Arogyaswami Paulraj, Professor (Emeritus), Stanford University, recently met Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. The Pollachi-born engineer, whose invention Multiple Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) wireless communications, is regarded a breakthrough that is at the core of WiFi and 4G/5G mobile networks, shares his thoughts on how Tamil Nadu can play an important role in India’s move towards the deep tech sector. Excerpts from an interview.
What is your view of Tamil Nadu from a technology perspective?
Tamil Nadu is strong in manufacturing segments like auto, wind turbines, and electronics assembly, as well as in IT services. We should strengthen the other verticals and scale up the revenue base. Many of our industries are in partnership with multinationals, and we need to encourage them to increase local value addition, particularly in electronics and precision manufacturing. Much of our current base is medium tech and we should now aspire to rise to the deep tech sector that involves R&D-intensive high-tech manufacturing. These are the crown jewels of advanced countries. Some examples of this sector are computer and telecom equipment and semiconductors, advanced instrumentation, commercial jets, and patented (branded) pharmaceuticals. The U.S.-China competition is largely around who will dominate this sector. The deep tech sector is extremely difficult to enter and is also globally intertwined, and no nation is self-sufficient. This industry needs highly skilled manpower, and the participating companies develop key Intellectual property and therefore command high profit margins. This in turn facilitates huge R&D investments and continued dominance.
You recently had a meeting with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin. What are the potential areas you have suggested for his government to focus on?
I met the Chief Minister to talk about the deep tech industry. India has not yet entered this sector in any substantive manner and our Prime Minister has been a strong advocate for doing so. I felt Tamil Nadu could lead this thrust for our country. But to do so successfully, we need to bring in deep knowledge of this globalised and competitive industry. My suggestion was that we reach out to leaders around the world in deep tech who could engage with us in different ways to help us chart a path to enter this sector. Tamil Nadu offers many attractive assets, including, in my opinion, a love for mathematics, which is important in many deep tech sectors.
Tamil Nadu has missed out on the buzzing start-up space. In your view how can it catch up?
India is doing well in the internet platform. App companies are driving digitisation across finance, commerce and health, among others. A big center for these startups is Bengaluru because of the eco-system it has built over the years. We should also join this boom. I am sure our IT industry leaders can find ways to increase our share. But a much bigger prize for us is deep tech, where we must aspire to build Indian-headquartered companies in the class of Samsung, Huawei, or Qualcomm.
What about areas like AI and 5G. How can Tamil Nadu emerge as a leader in these sectors?
These are transformative technologies that will profoundly impact all our verticals. 5G is much more than another G for a smartphone, rather it will link diverse devices and machines, and, along with the power of AI, deeply transform many sectors, creating a huge economic value. Our opportunity is to build companies that will enable such applications. This will need more than software and requires building hardware, including semiconductors. I see many opportunities here.
Tamil Nadu already has a tech talent base. How can it add skills in advanced technology?
The core technology of the deep tech industry is often born in world-class research universities like Stanford or MIT. We have excellent institutions like IIT Madras, Anna University and others that have the potential to rise to the world-class. They need to build more bridges to the top global universities.
Being a son of the soil, are you looking to engage with the State government?
At my age, I can perhaps best help to find leaders in deep tech who can effectively work with Tamil Nadu in different ways.
