India and Germany are celebrating 60 years of their bilateral diplomatic partnership in 2011. To mark the occasion the German government and leading German companies – SAP included – will run exhibitions across India for a year, starting in Mumbai in November. Partners will showcase technology and knowhow that will create more sustainable cities.

India and Germany have long enjoyed good economic cooperation. Germany is India’s largest trading partner in Europe and second largest technology partner globally. As the demand for information technology boomed in the 1990s, SAP, the world's leading provider of business application software, was drawn to India by its vast pool of technical and managerial talent. The company recognised the value that India's world-class systems engineers could offer to its key business areas, software design and development and support. It was also aware of the need for a significant presence in the country, home to numerous fast-growing companies with global ambitions.

SAP's reasons for establishing an Indian base were soon justified. By 1997, just two years after SAP India was established, the company became the market leader in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. A year later SAP set up a fully fledged development lab, which quickly expanded beyond local requirements to become SAP's largest R&D centre outside of Germany. Today there are more than 5000 employees engaged in over 60 lines of business at SAP India.

SAP in India is recognised within the business as one of the leading contributors to research and innovation at SAP, its labs in Gurgaon and Bangalore have recently made significant contributions to key products including HANA, Carbon Impact and Charitra.

The culture of excellence at SAP Labs India extends beyond its focus on technical innovation. SAP is committed to reducing its environmental impact, and its 'green car' policy has attracted particular attention. The company hopes, by the end of 2011, to be the world's largest corporate owner of electric cars. SAP in India is at the forefront of this initiative.

But at the same time that India offers enormous potential in the high technology field, there also abides a significant digital divide in the country. A large portion of the population has little or no access to information technology and very less opportunity to learn the IT skills that are vital in the modern economy.

Project Lakshya – a pledge to light up 100,000 smiles
That is why SAP in India recently launched Project Lakshya, an initiative that seeks to provide education and opportunities by setting up computer labs in some of the country's most deprived areas. To date, 35 labs are in operation, and the company aims to add two new labs everymonth. Together these centres will contribute to the education of more than 100,000 underprivileged children by the end of 2011.

SAP sees this project as a key investment in the country's future, it hopes that the scheme will help people develop the knowledge they need to work their way out of poverty and believes that supporting the cause of education will ensure its continued success in India.