Chandigarh
19 August 2017
DIVYA AZAD
A Round Table Meet on the promotion of Industry-Academia interactions, an important component of Science Technology & Innovation Policy in India, was organized by the DST-Centre for Policy Research, Panjab University, Chandigarh on Saturday August 19th 2017, to lay down foundations for the policy on Public Private Partnership in R&D. The meeting was attended by directors of large corporates (Reliance India ltd., HCL Technologies), Innovation Research Parks (IIT-Madras & IIT-Delhi), National Research Laboratories & Universities.
Dr. V. K. Saraswat (Member of NITI Aayog and Chancellor, JNU) presided over the Meet as Chief Guest. He emphasized strongly for linking universities with industries & national research laboratories, and setting up of dedicate funds for state universities for strengthening their R&D. He also shared the importance of Industry-Academia Research Collaborations in the success of ISRO for the development of Satellites and Rockets. He defined the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders in order to overcome the impediments in pursuing successful collaborative research. Dr Saraswat congratulated DST-CPR team at Panjab University, on compiling large scientific information. He stated this information as precious and underlined that it can be used as a database and finally integrate into guidelines for Science, Technology, Innovation & Research.
The Guest of honor, Dr. Girish Sahni (DG, CSIR), apprised the audience about the acceptance of CSIR by the international bodies in the domain of Science & Technology. Dr. Baldev Raj (Director NIAS, and Chairman of Policy Research Cell, DST, New Delhi) & Dr. Neeraj Sharma, Head PRC, DST, New Delhi informed the audience about the genesis of establishing Centres of Policy Research at five locations in India.
Prof. Rupinder Tewari, Coordinator, DST-Centre for Policy Research at Panjab University, Chandigarh gave a compact presentation on the activities undertaken by DST-CPR at PU, Chd in promoting Industry-Academia interface and PPP in India. He also presented successful models of PPP in R&D in India, compiled by DST-Centre for Policy Research. The participants shared their experiences for the development of institutions, Centres for Excellence, Innovation Parks, incentivizations of R&D activities being performed in Public and Private R&D Sector. It was unanimously agreed that there should be free exchange of scientist of universities and industries. In addition, Emphasis was laid upon for establishment of independent Industry-Academia Interface at Regional Level.
Prof. Arun K Grover (Vice Chancellor, PU, Chd.) informed the audience about creation of Chandigarh Region Innovation & Knowledge Cluster (CRIKC) as a single window for the industry for gaining access to the Academic Excellence & Infrastructure of 27 Institutes of Higher Learning & Research located in and around Chandigarh. The recommendations of the Meet will be submitted to DST, GoI, New Delhi. For further deliberations.
