Media Lab Asia is yet another company to have proved recently that socio-technological products work well in the Indian market, in terms of technology, markets, and personal satisfaction. Media Lab was recognised by NASSCOM in the market-facing innovation category, for Sanyog, a multi-lingual (English, Hindi and Bengali) augmentative communication system for the speech-impaired, and for children affected with neuro-motor disorders, such as cerebral palsy. S.N. Goswami, MD & CEO, Media Lab Asia, gives us an insight into the company's operations in the wake of the NASSCOM awards, to get a better idea about the innovation.

How important is innovation in a tech firm like yours, and how do you keep up the vibes of innovation in your organisation?

The mission of Media Lab Asia is to bring the benefits of quality ICT technologies to the areas of healthcare, education, empowerment of those with disabilities, livelihood generation, and rural connectivity. To meet these grand challenges, innovative projects are taken up, keeping in sight the need to operate in local languages, and to support local culture and traditions, by empowering people at the grass-roots level. Innovation is also aimed at making solutions economical and sturdy, so that they can cater to the need of the masses. To keep the vibes up, Media Lab Asia embeds feedback from users and works in close collaboration with R&D laboratories, the industry, NGOs and the government.

You've won the recognition for a market-facing innovation. How important do you think this is, in comparison to the other two broad types, viz. process and input innovations?

While embarking on a new venture, our top priority is always its reach. It is not for profit, but to enhance the number of beneficiaries in that space. Need is the most critical factor in any undertaking. Process and input innovations are also important for timeliness, perfection, and making the product economical. But to face the needs of the masses, market-facing innovation is crucial.

Can you please tell us more about Sanyog and elaborate a bit on the innovation that won you this award?

Sanyog is a multi-lingual (English, Hindi and Bengali) AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) system for the speech-impaired, and for children with neuro motor disorders, such as cerebral palsy. It allows individuals to form and vocalise their own messages. It comprises a text-to-speech system, a virtual keyboard, and varied access switches with the facility to store and retrieve frequently-used messages.

The system has the following unique features:

• Iconic communication
• Soft keyboard
• Communication with pre-stored messages
• Support for special access mechanism

This system is special because it:

• Forms syntactically and semantically correct natural-language sentences in Indian languages.
• Interfaces with different types of indigenously-made special access switches.
• Allows personalisation. The icon set can be modified at ease, and icons suitable for a specific user can be easily incorporated.
• Has the facility to integrate a different TTS (text-to-speech) system, according to choice, and therefore can be extended to other Indian languages.