1981 was not a year of any startling scientific discoveries. It seems to have been one of those years in which research is consolidated and the march to new technology continues. In computing, the Turing Award was given to Edgar Codd for his pioneering work in the 1970’s on relational databases. The Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was shared by David Hubel, Roger Sperry and Torsten Wiesel for their investigations on brain functions (Hubel and Wiesel’s work at Harvard in the previous decades profoundly influenced our understanding of vision and had a big impact on computer vision and image processing).
Technologically, two very important and very different launches were to leave a lasting impact on society: 1981 saw the launch of IBM’s first personal computer and the launch of the first Space Shuttle. We can only guess what would have happened if either of those two events had not occurred. There had been earlier personal computers (notably the Alto produced in Xerox PARC in the 1970’s) and there were earlier manned space launches; none of them succeeded in changing history as much as these two 1981 launches.
For TCS, which had all of 500-600 employees at the time, 1981 has a special significance. It was the year in which, after long and careful planning within the Tata Group, the Tata Research Development and Design Centre was started as the R&D division of TCS in a corner of the tree-lined campus of the Tata Management Training Centre in Pune. The vision given to it by Tata Group Chairman J.R.D. Tata, was ‘To apply existing knowledge for the benefit of our industry and our people”. It was a brave step for a company that had still not been recognized as a pioneer in a new business that was still to acquire the now familiar name of ‘outsourcing’.
25 years later, TRDDC has kept to J.R.D. Tata’s vision even though it has gone through many major changes. The small R&D unit that started its existence in a bungalow in Mangaldas Road moved to a brand new building in Hadapsar in 1995-6. Today, ten years later, and especially to commemorate its Silver Jubilee, the interior of the building has been completely redesigned, new equipment installed and new facilities created to match the needs of a creative and active R&D centre in the 21st Millennium.
More importantly, TRDDC now plays an increasing role in TCS business – from providing innovative new tools to automate large parts of the software development process to opening up many new capabilities for TCS. Activities that started as R&D investigations have matured into profitable new TCS businesses. And people who started their careers in TRDDC have later moved to lead major business groups in TCS.
Innovation has now been institutionalized in TCS through the creation of the Corporate Technology Board and TRDDC is now among the growing number of TCS Innovation Centres spread out from Burbank, California, to Melbourne, Australia. What started as a solitary role for TRDDC in 1981 is becoming part of a culture across TCS, extending from strong university collaborations and partnerships with start-up companies to innovation in the workplace.Celebrations at TRDDC: 25 years of Innovation
President of India visits TRDDC: 17 January 2007
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