THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, 15 December 2007 — The city-based Technopark, India’s first and biggest software park, has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Shenyang Information Industry Bureau (SIIB) of China.
SIIB is based in Liaoning province of China and is responsible for growth and development of information technology (IT) industry in the capital city of Shenyang. The agreement proposes collaboration in the areas of business process outsourcing, software export, software outsourcing training and animation outsourcing.
“The agreement has been signed with an objective to create a bond of friendship with China that needs to be nurtured and sustained over a period of time,” said N. Radhakrishnan Nair, the Technopark’s chief executive officer who is just back after signing the agreement.
The agreement was signed at the SIIB headquarters in Shenyang during the recently concluded Northeast Asia Hi-Tech Fair.
“As the first step toward the friendship, Technopark will host a six-member Chinese delegation from the province in November this year,” the CEO said in a statement. The agreement also encourages Shenyang-based IT companies to explore possibilities of locating themselves at Technopark here and Kochi-based Infopark, either as wholly owned foreign enterprises or as joint venture partners with Indian software companies.
Technopark will promote cooperation between Indian IT and IT-enabled services companies from here and Shenyang-based IT companies, especially in areas of business process outsourcing for Japan, South Korea and China.
The industry circles attach much significance to the agreement as the software industry, which has been looking at the US and Europe hitherto, was suffering huge losses due to rising rupee against the greenback.
They say China and the Asia Pacific region have much more potential and the new friendship would provide many opportunities for both countries since India is the leader in software and the Chinese are ahead in hardware business.
Broadband for Kerala Schools
The Kerala government has issued guidelines for broadband Internet facility in high schools. All high schools in the state will now get broadband connectivity with a download limit of 3 GB and above at a nominal fee, to be made available from PTA fund, laboratory fee or other sources. The students would not be made to pay specially for the purpose, according to an official release. Recognized unaided schools could also avail themselves of the broadband scheme by paying an annual fee of Rs. 5,000.
Ocean Sailing Championship
Kochi will be the venue for the Ocean Blue national ocean sailing championship on Jan. 8. Young sailors of India, including Dilip Donde, who is set to become India’s first sailor to undertake a solo voyage around the world in a sailboat in 2010, will take part in the event. The race is being conducted by Offshore Sailing Association of India under the Yachting Association of India, dedicated to promote and broaden the base of ocean yachting in the country.
