Tech Shout!

SolidWorks Corp. is organizing ‘Passion for Design’, which is a design contest to showcase India’s engineering talents. The contest will feature students and CAD professionals using SolidWorks software to design a variety of products that could improve everyday life. National Association of Software and Services (NASSCOM), the premier trade body and “voice” of the IT software and service industry in India, will extend support to the contest by creating interest and awareness among the engineering student community through its IT Workforce Development Initiative. This initiative seeks to boost the country’s IT workforce by merging the expertise, resources and opportunities from leaders in the IT industry and academia.

Aimed at promoting India’s growing pool of skilled engineers, the Passion for Design contest will focus on designing products for energy development, life enhancement and handicap assistance for the student category. “Today, the Indian IT landscape is mature and has tremendous potential even in niche areas like engineering services,” said NASSCOM President Kiran Karnik. “The current market potential for outsourced engineering services is estimated at between $7-$12 billion, and India is emerging as a strong resource for global partners.”

“NASSCOM is a keen promoter of industry efforts such as this contest, which create a favorable environment for innovation, and nurture the young talent which is one of India’s strongest advantages,” said Karnik.

The contest will give engineering students a chance to immerse themselves in real-world design projects that could eventually become a commercial reality. It also gives professional engineers a chance to demonstrate their skills for a broad audience and potentially contribute to life-improving products.

“India is a goldmine of largely untapped engineering talent,” said SolidWorks Vice President Asia Pacific Operations Ved Narayan. “We’ve created this contest to allow students, professional engineers and their companies to exhibit their mastery of CAD while working on real-world projects that could make a difference.”

SolidWorks CEO John McEleney will announce the winners at SolidWorks World India 2006 in Bangalore on Aug. 29, 2006. The top three students and top three CAD professionals will win over $20,000 in cash and prizes, including internship at SolidWorks, Barry Wehmiller International Resource and Geometric software, SolidWorks software and HP workstations. Registration is free and can be done online at www.solidworksap.com/passionfordesign. Interested students can request a free copy of SolidWorks Education Edition software and engineers can request a free copy of SolidWorks Personal Edition software to work on their entries.