India is creating its own new high quality content

India is an emerging market; it is a human resource provider to
the whole world now for many different services including design. So, how are
you developing this manpower as well as the whole concept of design?

People think of the term globalization in the sense that India is just a
source for outsourcing of IT or call centers. This whole Y2K was an explosion
for IT in India and still continues to be a strong hold here. But thats just
the tip of the iceberg. If you look at whats really happening in the world
right now, especially in India, it is not just doing other peoples work, but
developing its own innovation in intellectual property. To give you an example,
one of the areas that were involved with is media and entertainment.

Bollywood probably produces about four times as many films as
the US does. Now, there is lots of content there, but I think arguably the
quality of the films wasnt always the best. But now, we see that India is
creating its own new high quality content. I think were going to see that
also in the design world.

One of the things were doing at AutoDesk is working with a
number of educational institutions as well as investor groups, like National
Institute of Design. We have six Centers of Excellence in India to close the gap
between use and application of technology, to fill the needs of design in media
and entertainment, and in architecture and mechanical design as well. These CoEs
are actually large labs with all the latest software and the entire suite.

How are these labs achieving the target?

In these labs, students can actually go and experiment with the software.
Thats one. The second is that were trying to collaborate with the industry
and academia to get them to have these kids come over possibly to do
internships. Whatever they learn in the labs, can be applied in new settings.

So where does India stand in the entertainment and animation
world?

We have opened a new CoE for media and entertainment in Mumbai. Thats
where the storm is right now. There are multiple things happening thereHollywood
is going to Mumbai, and trying to take advantage of its animation and special
effects people, seeing the time and quality of film production and commercials.
The Indian market is exploding and the US market as well is coming to India for
help. After talking to our customers in studios, we know they need us to help
them get more people, and get them trained faster.

Urvashi Kaul

maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in