Case studies
- Environmental responsibility
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Building better communities in India for 25 years
After becoming the first global technology company to establish a presence in India 25 years ago, TI has come a long way in the region. In addition to opening 14 sales support and applications centers in 12 cities across the country, TI India also focuses on making local communities a better place to live and work.
TI set up the TI India Foundation (TIIF) in 2003 to coordinate company- and employee-supported community initiatives. The foundation takes up various community initiatives in three broad areas: education, humanitarian and environment.
TIIF supports a wide range of humanitarian efforts such as Little Sisters of the Poor (a home for the elderly). The foundation sponsors blood donation camps held twice a year at the TI India campus. TIIF has also adopted seven play schools in economically deprived areas in Bangalore and supports basic education for more than 300 children.
“We have a strong culture of giving at TI India,” said Biswadip (Bobby) Mitra, TI India’s president and managing director. “Our employees are motivated to contribute to and serve as volunteers on programs that support communities around TI India sites, and there is a sense of satisfaction that comes with such efforts.”
Helping patients in need
As part of TI India’s Silver Jubilee Day celebration in 2010, which marked the company’s official 25th anniversary in the region, TI employees reached out to personally help and support people in their local communities.
Many employees went to the Bangalore Kidney Foundation Center for Dialysis to cheer up patients undergoing dialysis. Twenty-five needy patients received free dialysis treatment on that day courtesy of TI. TI India employees also gave flower bouquets and get well cards to many of the patients.
Before this event, TIIF had donated a dialysis machine to the HIV ward in Rangadore Memorial Hospital, run by the Bangalore Kidney Foundation. TIIF also supports the hospital’s one-free-dialysis-a-day program.
Several TI India employees spent time with residents of the Richmond Fellowship Society’s Halfway Home and Day Care Centre in Delhi to celebrate the silver jubilee. This halfway home, named VISHWAS, treats people suffering from schizophrenia.
During their visit, employees shared snacks with the residents and organized an informal music program that gave everyone in attendance the opportunity to participate.
“The purpose of the visit and program was to make the residents happy and to share thoughts and feelings with them,” said Sanjiv Mittal, who works at TI’s New Delhi site.
Supporting students
For the past eight years, TIIF has organized the Texas Instruments Science and Technology Quiz to foster a spirit of inquiry and innovation among young students and motivate them to pursue scientific careers.
Open for students in grades eight to 10, teams from leading schools in Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore compete for prizes such as robotic kits, telescopes, binoculars and TI calculators.
“The depth of knowledge, understanding of scientific phenomena, and presence of mind displayed by the participating teams is amazing,” said Sylvia Subbaiah, who has been steering this event since its inception. “This is an important event on our annual calendar and the keen contest that we witness every year is indeed quite heartening.”
Encouraging innovation
To provide additional support for education, TI India organized the first Analog Design Contest in 2010 for undergraduate engineering students from across India.
Competing teams were required to use at least three TI analog chips from TI or at least two analog chips and a TI processor in their designs. Thirty university teams participated, and prizes were awarded to the top three projects, all of which may benefit society.
“The Analog Design Contest is focused on building innovation at the system level,” said C.P. Ravikumar, TI India’s technical director of university relations. “It inspires a desire in undergraduate students to solve some of our key societal issues.”
Anna University in Chennai won the top prize of $10,000 and received the Tom Engibous Shield, instituted in the name of former TI Chairman and CEO Tom Engibous. Their design of a low-cost video bronchoscope can be used for non-invasive diagnosis of pulmonary tumors or other surgical procedures such as endoscopy.
Indian Institute of Technology Madras was the first runner-up and received $7,500 for their obstacle detection in flooded roads design. This invention could be useful to travelers during India’s rainy season and for the visually impaired in all seasons to warn of abrupt changes in terrain.
The second runner-up, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, received $5,000 for their electronic load control for micro hydropower plants design. This project is a low-cost solution for a load controller that can be deployed in small hydropower plants. It may also be useful in rural areas by providing power to irrigation equipment at a low cost.
Highlighting TI technology
In another effort to support India’s education system, TI has been collaborating with government officials, academics, TI customers and TI business units to provide information and communications technology (ICT) solutions.
ICT solutions are designed to support elementary school teachers in the classroom and enable students to study on their own.
The solutions also support India’s Right to Education Bill. Passed in 2010, this bill calls for the deployment of innovative technology solutions to create an infrastructure that prepares teachers and instructs students more effectively.
“India provides opportunities for TI solutions to be used in innovative end-products,” said Deepak Bhardwaj, TI India’s director of corporate affairs. “Some of these products are focused on bridging the digital divide and allow children in far-flung places to be as well connected as kids in urban India.”
Some of the affordable instructional tools and Internet-enabled solutions for ICT are available in TI customer products based on TI’s OMAP™ platform. These products include solar-powered handheld tablets; home computers with low-energy processors that can connect to any monitor; teachers’ aids that enable instructors to deliver audiovisual content to their classrooms without high infrastructure and training costs; and solar LED lanterns that enable students to study after dark.
A long-term commitment
Just as TI demonstrated its commitment to India when it first opened its research and development facility in Bangalore 25 years ago, the company remains committed to doing business in the region and providing support for its local communities.
“We’re a company that invests for the long run,” said Rich Templeton, TI chairman, president and CEO. “In the next 25 years of TI India, the story will be about how TI will impact India by continuing to focus on some of the markets that are growing rapidly in the region, like energy, power, security and health care.”
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