Compute & Headstart from Jan. 18

BANGALORE, INDIA: The India chapter of Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) is gearing up to host a first-of-its-kind event to bring together researchers, entrepreneurs and corporates.

The forum christened Compute and Headstart 2008, to be held at the Indian Institute of Science campus in Bangalore from January 18-20, promises to be a succor for researchers as they can interact with over 100 corporates and 200 entrepreneurs.

According to Kallol Borah, a member of the event’s steering committee, India lacks an ecosystem where there is a platform for interaction between researchers, entrepreneurs and corporates. The event tries to build that very ecosystem in the country, added Borah, who is also the managing director of Aumega Networks Limited.

The organizers, who expect the three-day forum to be highly successful, have divided the event into two parts: Headstart and Compute. The event would be a blend of technology and business tracks.

Research papers would be presented under the Compute category. The section would also have a poster category in which researchers can present their work in front of experts.

Speaking about the response from research institutions, Srinivas Padmanabhuni, principal researcher at Software Engineering and Technology Labs, Infosys Technologies, said that the event has been able to attract research papers from various parts of India and even outside.

“What is more striking is that we are getting impressive applications from Tier II cities,” said Padmanabhuni.

The nominations in the HeadStart category would also get a chance to present their proposals before the venture funds at the event. The organizers have formed a review committee that would scrutinize all the nominations. Five nominations in each segment would present demonstrations.

After getting the nod from the review committee the nominations have to make presentations before the potential investors.

Venture Capital funds like Sherpalo, Canaan Partners, LightSpeed Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Bessemer Venture Partners, Ojas Ventures, Motorola Ventures, Inventus Capital Partners, IDG Ventures India and SVB would be present at the three-day event.

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