MIT to incubate Media Lab in India

MIT to incubate Media Lab in India
DAVID ARMSTRONG and JESSE PESTA

Massachusetts/New Delhi, February 15: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Indian government are near an agreement on a plan to create an Asian version of the school's technology-incubating Media Lab that would outstrip the U.S. original in scope and size.

A senior official at the Ministry of Information Technology in India said a ``provisional arrangement'' with MIT calls for the Indian government to finance 20 per cent of the project -- estimated to cost between Rs 50 and 100 crore over 10 years. The rest of the funding would come from private sponsors recruited by the government and MIT, much in the way the U.S. media lab taps large corporations, say sources.

The proposed venture is part of an aggressive growth strategy by the Media Lab. Last year, MIT launched the first of these operations when it opened the Media Lab Europe in Ireland.

The Media Lab, created in 1985 by Nicholas Negroponte, is funded almost entirely by corporate sponsors, who are given unlimited access to the research work under way at the facility. In the U.S., the sponsors include Motorola Inc., Lego Group and Intel Corp.

The work at the lab is wide-ranging and often nontraditional. The lab's research has included the Digital Nations project -- aimed at using technology to improve education and health care in developing countries -- wearable computers that aid workers in various jobs, and efforts to build a virtual dog.

The proposal for India calls for a group of facilities to be operated under the name Media Lab Asia. A task force comprising Indian government officials and representatives of the Media Lab is expected to produce a report in two weeks detailing the lab plan, the Indian government official said.

The official described the proposal as a ``major new initiative in terms of its range, scope and scale, addressing very fundamental problems of literacy, health, (and) entrepreneurship.''

In the U.S., Media Lab Executive Director Walter Bender confirmed the discussions with the Indian government, but said some important issues remain unresolved, such as where the facilities would be located in the country and how they would be operated.

``It is fair to say we are very serious about making this exploration together,'' he said. ``I think we are all confident we can make it work.''

The India operation would differ significantly from the European outpost, Bender said. The research work would be conducted in multiple sites and would include more emphasis on the impact of technology on education.

With its handsome budget, the Indian lab would outspend its counterparts in Ireland and the U.S. The Irish government contributed about $35 million to host the European site and also provided a building to house the lab. Media Lab Europe has an annual budget of about $29 million, while the U.S. lab on the MIT campus has a budget of nearly $40 million a year.