Advertisment

Budget expectations from Nvidia

author-image
Deepa
New Update

Vishal Dhupar, managing director, South Asia, Nvidia

Advertisment

BANGALORE, INDIA: Today, India is recognized as a leading technology and business outsourcing destination, worldwide. Despite a commendable showing on the global IT stage, India's investments in research and development (R&D) are abysmally low. We have 17 per cent of the world's population, but we publish only 2.5 per cent of the world's scientific researches. We spend a mere 0.9 per cent of our GDP on R&D - far behind countries like China and South Korea.

On the one hand, India industries like aerospace, defence, oil & gas exploration are striving to become globally competitive. On the other, India is attempting to secure its economic prosperity and tap into new sources of innovation and growth.

Clearly, we need to strengthen our R&D and build a sustainable research pipeline. Supercomputing is the way forward to achieve this and it is heartening to see that the Indian government has taken note of this fact.

Advertisment

The government has acknowledged the need to invest time and money in advanced R&D projects across key industries and strategic sectors. This is evident from its decision to double expenditure on scientific research in the 12th Five Year Plan.

Significantly, the government has also recognized the critical role that supercomputing plays in building a nation's research capacities. The fact that supercomputers make for energy efficient research should further add momentum to the government's supercomputing policy. At the highest levels of the Indian government, there has been a definite thrust for augmenting India's supercomputing expertise to advance the country's growth capabilities.

We endorse and support the government's decision to build the world's fastest supercomputer by 2017. India certainly has the experience and expertise to achieve this dream. However, much depends on the availability of budgets, technology and talent as well as the presence of a robust research and technology ecosystem. We hope the government will make continued investments in nurturing talent and supporting the development of hardware systems that can drive India's supercomputing aspirations.

Advertisment

Last year the government also approved the National IT Policy, 2012, to leverage information and communication technology in an effort to aid economic development. Amongst the key areas of focus, we are hopeful that the government will encourage innovation in R&D as well as explore the application of ICT for social sector initiatives across healthcare, education, financial inclusion and rural development. India has already emerged as a key hub for global research and product development initiatives and we expect that the government will continue to invest in ICT to further cement this position.

We endorse and support the government's decision to build the world's fastest supercomputer by 2017.India certainly does not lack the experience and expertise to achieve this dream. However, much depends on the availability of budgets, technology and talent as well as the presence of a robust research and technology ecosystem. We hope the government will make continued investments in nurturing talent and supporting the development of hardware systems that can drive India's supercomputing aspirations."

The fact that supercomputers make for energy efficient research should further add momentum to the government's supercomputing aspirations.

On the one hand industries in India like aerospace, defence, oil & gas exploration are striving to become globally competitive. On the other, India is attempting to secure its economic prosperity and tap into new sources of innovation and growth.Cleary, we need to strengthen our R&D and build a sustainable research pipeline. Supercomputing is the way forward to achieve this and it is heartening to see that the Indian government has taken note of this fact."

tech-news