Media Labs Asia operations get rolling

Media Labs Asia (MLA)-- the joint initiative by Media Labs USA and the Ministry of Information Technology--has appointed eight new officials and set up labs in the IIT campuses at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kanpur. Media Labs officials said that the hunt for a CEO is on and has reached a decisive stage. 

A grand dream and an equally grand effort to take the benefits of technology to the masses, Media Labs is a Rs 5,000 crore, 10 year long initiative launched in September of last year. Pramod Mahajan, Minister of Communication, is the Chairman and Nicolas Negroponte, Chairman, Media Labs USA, is the vice chairman with other three other directors: Rajeev Ratna Shah, Secretary IT, V Ranganathan, Chief Secretary of Maharashtra, and Alex Pentland, Toshiba Professor of media arts and science, MIT Media Labs.

The organization has also roped in N R Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys Technologies, Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro and FC Kohli, Chairman, TCS Deputy to join the board as directors. The organization has tried to rope in as many industry stalwarts as possible into the initiative. This is not only expected to give the much need impetus to the project but more importantly contribute towards the vision. The projects also assumes significance in light of the fact the almost 95 percent of the basic research in the country is funded by the government with little participation from the industry.

The mandate is to develop technology that could bring about visible change in the life of rural masses. Media Labs with its huge reserve of research is expected to kickstart the research in labs here. Thereafter the implementation of the research would be done in conjunction with NGOs and other agencies including the government.

Pentland, one of the Directors of the Board, said that MLA is the second lab in the world after the one in UK. But while the Lab in UK is seen more as an extension of the lab at US, MLA is positioned as an instrument for implementing the research in the field. 

MLA has identified three areas of research: "World Computer", "Bits for all", and Tomorrow's tools. The first envisages the creation of interfaces for low-cost devices with tiny OS that can be used even by illiterates with multi-lingual interface. The second area envisages research into ways that would deliver broadband.

(CNS)