Article Posted on : - Apr 02, 2009

Boeing ventures into India

BENGALURU (BNS): Providing a base to enhance India’s aerospace capabilities while sustaining its competitive technological edge, the US-based aircraft maker Boeing has opened its Research & Technology centre in India.

The centre, which was opened in Bangalore on Tuesday, will carry out continued collaboration with Indian R&D organizations, both government agencies and private sector R&D providers, universities and other companies, the company said in a statement.

“Boeing is partnering with the best researchers around the world to find the best technology solutions for our customers, and we look forward to working with our partners here in India on some promising new technologies,” said John Tracy, Boeing chief technology officer and senior vice president Engineering, Operations & Technology.

The research in India will “break new ground in aero structures, aerodynamics and electronic networks” with a team of senior researchers, scientists and engineers, the company said.

This is Boeing's third advanced research centre outside the US, the other two being in Europe and Australia. The Bangalore centre will coordinate the work of over 1,500 technologists, including 100 advanced technology researchers, from across India on various aviation projects.

“Boeing is defined by its technological edge,” said Dinesh Keskar, president of Boeing India. “Working with India's technology leaders helps Boeing assimilate new ideas and innovative processes into our products and programmes. This also is good for India because it helps grow the capabilities of the Indian R&D community to meet the emerging needs in country,” he said.

The aviation major is involved in research projects in partnership with the Indian Institute of Science and two leading information technology companies – Wipro and HCL – since 2007 as part of the Aerospace Network Research Consortium.

This is India's first public-private aerospace research consortium devoted to emerging network technologies and concepts.