INNOVATION @ GRASSROOTS

There is no doubt that Shiv Nadar has made HCL an engine of invention by turning dreams—especially entrepreneurial—into reality. Under his leadership, HCL revolutionised Indian technology and product innovation with many world firsts to its credit—the first, 8-bit microprocessor -based computer in 1978, the first relational database management in 1983 before some of its global peers, client-server architecture in 1984, world’s first fine-grained multiprocessor UNIX installation in 1989, among others. A pioneer in remote infrastructure management, HCL was instrumental in implementing and managing the infrastructure backbone of one of India’s tallest financial institutions—the National Stock Exchange. HCL Technologies, which spun out of HCL’s R&D unit, is currently a leading IT services company in India and a leading global player in engineering and R&D services.

In 1994, Shiv Nadar established what he was believed was closest to his heart—the philanthropic Shiv Nadar Foundation and created its first initiative in Chennai, the SSN Institutions, that is a top ranked engineering college. Today the Foundation is a significant driver of social change and transformational education through its institutions spanning the entire education spectrum from schools to universities. The Shiv Nadar University is a young and a unique research-led interdisciplinary university established in 2011 at Greater Noida; the Shiv Nadar School – a K12 initiative envisions to set up 25 schools in the next 10 years. So far, the Foundation has invested R1,800-crore in

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