Hewlett-Packard Labs in India

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HP created a presence for its research division, HP Labs, in India in 2002.[1] The mission for the new division was to create technology inspired by problems in countries such as India.

The first stated mission of the lab was

[2] "to generate innovations targeted at the world's emerging economies by understanding relevant social, cultural, economic and technological drivers." The mission morphed over time as follows.

* In 2006, the mission statement read as:[3] "HP Labs India is focused on creating new technologies for addressing the IT needs of the next billion customers for HP."
* In 2013, the mission statement read as:[4] "to create break-through innovations that enable HP to lead in the new wave of opportunities from rapidly growing economies."

## Technology demonstrators

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The lab created concepts for simplifying computer and Internet interactions. Gesture KeyBoard (GKB)[5] was an early attempt by the lab to create a pen-based local-language-interaction-support for PCs.

Since low-cost mobile phones without data-plan were being used in higher volume in India, the lab developed a solution that can enable mobile users with only voice and SMS services to access websites. The technology was called SiteOnMobile.[6]

Another hypothesis generated about technology in the Indian market was that many people in India own high-end Television and smart mobile phones, especially with the advent of Google Android phones. A new technology hypothesis was created so that Internet access to a large number of households and small-or-medium enterprises could be realized using a TV-connected broad-band device. The technology that demonstrated the efficacy of the hypothesis was called HP set-top box[7] and Vayu Internet Device (VIND).

The latest technology demonstrator was in the area of education called VideoBook,[8] which aimed to reduce the cognitive load on text-book learning by automatically augmenting text-book content with videos from the Web.

## Research Management

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In 2002, research was organized into research areas as follows:

* Language technology such as speech communication interfaces for computers
* Low cost devices for Internet-access
* Communication concepts for small towns and rural areas in developing countries
* Socio-economic research
* New models for human interactions

In 2013, research was organized into research projects as follows:

* Future school
* Crowd Cloud
* Smart Mobile Services
* Interaction Technologies

Although the technique for research management changed, the focus of research remained creation of technologies for emerging markets.

## References

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1. ^ "H-P Labs India inaugurated". The Times of India. Feb 25, 2002. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
2. ^ "HPL India's 2002 Webpage". Internet WayBack Machine. Archived from the original on March 7, 2002. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
3. ^ "HPL India's 2006 Webpage". Internet WayBack Machine. Archived from the original on September 2, 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
4. ^ "HPL India's 2013 Webpage". Internet WayBack Machine. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
5. ^ "HP Labs India shows off tech goodies". CNET. April 6, 2006. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
6. ^ "From the Labs: Information Technology". MIT Technology Review India. August 2010. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
7. ^ "HP India brings Internet TV for the masses". The Times of India. Jan 17, 2012. Archived from the original on March 19, 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
8. ^ "HP Technology Scours the Internet for Video Related to Study Topics". PCWorld. Aug 15, 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2013.