Chinese app ban to create space for indigenous apps: IIT-KGP experts

Kolkata, Jul 2 () Experts at the IIT Kharagpur, including its director Prof Virendra Kumar Tewari, on Thursday said that the Centre's decision to ban 59 Chinese mobile apps has created space for indigenous applications and enable the institute to work on sponsored projects and help start-ups.

Tewari said that the start-up ecosystem at the institute's Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park can lead the initiative through seed funding and incubation facility.

"We are planning a move for submission of app development projects by students, which we can sponsor," he said in a statement.

He also stressed on the necessity of hackathon, a competition for students to develop digital solutions for real-life problems, at the national level engaging talents from technical institutes for developing apps.

"Last year the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) had successfully organised several hackathons in hardware, software, rural technology etc. We have proven track records in delivering efficient and economically viable technologies. Let us seize this opportunity. The market has only been liberated, we can say, inward, this time," Tewari said.

Dean of Sponsored Research & Industrial Consultancy, Prof Suman Chakraborty, said, "The ban has created a supply imbalance in the market which will attract Indian startups to feel the void."

The country's technological research has reached a level where designing such products indigenously should not be a challenge at all, he said.

"Take for example the healthcare domain, the available innovations in healthcare devices and analytics can be improvised further to develop healthcare apps of the highest scientific and technological standard which can replace several foreign-bred mobile applications," he said.

Dean of IP Law School, Prof Goutam Saha, pointed out another side of the development.

"A specific mobile app-based game can be protected but not its concept or subject area. The way forward is to proactively work on user feedback and assess user needs to launch new products. The mass-market products need to upgrade features continuously and be trendy with the look and feel to capture the popular imagination," he said.

A section of students at IIT Kharagpur engaged in product designing and development are excited too.

Undergraduate T Y S S Santosh had developed various applications related to COVID-19 in an assignment during the lockdown period.

"Similar assignments can be conducted to encourage students to ideate new developments, as part of the co- curricular programme. This can also be a real-life project- based learning experience for students where we can witness the transition from lab to land," he said.

India on Monday banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including the hugely-popular TikTok and UC Browser, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.

The ban came in the backdrop of a standoff along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh and the killing of 20 Indian Army personnel a clash with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley. SUS NN NN