The 26th Prime Minister’s Science, Technology & Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) meeting, chaired by Professor Ajay Kumar Sood at Vigyan Bhawan Annexe in New Delhi, focused on accelerating industry-academia partnerships for research and innovation (R&I). The meeting brought together leaders from government, academic institutions, and industry bodies to delve into the current landscape, explore partnership models, local contextualization, and effective implementation strategies.
Key participants included:
- Government Representatives:
- Dr. V. K. Saraswat, Member S&T, NITI Aayog
- Dr. Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary at the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India
- Dr. Rajesh S. Gokhale, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology
- Dr. S. Somnath, Secretary, Department of Space
- Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Secretary, Department of Health Research and Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research
- Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Secretary, Department of Scientific & Industrial Research
- Dr. Samir V. Kamat, Secretary, Department of Defence R&D and Chairman, DRDO
- Dr. Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy
- S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
- Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology
- Dr. Pawan Goenka, Chairman, IN-SPACe
- Academic Leaders:
- Prof. Govindan Rangarajan, Director, IISc Bengaluru
- Prof. Shireesh Kedare, Director, IIT Bombay
- Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Group Vice Chancellor, BITS Pilani Campuses
- Prof. Rajat Moona, Director, IIT Gandhinagar
- Industry Representatives:
- NASSCOM (Debjani Ghosh, President, and Rajesh Nambiar, President-designate)
- Biocon (Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Executive Chairperson and Founder)
- Invest India (Nivruti Rai, CEO & MD)
- FICCI (Anandi Iyer, Co-Chair, FICCI Innovation Committee)
- Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology (Ashish Dhawan, Founder)
- Centre for Technology, Innovation and Economic Research (Janak Nabar, CEO)
In his opening address, Prof. Sood highlighted the urgent need to strengthen industry-academia partnerships to advance R&I, particularly through the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF). He emphasized the complementary roles of industry, academia, and government in maximizing socio-economic benefits from national R&I efforts.
Dr. V. K. Saraswat, Member S&T at NITI Aayog, underscored the importance of identifying priority areas for collaboration to accelerate research and innovation in India. He advocated for focusing on design and enhancing academic research to establish India as a product-driven nation. Dr. Saraswat stressed the necessity of building expertise in frontier technologies, fostering industry-academy collaboration, nurturing trust in indigenous R&D, and increasing industry exposure within academic settings.
In his concluding remarks, Prof. Sood reiterated the significance of aligning incentives across stakeholders to elevate R&D capabilities. He echoed the earlier recommendations to bridge the gap between current resources and future demands, ensuring that research and innovation effectively address the nation’s critical needs.
The discussions at the PM-STIAC meeting signify a pivotal step towards a collaborative framework that integrates industry insights with academic rigor, ultimately contributing to India’s sustainable growth in research and innovation.
