Indian Institute of Science (IISc) will be hosting a Global Conference (June 22-24) in Santa Clara just around its centennial. It was formed in 1908 following Jamsetji N. Tata's visionary idea of "a premier institution of advanced studies in science and technology". IISc has richly fulfilled that vision as the premier postgraduate research focused institution in India.

Located in Bangalore on 440 acres, it has an annual budget estimated at Rs.120 crores and has been rated as one of the top 20 research universities globally (World Report on Education had ranked it 18th with number 1 to 17 all US institutions). Its alumni include C V Raman (Nobel Laureate), H J Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai, J C Ghosh, M S Thacker, S Bhag- avantam, S Dhawan, C N R Rao and many others who have played significant roles in India's scientific and technological progress in the atomic, space, biomed, energy research and other fields.

However, for all the awareness about its existence and research credentials in the rarified strata of global research, IISc has never been as well known to the common man as the IITs and the IIMs. Leave alone the general perception, IISc was not well informed about its own alumni base's efforts. Alumni include captains of industry like the TCS chairman S Ramadorai.

The global conference, a collaboration between IISc and the University of California system, was conceived about 18 months ago. The intent was to establish IISc's relationships with alumni, educational and research institutions and industry.

Other main goals include developing awareness about the institute and also definition of IISc's vision for the next 100 years.Prof. Ram Akella (Conference Chairman, Director, KISMT, University of California, Silicon Valley Center), Prof. S. Mohan (Conference Co-Chairman, Chair, Alumni Cell IISc, Bangalore) and Dr. Parveen Jain (Conference Convener, Formerly-EVP, MacAfee) spoke about the conference and how the time has come for IISc to step out of its relative obscurity as compared to IIT, IIM, and other Indian institutions including TiE which promote science and technology, research, entrepreneurship and incubation, etc.

According to Professor Ram Akella, IISc has been a major institution builder with the majority of the leading Indian research facilities run by its alumni. Dr Jain talked about how the conference "is like preparing a train to launch. The help of the institute and alumni will enable us to reach our destination".

Dr Mohan talked about how the time has come for something of this nature to succeed as more and more companies come to India.Besides concentrating on research, IISc collaborates with other institutions and industry. It also has mentoring and incubation. Being very quality conscious, the institute does not believe in only numerical growth. It focuses more on learning and quality growth. The institute would like to promote synergy between IISc, IITs, TiE, etc. As Dr Akella says, "We're all part of India Inc."

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