Mathworks eyes education in India

BANGALORE, INDIA: MathWorks is developer of technical computing software for engineers and scientists in industry, government and education.

Well renowned for Matlab and Simulink, MathWorks is looking at Indian education sector for growth. Speaking to CIOL, Kishore Rao, Managing Director, MathWorks India, shared the details about the company's plans regarding opportunity in education sector.

Could you share a few things about the company?

Mathworks is a privately held company specializing in mathematical computing software for engineers and scientists. It has more than 50 percent business from outside the United States. MathWorks employs 2200 people with 30 percent located outside the United States.

Our two flagship products are Matlab and Simulink. Matlab is a programming environment for algorithm development, data analysis, visualization, and numeric computation, while Simulink is a graphical environment for simulation and Model-Based Design of multidomain dynamic and embedded systems. MathWorks produces nearly 100 additional products for specialized tasks such as data analysis and image processing.

Our products are suited to serve all the industry verticals, but leading verticals for our business have been auto, aviation and education. In Education, more than 5000 colleges and universities globally use MathWorks solutions for teaching and research in a broad range of technical disciplines.

What are the changes that you brought with establishing the local presence?

Around 2008, MathWorks established its presence in India. Some of the major changes were re-building the sales and distribution. We started direct relationship with some of our key customers. We have differentiated the markets of commercial sector and education. The commercial business is now handled directly. We build our own technical and support team for them. The new model was a mix and match of direct and indirect businesses.

Since then, around 60 percent of business has come from the commercial, while the rest has been from the education and government sector. In a span of two years, our business grew by 40-50 percent and look forward to more expansion with growth.

Mathworks had a strong partnership with Crane software. What happened to that relationship?

Crane software was the distribution partner for Mathworks products. As I already mentioned, we started direct India presence around 2008. We still focus at sales and do not have any development center here. So after getting in, we brought in a few changes in the sales and distribution. Around the end of 2009, our relationship came to an end.

Having said that, we continue to have partners for our education and government businesses. The partners provide us coverage and market.

You mentioned that there is good opportunity in the education sector. How big is the opportunity here?

According to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), by 2025, India’s 350 universities, 18,000 colleges and 6,000 ITIs will continue to churn out five lakh technical graduates, along with around 2.3 million graduates (or maybe more). Unfortunately, just 10-25 percent of them will be ‘employable’. This implies the dearth of technically sound engineers with a balanced knowledge of fundamental engineering concepts as well as application of the same, which is a matter of concern.

How are you harnessing this opportunity?

Around 2008, we partnered with industry bodies like The Indo US Collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE) program to improve the quality and global relevance of engineering graduates. They have a faculty training program, which has week-long workshops. We have conducted these workshops (in association with IUCEE) in Hyderabad, Shimla, Pune, Madurai etc.

Mathworks is already a known name among universities. Matlab and Simulink have grown to become essential and fundamental computational tools in educational institutions worldwide.

We are working on Matlab Central, an interactive forum for the engineering community, to engage in meaningful dialogue, by sharing ideas and promoting collaboration among users.

We have been sponsoring for the annual tech festivals at NIT Suratkal and look forward to more such university partnerships. We also conduct seminars for the faculty. They talk about the curriculum, the courses and the way forward.