Wipro extends its Innovation journey through Industry Academia Collaboration
Bangalore, India, March 11, 2009
Wipro Consulting Services (WCS) in association with Wipro Council for Industrial Research (WCIR), organized a symposium on “Innovation led consulting to counter recession” at IIM Bangalore last week. The symposium was conducted in partnership with Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and Cambridge University. Through such initiatives Wipro plans to bring industry and academia together to brainstorm on issues that are relevant in today’s context and pave way for strategies that organizations can adopt to sustain competitive advantage.

The symposium brought together experts from industry and academia to share their views on the best practices and techniques that consulting organizations could adopt to come out successful in these times of severe economic conditions. Over the last few decades, consulting activities have been concentrated towards process improvements and cost arbitrage; innovation as a source of systematic business edge for all companies has been secondary. In the current economic crisis, as companies large and small focus on cost-cutting, innovation will become a crucial weapon in the battle for survival and growth.

“We believe that innovation has become an imperative to drive cost optimization in these times. Post recovery, customers will feel the need to differentiate and analysts agree that innovation will help the players to position themselves uniquely in the market. Wipro Consulting Services is committed to helping customers in today's economy. We are also involved in applied research and thought leadership into industry issues that will pose as challenges for our customers post economic recovery.”said Dr. Anurag Srivastava, Vice President, Wipro Consulting Services who was on the panel of speakers for the day.

The symposium had senior Professors from IIM Bangalore participating in it along with consultants and thought leaders from Wipro, students from IIMB and some senior officials from the British Trade Commission. The eminent speaker panel consisted of senior professors like Prof. DVR Seshadri, Prof. Rishikesha Krishnan and Prof. Sourav Mukherjee from IIMB, and Prof Shailendra Vyakarnam and Dr. Uday Phadke from Cambridge University.

"Consultants have to use innovative techniques to benefit their clients; they should think more about building a balance sheet about the business rather than focusing on filling time sheets. Time sheets try to solve our own problems while a balance sheet mentality helps clients in the long term. The latter leads to building intellectual property and gives an entrepreneurial view to consultants." Said Prof. Shailendra Vyakarnam, Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, Cambridge University who was one of the speakers at the symposium.

Giving his views on the symposium Prof Rishi Krishnan, Prof of Strategy at IIMB said, “A partnership between academia and industry would help bring forth insights that either group alone cannot achieve efficiently and effectively. This is an excellent initiative that I personally think would be hugely beneficial to industry & academia."

About Wipro
Wipro Technologies, a division of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT) is the first PCMM Level 5 and SEI CMM Level 5 certified global IT services organization. Wipro Technologies was recently assessed at Level 5 for CMMI V 1.2 across offshore and onsite development centers. Wipro is one of the largest product engineering and support service providers worldwide. Wipro provides comprehensive research and development services, IT solutions and services, including systems integration, information systems outsourcing, package implementation, software application development, and maintenance services to corporations globally.

In the Indian market, Wipro is a leader in providing IT solutions and services for the corporate segment in India, offering system integration, network integration, software solutions and IT services.

Wipro also has a profitable presence in niche market segments of consumer products and lighting. In the Asia-Pacific and Middle East markets, Wipro provides IT solutions and services for global corporations. Wipro's ADS' are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and its equity shares are listed in India on the Stock Exchange - Mumbai, and the National Stock Exchange.

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