Finolex group promotes IT centre of learning

In what could be among the first of such private sector initiatives, the Finolex group is putting up an institute for advanced learning and research in information technology, claimed to be on the lines of MIT and Stanord.

Mooted under the public charitable trust, Hope Foundation and Research Centre, established by P.P. Chhabria and K.P. Chhabria, promoters of the Finolex group, the International Institute of Information Technology (I2IT for short, pronounced 'i square i-t' has the twin charter of promoting high end research and innovation in information technology and serving as a nursery for start-ups and showcasing emerging technologies. The campus is to be built with an initial investment of Rs 20 crore.

"If India is to sustain its growth in IT and emerge as an IT superpower, it is necessary that we learn to create a platform for new product innovation, and the ability and leadership to convert this into wealth," says Dr Vijay Bhatkar, founder director of the Centre for the Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), who led the development of India's Param supercomputer programme, and is now giving shape to this project.

The post graduate institution is envisioned to spawn a new kind of culture for advanced learning and enterprise, and develop into a centre of renown the world over. One of its trendsetting moves would be teaching and research assistantships for top-ranking students.

To this end, a state-of-the-art fully-wired campus complete with fibre optic network connecting labs, classrooms, library, hostels, automated support facilities, multi-processor server farms, open air coliseums, sports complexes, meditation centres, is to be put up, along with residential facilities for faculty and over 1,000 students just outside the campus.

The campus itself is being built on a 10-acre plot within the heart of the Infotech Park of the STPI at Hinjawadi near Pune. The project is envisaged to come up within 15 months flat from the time of its conceptualising to its functioning, and begin academic sessions by July 2001.

"Our students now go abroad for higher studies because facilities for advanced study and research in computing are not available in India. Here we are attempting to retain the students by giving them a comparable environment," said P.P. Chhabria, chairman, Finolex group, explaining the motive behind the project.

Another objective of the institute is to develop in such a way as to attract students from overseas, particularly developing countries, turning it into a nodal point for higher learning, research and enterprise in computing. From the very inception, the project is planned as a SAARC Centre for education and research in multilingual, multimedia information technology.