we are very excited about SoFIA. We believe it can address the computing power as well as modem technology. That is going to come into this market segment very quickly and we are excited about that. We will be working with OEMs to bring more and more products in the market.
We do have a roadmap for processors that are going to go into wearables. Our CEO demonstrated some interesting wearables at CES this year- one of them was a safety watch that we created the prototype of here in India. I think the future of wearables in India is going to be strong. It may not be the same kind of wearables as you see in the western world. It may not be so much geared towards fashion. My sense is that wearables will be very big in health. The combination of IoT and wearables is going to work wonders in India.
R&D is need driven and we see need for investing in India increasing. The theme that we want the government to focus on is Design in India. PM talked about Design in India. Making in India without designing in India is not feasible.
In all the policies designed for the Electronic Systems Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) sector- a lot of focus has been on the M. We believe that we need to see more focus on Design. That kind of R&D ends up creating a ripple effect and that's what we want to talk to the government about. We are expanding rapidly and seeing PM's vision around Digital India and Design in India- I see the opportunity for us to do even more. What I want to talk to the government about it how they can play more of an enabling role like governments of Israel, Malaysia, Singapore. The concept is not new- we have done it for sectors before. But for captive R&D centers, we don't have incentives to design from ground up. There are SEZ's but they arent for captive centers. We should consider having that. They bring about ease of business. I want to talk to government about accelerating and scaling up the R&D work that is already happening in India.
Design in India can have a very profound effect on Make in India. Intel India is a microcosm of Intel and we want to keep it that way. Intel R&D will increase focus on developing local, customized solutions for the Indian market- because the market segments that are growing in India- particularly mobile and IoT call for more custom solutions than we have ever needed before.
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