IJTC :: Promotion & Research

INDO JAPAN SOFTWARE RESEARCH CENTRE in Softopia

There is a substantial interest in Japan regarding Indian software capabilities and a number of delegations have been visiting India in recent times to get a first hand account of the situation in India. Japanese companies require both on-site engineers and off shore software development outfits.

With a view to promote cooperation between India and Japan in the field of computer software research and services an Indo-Japan Software Research Centre (earlier Committee, IJSRC) has been formed with a view to deliberate upon the modalities of cooperation. This has been done at the behest and to facilitate cooperation, through Softopia – a premiere software research body of Gifu in Central Japan.

This Centre has been formulated with a view to foster cooperation in the field of information technology. There were several initiatives that were taken to boost cooperation between the two countries over the last decade and IJSRC is one such humble effort.

Japan based Softopia is a foundation for the promotion of international exchange in the field of computer software research and development. It has been created as a Utopia for software research work with the latest equipment and technology in information processing, multimedia and telecom.

Indo-Japan Software Research Centre is a registered body set up for the promotion of cooperation in the area of Information technology. As part of the agreement, IJSRC opened its office in Softopia, Gifu, Japan.

The formation of the Centre was facilitated by Mr. Lalit Bakshi, long time Indian resident in Japan, whose most recent books include “Nagoya will change Japan” and another one on the Indian Economy.

An agreement was signed to promote research and cooperation in the field of Computer Software and Information Technology between Softopia foundation of Gifu Prefecture of Central Japan and Indo Japan Software Research Centre (IJSRC) of India, set up under the aegis of Indo Japan Trade Centre (IJTC). The agreement was signed on October 21, 1997.

The agreement was signed by Mr. Taku Kajiwara, Governor of Gifu State in Central Japan, who came with his prefecture’s high-level business delegation and Mrs. Sasmeeta Srivastava, Chairperson of Indo-Japan Software Research Centre.

Under the agreement, both the organizations showed interest to cooperate in the areas of virtual distance education systems, self-employment software, and animated stories for inculcating values in children and setting up of an incubator project for bringing Indian animation and software technology on par with the Japanese requirement.

A support program for training in Kanji language through the multimedia approach will also be launched apart from an incubator project for animation as required by the Japanese companies for entertainment, education and formation services.

Under the joint plan, Softopia and IJSRC accommodated software trainees from India in Japan. Japanese companies could avail of a training scheme whereby engineers could be placed in Japanese companies after suitable training in the Japanese language.

The Japanese software market holds good potential for India. The current level of exports is only about 4% of the total software exports from India.

IJSRC acts primarily as coordinating agency for India and operates through the head office in New Delhi, its affiliate offices in Nagoya and representation in Gifu.