'Focus of Media Lab to remain unchanged'

Monday, 12 May 2003, 19:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: The Media Lab Asia will continue to focus on research projects aimed at bridging digital divide despite Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) withdrawal from it, IT Minister Arun Shourie has said. "The focus of Media Lab Asia will remain absolutely unchanged," Shourie told IANS in a telephone interview, adding the IT ministry was in discussion with legal experts to retain the Media Lab Asia title. MIT has decided to pull out of the ambitious Media Lab Asia project in India, citing differences with the Indian government over the management of research projects. The Media Lab Asia was set up in India in 2001 as a joint venture between MIT and India's IT ministry to conduct research jointly with companies and educational institutes to create technologies to benefit the Indian people. Reacting to reports that MIT decided to withdraw from Media Lab Asia because of differences in styles of management with Shourie, the minister said: "The contract with MIT was terminated on March 31. "The decision (to end the joint venture agreement) was taken after I had three meetings with IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) professors who were doing research for Media Lab Asia. "They told me that MIT had not contributed anything to their projects. MIT was doing nothing in research here." Shourie's predecessor Pramod Mahajan had actively lobbied for setting up of Media Lab Asia in India, which was expected to the second outside the U.S. and the third in the world. MIT's Media Lab, since its inception in 1985, has 40 registered patents to its credit. Its contributions include advances in electronic paper, new forms of data hiding, wearable computers, musical jackets and quantum computing. Its annual budget is about $30-35 million. Media Lab Europe was opened in Dublin, Ireland, in 2000 with the Irish government pledging about $35 million over 10 years. According to Shourie, Massachusetts Institute had demanded a payment of $5 million for allowing the IT ministry to continue using the Media Lab Asia title. It was later brought down to "$1 million per year for few years." Shourie, however, found out from legal experts that there was no such problem in using the Media Lab Asia title as the company was registered in India. On the possibility of the IT ministry tying up with other academic or research institute to run the project, Shourie said; "It will not be an exclusive arrangement with any research institute." He said the Media Lab Asia would continue as a public-owned research organisation under the guidance and greater participation of Indian researchers to create technologies to benefit the people. India, with a population of over one billion, has a yawning digital divide. There are fewer than five computers for every 1,000 people while fixed-line telephone lines have grown at a very slow pace to touch nearly 40 million now. Media Lab Asia, based on the outskirts of Indian financial capital Mumbai, was in the process of setting up a chain of regional laboratories, linked together to facilitate inventions that benefit the masses. The government had announced that it would provide for a fifth of the lab's financing, while the rest was expected to come from corporate sponsors, research institutes and MIT.
Source: IANS
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