And the Future is...

According to the World Competitive Yearbook for 2007, published by the

International Institute of Management Development, there's a major shake up in

the world economies. Out of the 55 countries' economies that the study tracks,

40 are increasing in competitiveness and only 15 are showing a downward trend.

Needless to say India is amongst the fastest growing economies in the list, and

in fact has been leapfrogging a few ranks year after year. It was at the 34th

position in 2004, and this year, it has jumped to 27th position. Two key factors

used to determine the competitiveness of these economies are technological and

scientific infrastructures. India has no doubt been improving on both counts,

and one of the factors contributing to this success is the original technology

research that's happening in leading institutes across the country. So what kind

of research is happening in one of the world's fastest growing economies? Well,

it's not X-Ray vision helmets for fighter pilots, nor is it flying cars or fancy

GPS watches for sportsmen. A large part of this research is happening at a more

fundamental level, to tackle key issues that are hindering the growth of this

economy, like illiteracy, corruption, unemployment, etc. Moreover, innovative

applications of technology are being discovered to tackle most of these

challenges. We bring you a glimpse of some of this core research being

spearheaded by India's leading brains in technology institutes and universities.

This section is entirely devoted to this research, and contains articles written

by the leading lights themselves, as well as our compilations from visits to

various technology campuses in the country. We hope you find this information

useful, and we'll continue our quest to uncover more such research in the

future. If you have anything to share, then do write to us. Happy reading!

Anil Chopra and Vishnu Anand