Only technology can make a country rich: Prof. Indiresan

BANGALORE: Technology is the only one that makes a country rich.

Labour, particularly the talented variety, creates wealth, but only when it is transformed by technology. This was stated by former director of IIT New Delhi, Professor

P.V. Indiresan. He was delivering a lecture on 'Why not a Bill Gates from India', as part of the Indian Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore lecture series here on Wednesday.

Professor Indiresan pointed out that dominance in science and technology required outstanding minds and a wise management. He called for providing more freedom to the talented young individuals. He stressed that due care should be given to such promising minds. "The trick is to make researchers feel big, while managers remain bigger," he added.

Before you achieve something, you must have a vision. A vision is a signpost of where the organisation can go. Non-obvious change is the basis of vision. The professor said that one of the reasons that India has not been able to produce a Bill Gates is that our society does not recognise scientists.

He told the young software engineers that the five-step strategy based on Kuhn is: Take an existing design, push it beyond its operational limit, check which is the weakest point, strengthen that weak point. You have then achieved marginal improvement. Repeat the steps for further improvisation.

According to Professor Indiresan, the half-life of technology is small and is decreasing day by day. "You should discard technology before it becomes obsolete. The thumb rule is at least 20 per cent of the technology must be retired and replaced by newer technology every year," he said.

Some of his advises to the young audience were outsource as far as possible, maximise indigenous content, employ competing teams, specify desired outcomes, allow freedom for commanders to experiment, and as far as possible, replace, do not repair.