Vikram Sarabhai

Tech beacon

As a scientist, mentor, manager and entrepreneur Vikaram Sarabhai's
contributions are well documented, but what is not too well known is his
contribution to the spread of computing in India. In 1968, Sarabhai was the
chairman of the Electronics Committee when he suggested the formation of
National Informatics Organization, towards fulfilling the goal of a self-reliant
electronics industry. His recommendations led to the formation of DoE in 1970.
The founder of ISRO, he also set up the Operations Research Group (ORG) in 1960,
the first market research organization in the country created to expedite a
scientific approach to collect and scrutinize information for supporting and
optimizing business operations. Sarabhai gave a direction to the Indian
computing industry.