ICT and E-governance

Project VIKAS
Clusterkraft designed and implemented “Project Vikas”, a US$ 15 million project for Microsoft in partnership with National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council for April 2006 - June- 2009. The Project was supported by Microsoft and steered by NMCC, Government of India.

• Clusterkraft (Apex Cluster development Services Pvt. Ltd) in partnership with NMCC prepared and

presented strategy paper on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), to improve competitiveness of MSME industrial clusters in India, to Microsoft, to initiate their programme VIKAS in 25 MSME clusters in India.
• The project aim to empower the MSMEs in these clusters with the orientation to use ICT as a strategic tool to compete globally with counterpart MSMEs in other countries.

Major initiatives relate to

• E–readiness Assessment of the cluster involving diagnostic analysis of the cluster ecosystem including both qualitative and quantitative parameters, mapping cluster needs and implementing ICT interventions.
• Creation of skills set and building human capital focused trainings involving local academic & technical institutions.
• E-Readiness Center (ERC) in partnership with local cluster associations to provide consultancy, training and showcasing/demonstrating technology solutions, running workshops, sharing of best practices across clusters, and collation and dissemination of information.
• Development of “Knowledge Network” to share the best practices across the cluster and for dissemination of information through cluster portal.
• Fostering the growth of local software Eco-system to create an environment in which production experience can be accumulated, shared, exchanged and preserved.
• POCs/Pilots , to showcase assimilation of ICT in the clusters through customized solutions to the manufacturing sector for sustainability.

The Project was administered at following 7 clusters

Cluster Industry
Agra Leather
Ludhiana Hosiery
Pune Auto Component
Chennai Leather
Tirupur Textiles
Ahmedabad Pharmaceuticals
Chennai Auto Component

Diagnostic Study for Project Vikas was also done at Readymade Garment Cluster Noida.

IT SMEs E-Governance Support Study
The study was done for GTZ in Chennai, Bangalore, New Delhi, Kolkata, and Pune clusters. Major details of the project are

• The German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) conducted an E-governance project called “Economic development through E-governance”. It incorporated an Indian partner, the Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification Directorate (STQC) from the Ministry for Communications and Information Technology.
• The project includes three components :
i) Conformity Assessment of E-governance and supports the establishment of a Conformity Assessment Framework (CAF)
ii)Assisting SMEs in the IT sector through training to strengthen their technical capabilities to support large IT companies involved with the E-governance sector.

iii) Training “User SMEs“in using E-governance to access new E-Business concepts as well as E-governance services.