$ 1-billion Tech Institute planned (Global Institute of Science & Technology)
By Sanjay Anand
Business Times Bureau
NEW DELHI: A group of IT entrepreneurs in India and the US have drawn up plans to set up a Global Institute of Science & Technology (GIST) in India which would require a billion dollars in funding.
So far, $ 300 million has been committed for GIST by entrepreneurs like Purnendu Chatterjee of investment fund Chatterjee group, Gururaj Deshpande of Sycamore Networks, Vinod Khosla of Kleiner Perkins, Vinod Gupta of InfoUSA and Arjun Malhotra.
" We (the founding members of the group) plan to focus on setting up world class research technology centres in the field of biotechnology, IT, Internet and the like," said Chatterjee.
He said the plan included tie-ups between GIST and leading US-based universities and technology institutes. The University of California, Berkeley, has already tied-up with GIST to provide faculty and research support. "We are also working on tie-ups with MIT and University of Stanford" Chatterjee said.
Giving broad parameters of University of California's involvement in the project, its vice chancellor (university relations) Donald A McQuade said, " We want to provide best faculty and resources to GIST and ensure that it develops as a global centre for best faculty and students with world-class research facilities."
McQuade said his university had been around for over 130 years, but had acquired a global character fairly recently. " GIST, on the other hand, has that as an assumption right at the beginning and we are very impressed with the goal right from the beginning," he added.
Chatterjee said it would be nearly three years before the first course is offered at GIST. " We are going to explore various opportunities with state governments to set up the institute, which we would like to be an autonomous body," he added. Both Chatterjee and McQuade said GIST campuses, up to six in number, would be set up near the big cities in the country although locations were yet to be finalised.
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