Wiley plans to make India its global R&D powerhouse

John Wiley and Sons is bullish on India, its third largest market in Asia, and will continue to invest in the future of research and learning here. The global major recently celebrated its 210th anniversary worldwide. To add grace to the milestone, Peter Wiley, chairman Emeritus, Wiley, was felicitated by the Federation of Indian Publishers for his Lifetime contribution to publishing at a glittering ceremony held during the 32nd International Publishers Congress, New Delhi.

16 Mar 2018 | By Dibyajyoti Sarma

(r-l) Matthew S Kissner, chairman of the board, Wiley, Peter Booth Wiley, chairman Emeritus, Wiley, and Vikas Gupta, managing director, Wiley India

Of Wiley’s three business verticals, research is the largest, contributing to 60% of the total revenue share, while the rest of the business comprises of products in knowledge and learning. Along with test preparation, the global major will be offering a range of newer products localised to suit the Indian market in areas of finance and technology as well as emerging technologies. It plans to invest in building capabilities in order to offer self-paced, interactive and modular learning.

Wiley is committed to collaborations and investments in India to build skills that provide world-class job readiness. It considers India as the preferred destination in applied research and emerging technologies like data science, AI and IoT.

Matthew S Kissner, chairman of the board, Wiley, said, “With our 210+ years of existence, we have aspired to bridge the higher education gap by delivering content solutions in innovative ways to enrich the learning experience of our readers and help them develop skills that are necessary to succeed. We do not wish to position ourselves as just a publisher but as a learning and development company. Realising the digital disruption quite early, we bring to the table, blended models of learning catering to adaptive and interactive learning for the higher education space.”

The Indian education market is expected to almost double to USD 180 billion by 2020, buoyed by the rapid expansion of the digital learning market and the world’s largest youth population in the age bracket of 18-35 years.

In keeping with this, Wiley has launched the Wiley Innovation Advisory Council (WIAC) for AI, analytics and emerging technologies. This is an initiative to create a core forum of seasoned analytics, AI and emerging technologies thought leaders, industry experts, academicians and influencers to work together to create digitally smart content in emerging technologies.

Vikas Gupta, managing director, Wiley India, said, “As part of our continued investments and engagements with our stakeholders, Wiley has recently shifted to a new office space and will be hosting local forums as part of our growing market presence. We foresee India as the hub of innovation where new means of learning and content will be developed for other parts of the world.”