The Hindu Business Line : EMC bullish on India innovation

Without admitting that the company was on the prowl, Mr Jeffery Nick, Chief Technology Officer, EMC, said, “The opportunities are there to fill gaps. There are so many opportunities in virtual infrastructure. As innovations continue in India, more venture capitalists and start-ups would emerge, there will be natural synergy and opportunities to make investments in them.”

Meet on innovation

The India centre of excellence (in Bangalore) is “a microcosm of EMC,” said Mr Nick, who was addressing mediapersons at the third EMC Innovation Conference, which is for the first time being hosted outside the company’s headquarters in the US.

India’s growing appetite for innovation can be seen in the huge contribution from the country at the innovation conference, he said. Of the 1,400 submissions from the various EMC centres across the globe, 617 were from India.

The $14.9-billion company believes this conference fosters the spirit of innovation and allows its people to exchange ideas; the best ones are later incubated by the company and converted into solutions or products.

The Massachusetts-headquartered EMC invests about 12 per cent of its revenue annually on R&D. Since 2003, it has invested around $9 billion on acquisitions to fill gaps in its offerings. Globally, around 8,000 people are employed in R&D alone. The company has around 3,700 patents that have been approved or are pending.

Patents

“India too has been filing patents for the last three years and is growing steadily in this area,” said Mr Sarv Saravanan, Corporate Vice-President and Managing Director, India Centre of Excellence, EMC Corporation.

The CoE in Bangalore, which was set up in 2003, has steadily grown over the years, said Mr Saravanan. The company also has sales offices in nine cities and a partner network in 40. Currently, around 2,000 people are employed in India.

Recently, the company announced an investment of $1.5 billion for India over the next five years, with R&D accounting for a chunk of that.