The India Semiconductor Association (ISA), the trade body representing the Indian semiconductor driven industry recently released, “A study on the status of semiconductor related research in Indian universities” a Study by Evalueserve. The Study addresses the state of semiconductor related research in top Indian technical universities. It is supported by Intel Education along with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT).The Study was recently released by Shri. Jainder Singh, IAS, Secretary MCIT at New Delhi.
The report is aimed at highlighting the role that academia will play in the growth and development of the Indian semiconductor industry and advices on a future course of action for building university labs and related research.
Summary of key findings include:
· The role of government funding is 85-90% of the funding available to university lab research
· The top seven institutes account for approximately 70–75 per cent of the total research being undertaken in the academic institutes of the country. These institutes have the faculty and dedicated VLSI labs to support high-quality semiconductor-related research.
· These institutes account for around 61 percent of research papers published in the field of semiconductors.
Some recommendations moving forward are as follows:
· Facilitate a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model involving the government, the industry, and the academia to encourage applied semiconductor research.
· Promote setting up of Technology Business Incubators (TBI). TBIs provide a robust platform for active industry-academia interactions, and help convert a potential research idea to its commercial success.
· Take steps to enhance research infrastructure by developing dedicated research centers, by enhancing the standard of semiconductor laboratories to match with industry standards and by setting up semiconductor-related research in R&D special economic zones.
· Improve the status of research scholars and faculty by providing performance based incentives to faculty and research scholars, facilitating involvement of industry executives in academics and by creating awareness about job avenues among PhD holders
· Industry to participate in a proactive manner more than just providing tools
India Semiconductor Association (ISA
