Reiterating its goal to foster innovation in the country, Thales has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Central Manufacturing Technology Institute (CMTI) of India for advanced collaborative research and development in the field of Open Hardware. This partnership will involve the designing of micro-processors using open-source assets which will enable the indigenous development of hardware and complete control of the behaviour of the processor tailor-made to software applications, which is not doable with proprietary hardware.
The MoU was signed in the august presence of Honourable Union Minister for Heavy Industries, Government of India, Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey and Honourable Minister of State for Heavy Industries, Government of India, Shri Krishan Pal Gurjar, and Thales VP Technical Operations Philippe Valery, Thales VP and Country Director – India Ashish Saraf and CMTI Director Dr Nagahanumaiah and other dignitaries from the Ministry.
The MoU will further accentuate Thales’ commitment to building a vibrant ecosystem of innovation and R&D in India. Through this partnership, Thales and CMTI can pilot demonstrations with real-life use cases in the field of control systems development for machines and associated manufacturing assets. In this process, both CMTI and Thales will evaluate the performance of such locally designed hardware and decide their suitability for import substitution of the controllers used in CMTI technologies and products.
In this association, Thales and CMTI will also be engaged in advanced collaborative research in the up-and-coming fields of digital signal processors, IoT and edge computing use for SMART manufacturing initiatives that CMTI is actively involved in and has implications of national importance.
Ashish Saraf, VP and Country Director – India, Thales, said: “We are delighted to partner with CMTI and collectively work towards open hardware research and development in India. This collaboration will help strengthen the country’s SMART manufacturing ecosystem, which requires a dependable and secure hardware framework to function. It will also reduce India’s manufacturing import burden and contribute to the government’s ‘Make in India’ vision. Thales remains committed to developing components for IoT, AI, analytics and other key digital technologies that provide greater control and trustworthiness for our indigenously developed hardware.”
“We are pleased to collaborate with a global technology leader such as Thales on open hardware research and development in India. Through this partnership, we are looking forward to building impactful solutions for India using disruptive digital technologies, which can play a crucial role in empowering smart manufacturing.” said Dr. Nagahanumaiah, Director CMTI
