Ten engineers from India versed in software research and development arrived in Taipei yesterday at the invitation of government-funded Institute for Information Industry (
These Indian talents will be working in Taiwan mainly in the areas of integrated circuit (IC) design and embedded software, said Ke Jyh-sheng (
With the addition of these 10 engineers, there are now about 40 Indian software R&D personnel in the country, an unprecedented Indian presence in Taiwan's technology sector.
The exchange of talent is just a latest development between the two countries after the institute signed a memorandum of understanding with India's National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) in February to bolster two-way industrial and economic exchange and cooperation. Last September, Taiwan hosted the 2003 Taiwan-India IT Technology Cooperation Seminar, with the participation of leading IT companies from India, including internationally renowned Tata Consultancy Services, Sasken Communication Technologies and Satyam Computer.
Under the Taiwan-India agreement, the two sides will set up a group to handle and promote bilateral cooperative issues such as forging joint ventures to pave the way for transfers of technology and manpower.
The Indian information technology industry is now a US$15.5 billion market with some 800,000 workers, Ke said, citing recent estimates by NASSCOM, India's top software industry organization.
It is estimated that the market will balloon to US$80 billion with an army of two million workers by 2008, Ke added.
According to NASSCOM President Kiran Karnik, the huge number of highly skilled persons and the low costs for their employment will give India's high-technology industrial development a competitive edge the future.
India is now already the leader of the world's software industry.
It is estimated that by 2020, the US will be in need of 1.7 million workers in its industrial sector, Japan will be short nine million while mainland China will need 19 million. By that time, Karnik said, India will be able to export some 47 million people to meet these countries' needs.
Ke yesterday said that in the coming years the institute will also help high-tech engineers from Russia, Ireland and Vietnam to travel to Taiwan to assist with information technology and telecommunications development.
Taiwan's software industry has lagged behind its hardware development. As part of the government's plans to help transform R&D into applicable technologies, the institute in March this year co-founded the Advanced Software Technology Center with National Central University.
Both parties will initially invest NT$7 million to NT$8 million in the center and plan to to recruit up to 50 research staff in the first year. The detailed plans for the center's first year include development of a third-generation information service platform for automobiles as well as a digital-learning center.
Earlier this year, the institute also signed up with two other universities, National Tsinghua University and National Chao Tung University, to establish similar software research centers.
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