Kolkata:
IIT Kharagpur experts said Thursday the Centre’s decision to ban Chinese mobile apps has created space for indigenous replacements and enabled the institute to work on sponsored projects while helping start- ups. Its director Virendra Kumar Tewari said the start-up ecosystem at the institute’s Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park can lead the initiative through seed funding and incubation facility.
“We are planning a move for submission of app development projects by students which we can sponsor,” he said in a statement. He also stressed on the necessity of holding hackathons, a competition for students to develop digital solutions for real-life problems, at the national level engaging talents from technical institutes for developing mobile applications.
“Last year the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) had successfully organised several hackathons in hardware, software, rural technology etc. We have proven track record in delivering efficient and economically viable technologies. Let us seize this opportunity. The market has only been liberated, we can say, inward, this time,” Tewari said. Dean of Sponsored Research & Industrial Consultancy Suman Chakraborty said, “The ban has created a supply imbalance in the market which will attract Indian startups to fill the void.” The country’s technological research has reached a level where designing such products indigenously should not be a challenge at all, he said.
“Take for example the healthcare domain, the available innovations in healthcare devices and analytics can be improvised further to develop healthcare apps of the highest scientific and technological standard which can replace several foreign-bred mobile applications,” he said. Dean of IP Law School Goutam Saha said mass market products had to capture popular imagination to be successful.
“A specific mobile app-based game can be protected but not its concept or subject area. The way forward is to proactively work on user feedback and assess user needs to launch new products. The mass-market products need to upgrade features continuously and be trendy with the look and feel to capture popular imagination,” he said. A section of students at IIT Kharagpur engaged in product designing and development are excited too.
Undergraduate student T Y S S Santosh had developed various applications related to COVID-19 in an assignment during the lockdown period. “Similar assignments can be conducted to encourage students to ideate new developments, as part of the co- curricular programme. This can also be a real-life project- based learning experience for students where we can witness the transition from lab to land,” he said.
India on Monday banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including the hugely popular TikTok and UC Browser, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country. The ban came in the backdrop of a military standoff between the two countries along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and the killing of 20 Indian Army personnel in a clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley.
