Focus on industry collaboration

Updated on: Monday, December 21, 2009

It is not just the top institutes in the country that are increasingly focussing on industry collaboration but some private engineering colleges too have begun to realise the potential in such partnerships. Padmasri Dr. BV Raju Institute of Technology (BVRIT) in Medak district is one among them.

Inspired by the Western model of industry-academia collaboration, its chairman K.V. Vishnu Raju established the BVRIT Innovation Centre (BVITIC) on Nizampet Road in May this year. “It is meant to be a centre for institute-industry interaction and encourage companies get associated with the college,” says K. Srinivas Reddy, dean, BVRIT.

Set up with an investment of Rs. 1 crore, the 3,500 square feet facility boasts of state of the art hardware and software, and high internet bandwidth in a good ambience.

Innovation centre

No sooner was it set up; the innovation centre already had three companies working with its students on real-time projects. One among them is Notion Ink, a start up by six IITians and an MBA.

The company is currently developing a next generation technology for which around 50 final year B.Tech and MCA students of institute are working on Java and Android to develop applications for the upcoming system.

“We have trained them in the latest technology. They are the best Android engineers in the country. You can go to any blogs or forums on Android and you can find them discussing and answering questions there,” says Rohan Shravan, Founder and Director Creatives, Notion Ink. “They will get very good job offers in the market but we cannot let them go; we have trained them so well.”

This model works out advantageous for everyone involved. While students get hands-on experience with the latest there is in technology, the company gets its products developed free.

“We wanted students to interact with the best in the industry and gain knowledge from them.

In this time of recession, job opportunities are few but our skilled students will easily find employment as they are trained in latest technology,” avers Mr. Reddy.

Focus on industry collaboration

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