Tech cos setting up R&D centres near engineering colleges
SOBHA MENON - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
SUNDAY, MAY 20, 2007 02:01:09 AM
NEW DELHI: Don’t be surprised if you start seeing quite a buzz around cities with reputed engineering colleges. And an increase in prosperity too, for that matter. There are more and more tech companies looking to setting up their R&D centres close to engineering colleges in places like Manipal, Udipi, Trichy, Madurai, Udipi and Kharagpur.
Sankalp Semiconductors, a two-year-old start-up with about 45 engineers working on analog and digital mixed signal technologies, operates right from the BVB Engineering College premises in Hubli. “Besides Hubli’s colleges, we recruit from campuses in Nanded, Berhampur in Orissa and Durgapur. So we are planning to set up our next R&D facility at Durgapur or Kharagpur,” says Vivek Pawar, CEO, Sankalp Semiconductors.
There’s IT services company, Able Technologies too, that’s operated out of Dharwar in Karnataka for the last two years. “I source most of my engineers from colleges in north Karnataka, so I don’t see any reason to live in a tier one city,” says Jagdish Hiremath, CEO, Able Technologies.
Tier one cities with their problems of increasing operating costs, conjestion and pollution, just fails to stack up against these towns. “You can’t give much thought to innovation and creating IP if you spend most of your time travelling — which is what I was doing in Bangalore,” says Mr Pawar about his decision to move lock,stock and barrel to Hubli two years ago.
Says Poornima Shenoy, president, Indian Semiconductors Association: “Engineering colleges are indeed turning to be quite a draw for semiconductor startups. And in many states, the government is doing its best by setting up incubation facilities and providing good infrastructure.” The success of companies such as Robosoft, a software company in Udipi, and Karmic (Karnataka Microelectronic Design Centre), a semiconductor solutions company in Manipal, could also be a reason for companies feeling more confident about operating from smaller towns and cities.
And no, employees too don’t mind leaving big cities to live in places like Manipal and Udipi. “It’s the work atmosphere that we provide here that matters to them — and so we have people who have come from Uttaranchal, Rajasthan and Manipur to work with us here in Udipi,” a Robosoft official said. In fact, there are many who would like return to their hometowns if only they had the job opportunity there, says Mr Hiremath, who returned from the US to settle in Dharwar. The tech boom’s apparently having a ripple effect.
SOBHA MENON - TIMES NEWS NETWORK
SUNDAY, MAY 20, 2007 02:01:09 AM
NEW DELHI: Don’t be surprised if you start seeing quite a buzz around cities with reputed engineering colleges. And an increase in prosperity too, for that matter. There are more and more tech companies looking to setting up their R&D centres close to engineering colleges in places like Manipal, Udipi, Trichy, Madurai, Udipi and Kharagpur.
Sankalp Semiconductors, a two-year-old start-up with about 45 engineers working on analog and digital mixed signal technologies, operates right from the BVB Engineering College premises in Hubli. “Besides Hubli’s colleges, we recruit from campuses in Nanded, Berhampur in Orissa and Durgapur. So we are planning to set up our next R&D facility at Durgapur or Kharagpur,” says Vivek Pawar, CEO, Sankalp Semiconductors.
There’s IT services company, Able Technologies too, that’s operated out of Dharwar in Karnataka for the last two years. “I source most of my engineers from colleges in north Karnataka, so I don’t see any reason to live in a tier one city,” says Jagdish Hiremath, CEO, Able Technologies.
Tier one cities with their problems of increasing operating costs, conjestion and pollution, just fails to stack up against these towns. “You can’t give much thought to innovation and creating IP if you spend most of your time travelling — which is what I was doing in Bangalore,” says Mr Pawar about his decision to move lock,stock and barrel to Hubli two years ago.
Says Poornima Shenoy, president, Indian Semiconductors Association: “Engineering colleges are indeed turning to be quite a draw for semiconductor startups. And in many states, the government is doing its best by setting up incubation facilities and providing good infrastructure.” The success of companies such as Robosoft, a software company in Udipi, and Karmic (Karnataka Microelectronic Design Centre), a semiconductor solutions company in Manipal, could also be a reason for companies feeling more confident about operating from smaller towns and cities.
And no, employees too don’t mind leaving big cities to live in places like Manipal and Udipi. “It’s the work atmosphere that we provide here that matters to them — and so we have people who have come from Uttaranchal, Rajasthan and Manipur to work with us here in Udipi,” a Robosoft official said. In fact, there are many who would like return to their hometowns if only they had the job opportunity there, says Mr Hiremath, who returned from the US to settle in Dharwar. The tech boom’s apparently having a ripple effect.
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