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MOTORINDIA
l
April 2012
Chennai has right environment to
emerge automotive R&D hub
– R. Chidambaram
Chennai has the right environment
to become the automotive research
and development (R&D) hub with
the presence of a number of automo-
tive research centers of the industry
and academic institutions in and
around the city, according to Dr. R.
Chidambaram, Principal Scientific
Advisor to the Government.
Addressing the fourth edition of
the conference on “Automotive
R&D Trends 2015”, organised by
the Confederation of Indian In-
dustry (CII), he said Chennai has
automotive industry-led research
institutions like Ashok Leyland &
Nissan Research Joint Venture; Ma-
hindra Research Valley, research
teams of Hyundai, Renault, etc., and
academia like IIT Madras, IIT Re-
search Park, Anna University, Ma-
dras Institute of Technology, many
private universities and colleges to
carry out R&D on proprietary or ge-
neric automotive technologies.
The automotive industry is com-
pelled to have “intelligent mobility
systems, the key to which lies in
connecting up a range of independ-
ent industries and technologies.”
R&D has to be in areas like ma-
terials, to create light-weight alloys
and joining of different types of ma-
terials, energy efficiency, emission
control, driver assistance, safety,
embedded systems and creation of
a disposal chain. “These develop-
ments are possible only if the Indian
automotive sector optimally utilizes
research & Development
Dr. R. Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government, addressing the CII’s Automotive
R&D Trends 2015. Others are (from left) Mr. John Harry Conomos, Australian, Automotive Industry En-
voy, Dr. V. Sumantran, Conference Chairman and Executive Vice Chairman, Hinduja Automotive Ltd.,
Mr. Michael Carter, Consul - Commercial and Trade Commissioner for Australia to South India, and Mr.
Alejandro Vera Casso, Adviser, Investment and Technology Promotion for Asia Pacific, UNIDO
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