Newsletter

Over 1500 delegates from the who's who of the local and global IT industry attended the conference and 500 exhibitors put up stalls in the 100,000 sq-ft exhibition venue at Salt Lake stadium. President A.P.J Abdul Kalam inagurated Infocom 2006 and shared his thoughts on the conference theme 'Innovate to Differentiate'. This is the country's biggest information,communication and technology exposition organised by Nasscom and Businessworld in association with CeBIT. Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi and state IT minister Dr. Debesh Das were also present at the opening ceremony. From the Infocom 2006 platform, the Bengal Chief Minister announced to facilitate faster development of IT and IT-Enabled Services.The conference came to an end with the IT ministers' roundtable.

Infocom 2006 has instituted the Infocom Future Leadership Awards to nurture and encourage the leaders of tomorrow. It was also a weekend of truimphs and let downs for aspirants registering at Jobs Mart which attarcted around 5000 people over the two days.

The National Highway Authorities of India (NHAI) will be investing Rs. 10000 crore on the development of several road construction projects in the state, in the next 4 years. NHAI would upgrade NH 34, a 5 Km stretch between Joka and Khidderpore on NH 117A and extend NH 41 from Haldia to Mecheda with a view to reducing traffic congestion on state highways. NHAI was also considering to construct a second connecting road link between Silliguri and the Nathula Pass on Indo-China border.

The retail chain of Bharti Enterprises, which has entered into a joint venture with Wal-Mart is all set to start the chain in Bengal. Wal-Mart would be involved in cold chain and storage, cash-and-carry and other such supply chain logistics.

Kolkata’s private-sector healthcare delivery system is set for a $500-million shot in the arm — the Neotia Elbit Healthcity, to be set up by the Ambuja Realty Group on EM Bypass, in a strategic alliance with Elbit Medical Imaging (EMI) Ltd. of Israel. The principle agreement for the project was signed at Writers’ Buildings in the presence of honorable Chief Minister, Sri Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The facility will bring know-how for non-invasive ablation of tumors. It will also incorporate the R&D benefits from EMI’s alliance healthcare majors in the development of technology for expansion of cord-blood stem cells. The new facility proposes to utilize stem-cell therapy for hematological malignancies, tissue repair and regeneration and stem-cell multiplication.

The Videocon group has submitted a bid to the West Bengal government among other companies to become a joint venture partner for Webel Consumer Electronics (WCEL), the television manufacturing company under Webel. The Videocon group’s proposal involves setting up of a state-of-the art printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing unit and a finishing school for IT engineers. It will be the fourth major investment of the group in consumer electronics in the state.

Leading software exporter Satyam Computer Services Limited is keen on acquiring more land in West Bengal for increasing their presence in the state. Founder and Chairman of the company B Ramalinga Raju told reporters on the sidelines of Infocomm 2006, highlighting the potentiality of the state. Satyam has a good presence in Kolkata.

A 50 acre campus of ITC Infotech is being planned in Kolkata to house an ITC brand hotel and an IT development and training center. This will be the company’s second similar campus after Bangalore. The hotel would cater to the company’s global clientele and is likely to be on the lines of a business hotel. This multi dimensional park would be the first of its kind in the city with such integrated facilities.

Real estate and construction major Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. has lined up Rs. 2500 crore investment for a mass housing development project and an IT and ITES SEZ Park in Kolkata. The project is scheduled to be completed by early 2011. The formal approval for the SEZ in 50 acre was received recently where around 4 million sq ft of area would be developed for IT and ITeS companies. The company is also planning to develop a biotech park in the state.

The state IT minister, Dr. Debesh Das inagurated the finishing school on 20th December, 2006 for IT carreer aspirants, the first of its kind in the state at Webel's Taratala complex. The objective of the school is to help engineering students to develop their soft skills and requisite technical skills in order to make them compatible to the IT industry. The aim of the six week programme is to enhance the employability of the technical graduates. Speaking at Infocom 2006 on the initiatives the government is planning to take, Chief Minister also mentioned about the finishing school for engineering graduates as one of the thrust areas. It is proposed to train about 1000 candidates every year in various programmes.

“………………the possibilities of the Bengal tigers, entering the field of ICT with a roar. When I projected in 2005 that the Indian ICT market should reach $200 billion by 2010, NASSCOMM was predicting a figure of around $100 billion. Now that West Bengal has woken up, we are all eagerly waiting to make the dream of $200 billion by 2010 a reality by innovating to differentiate..”

- Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam,
President OF India

• 8th International Conference on Vibration Problems (ICOVP-2007)
Date: January 30-February 3, 2007
Organizer: Department of Mathematics, Bengal Engineering and Science University
Venue: Bengal Engineering and Science University