This slide deck was my cheat sheet of points I mentioned at National Technology Day celebrations 2016. Theme for this year "Technology enablers for Startup India". Hope today's students dream different from my generation!
2. When I was young, younger than you
• Was sure pleased to read about
• Aryabhatta satellite
• Launched from elsewhere
• Failed attempts with SLV3
• Until D2 happened
• Arjun the battle tank
• First Indian team on Antarctica
• First Indian in space
• But, they merely remained things to dream of…
3. When I was in college
• I studied Metallurgy in REC, Durgapur
• Industrial Visits meant visiting Steel Plant(s)
• Our dreams / goals
• A few dreamt of going abroad to study further
• Many would aspire to get a job in public sector
• Some would aspire to study further and get a job – probably in academic
• Unless your family was in business, running an enterprise wasn’t a
dream at all
• Few of us dreamt of starting Sponge Iron plant, until we found no. of zeroes in
investment needed
4. Once I started working
• 25 years in IT industry
• Thanks to some leaders who opened up India in IT, ICT
• This industry grew really big
• No engineer is worried about getting a job any more
• But, where is innovation?
5. Innovation / Technology in India
• In my mind, our indigenous advancements have been in
• Space Research
• Defence related technologies
• Nuclear research
• Automobiles
• May be, bio-tech?
• But these aren’t for every student with dreams
• Many are government / industry funded
• Need a lot of funds & infra for you to create some magic
• A friend inventor - RVCR engine runs multiple fuels – still hunting for funds
6. Things changed in late’90s
• On one side, we have
• Pokharan
• Hansa – III
• Trishul missile
• But, in US, many DOT COM companies started
• Using / around Internet
• Ticket booking
• Grocery delivery
• Real estate portals
• …
7. We remained unaffected by all that e-noise
• While Internet and email entered India in mid-90s
• It wasn’t until late ‘90s we saw Internet Booths
• At Ramco Systems we had 3-4 connections of 64 Kbps each
• We were a cutting edge technology and product innovation company then too
• BharatMatrimony.com was early – 1997?
• Started with offline payments
• Not sure how long before they became ‘popular’
8. But, WHY?
• Technology wasn’t cheap
• An outgoing mobile call cost me Rs. 32/- per minute in 1997
• 64 Kbps was a luxury, courtesy of BSNL
• A PC with Pentium processor was around Rs 65,000/
• Not enough multi-tenant facilities for offices
• Not those
• Most of us didn’t have the mindset to be on our own
• Didn’t know how to start
• Didn’t have money needed
9. For two decades or more
• India became synonymous with
• Abundant supplier
• Of inexpensive IT Manpower
• We started exporting (‘body shopping’)
• And then, offshoring
• But, we kept merely doing what THEY wanted us to do
• Is there innovation in being ‘order-takers’?
10. Few words about Ramco
• We started developing an ERP ‘software product’
• In early ’90s
• First in India
• Probably APAC too
• A true story of ‘Make in India’
• It wasn’t easy
• Technology was new
• Not enough books / training
• Not enough market / revenue
11. Few words about Ramco
• In 1996, when India was trying to experience Internet
• We began creating a framework for developing web-based applications
• Ramco VirtualWorks
• In production for >16 years
• CASE tool
• Powering large enterprise applications around the globe
• Multiple patents
12. Back to where I was…
• Products, Innovation needed deep pockets
• Ramco wasn’t the only one, others developed internet-based dreams
• Some survived
• Some grew big
• Some vanished
• Rediff.com, chennaionline.com, sify.com, IndiaPlaza.com
13. Few big things happened in the last 6-7 years
• Cloud Computing
• Entered India too
• Inexpensive to run applications – low entry barrier
• Telecommunications / Broadband
• Probably the cheapest in the world
• People returning from US
• With dreams, ideas, little money and lots of courage
• Contagious culture
• Government support
• For startups
14. And many technological improvements
• Mobile phones to Smart Phones to Apps
• No G – 2G – 3G – 4G
• Wearables, IoT
• Fitness devices / SOS rings / Google Glass
• Banking
• Banks to ATMs to card swipes to web apps to mobile apps to wallets
• Drones
• Recording moments
• Sound recorders, cameras, video recorders – just phones
15. And combinations there of
• A drone with a video camera
• Beaming wirelessly to a control station
• Beaming live to Periscope.com
• So that your cousins in another part of the world can see your brother’s
wedding
• AR Rahman and his recording crew in two continents collaborating
over internet
• Fitness devices that transmit data over Bluetooth to a phone that
publishes to Facebook, or call your doctor
• GPS, sensors and millions of lines of code in my car…
17. The New Definition
• Is not merely being ‘Order Takers’
• It is building OUR OWN
18. Yes, you can!
• Internet is all over
• Fast
• Cheap
• Even in Himalayas / Ettimadai forest
• Most technologies / research facilities are here too
• Cheaper
• Learning is easy
• MIT OCW or NPTEL – all other MOOCs too are on your mobile
• No longer merely driven by your professors and your library
19. Yes, you should!
• Look around
• We’re still a terrific developing country
• Thousands of problems that technology can solve/ease
• Not merely grocery or food delivery sites / apps
• Think of e-Choupal by ITC
• Think of a farmer starting his motor in the farm remotely
• Think of Practo
• Think Uberization in more fields
20. Help is abundant
• Plenty of incubators around
• Plenty of communities
• Plenty of Angels and VCs
• Just look at yourstory.in
21. Your dreams should be different
• Some of you should dream to study further and teach
• I have that dream too!
• Some of you should dream of entering a job
• And have a terrific Indian work-wife balance
• Some of you should dream of starting on your own
• And experience the romantic roller-coaster rides
• And some of you would grow big
• Some would narrate battle tales to grandchildren
22. Last Words
• Let us not celebrate technology only on 11th May
• Let us thank all unknown / known inventors each moment we’re touched by
technology
• And aspire to be remembered / thanked by our next generations