Media Lab Leaves Asian Offshoot

MIT has pulled out of Media Lab Asia, citing conflict with the Indian government, its partner in the venture. Spawned from MIT’s renowned media lab, the Indian incarnation aims to use information technology to improve life for the masses (see Physics Today, March 2002, page 27 ). Among the projects already under way are creating low-cost rural manufacturing systems, developing cheap Intenet access in remote areas, and providing computer access for youths in poor neighborhoods.

The partners had foreseen locking in a 10-year collaboration agreement after an initial phase, but MIT and Arun Shourie, India’s new minister for information technology and communications, have diverged on how to run Media Lab Asia, according to Walter Bender, executive director of the MIT Media Lab. For example, the minister unilaterally sacked employees, including the CEO, says Bender. “The bottom line is we did not agree on how to manage the lab and so we decided not to continue.”

But the experience has not dampened talk of new offshoots: “We remain passionate about the media lab model and we remain passionate about the importance of international engagement,” says Bender.