ACM to host HeadStart & Compute 2008

BANGALORE, INDIA: As part of an effort to foster the development of technology ecosystem in the country, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Bangalore chapter will be organizing two forums, HeadStart and Compute 2008. Both the events, to be held from January 18th to 20th, will be co-located at J N Tata Auditorium at IISC Bangalore.

“India needs to have more talent in terms of innovation and technology. People who come with innovation are facing inadequate capital. Limited access to market is another key issue. Keeping all these factors in mind, we decided to organize these events which, we hope, will help bridge the gaps,” said Kallol Borah, managing director, Aumega Networks Limited and one of the key visionaries behind the events. 

HeadStart 2008 will be a common platform for corporate, entrepreneurs and investors in the IT world to come and join hands. “The whole idea behind HeadStart is not just about getting some VC funds for start-ups and entrepreneurs. It’s about coming up with real innovation, knowing more about the market opportunities and thus about how to make money yourself,” added Kallol Borah.

HeadStart 2008 will host around 100 corporate, 200 entrepreneurs and about 1000 attendees from the IT industry. There will be product demonstrations and panel discussions on four different topics ranging from consumer services, mobility & communications, Enterprise applications and embedded systems. The start-ups will also get a chance to interact with some major venture capitalists like Lighspeed Venture partners, IDG Ventures India, Canaan Partners, Intel Capital, Ojas, Motorola Ventures etc.

“We have got 17 nominations across the four sections so far. We have set up a review panel to select the most innovative papers. Those papers will later be showcased in ACM Digital Library worldwide,” said Murali Grandhi, chairman, ACM Bangalore chapter.

Commenting on the relevance of such events, said Dr C Mohan, Chief Scientist, IBM India, said, “Though economically growing, India needs to focus more on technology and innovation. These are the future drivers”.

“India is very strong in the space of software skills. But, when it comes to manufacturing skills, we are really lagging behind. It’s very important to bridge this gap so that more and more product companies can come up from India,” said Venki CTO Rediff.

Compute 2008 will provide a platform for researchers and practitioners from the IT industry to discuss and debate about the latest technology trends in computing. It will present research papers, tutorials and posters and will be hosting around 400 professionals.

“The technology expertise that product companies need to have is missing in our country. Entrepreneurs and start-ups have difficulty in getting adequate funding and they require right access to the local market too.  We hope that such events will help build the whole ecosystem by bridging the gaps,” added Kallol Borah.