Zinnov hosts 'Offshoring R&D' in Bangalore

BANGALORE, INDIA: Management consultancy firm Zinnov is organizing a two-day event in Bangalore focusing on the R&D landscape in India.

Titled ‘Offshoring R&D 2008-Colloborate, Strategize, Innovate’ the event is supported by the likes of Ness Technologies and Sonata Software Ltd.

It brings together a vendor-neutral gathering of senior software executives from over 400 captives across the country to identify, explore and address multiple issues and offer synergistic solutions.

Zinnov CEO Pari Natarajan said: “R&D offshoring has seen phenomenal growth in the last five years and has played a key part in showcasing India’s capability in innovation and high quality of work. But new strategies are required in view of the changing economic climate, increasing scale of operations and increasing competition in the IT service sector.”

Bobby Mitra, Managing Director, Texas Instruments India, Sharad Sharma, CEO of Yahoo! India R&D and Naresh Chand Gupta, Sr vice president, print and publishing unit and managing director of Abode Systems India Pvt Ltd were declared winners of R&D visionary award. They were selected from leaders of R&D leaders from across India.

Natarajan said that the long-term potential of the industry is robust despite some depressed economic conditions and a marked slowdown in the growth rate of IT industry.

After Tata’s celebrated Nano experiment, every global R&D company wants to set up centers in India, he said.

“The market potential for local products, willingness of MNC product companies to invest in Indian start-ups, high economic growth of the middles-class population and risk taking abilities will surely continue to drive growth in the sector,” added Natarajan.

B Ramaswamy, president and managing director, Sonata Software Ltd said: “Over the last few years India has established itself as a hub of product development. While there are exciting opportunities for growth there are challenges facing this industry that will compel it to innovate. One key area will be how captives and specialized produce engineering firms like Sonata Software combine their strengths to evolve an enduring growth story.”