Amdocs being a provider of customer relationship management and billing software for communications service providers, is encouraging students from the computer, IT and electronics engineering to come up with innovative ideas related to mobile phones. Since September, PICT students came up with about 200 ideas like voice blogging, incorporating a smart photo editor in a mobile phone, social networking based on mobile numbers, location-based reminders to name a few, said Shrirang Bapat, Vice President, Products Business Group, Amdocs adding that only two of those were taken up for testing in the lab. “The idea is to establish a link between academia and industry, and to inspire innovative thinking in the minds of the top students,” said Anshoo Gaur, general manager, Amdocs India.

Students from third year engineering are asked to come up with idea, out of which only outstanding students are identified depending on the feasibility of the idea. A mentor from Amdocs is assigned to guide these students and the best ideas will be given monetary rewards. A college faculty will overlook the process and.

“However, the intellectual property right of any idea developed at the lab will belong to Amdocs,” Gaur said. He added that there is no recruitment understanding between the colleges and the company. “However, students working in the lab are not barred from applying at Amdocs. They will go through the same recruitment process like other candidates,” Gaur said.