‘University-research lab cluster need of the hour’

CHANDIGARH: Prof K VijayRaghavan, principal scientific adviser (PSA), Government of India, on Saturday said a cluster of academic institutions and national research laboratories is the need of the hour for meaningful deliverance of technologies to further meet the societal and economic needs of the country.
Appreciating the Chandigarh Region Innovation Knowledge Cluster (CRIKC) model Prof Vijay Raghavan said, “A CRIKC model can act as a template for the functioning of university-national research laboratories (U-NRL) hubs, created recently by the office of principal scientific adviser (PSA), Government of India.”
Earlier, Panjab University vice-chancellor Prof Arun Kumar Grover highlighted the genesis and evolution of CRIKC and laid out action plans for CRIKC and U-NRL, for the benefit of society at large.
Dr Anil Koul, director, CSIR-IMTECH, unfolded the innovations emerging out of the institute and the futuristic tie-ups with multinationals. Dr Koul apprised Prof VijayRaghavan that steps are already being taken to join hands with the industry and bridge the trust deficit that academia and industry have towards each other. He also highlighted IMTECH’s push towards collaborative industry-sponsored projects and research and MoU signing with Johnson & Johnson, Epygen Biotech Pvt Ltd, Zydus Cadila and Oniosome Healthcare. Moreover, he emphasized that IMTECH’s outreach in industry-academia relationship for various technology transfer and collaborative projects is a step in the right direction.
Prof Rupinder Tewari, coordinator, DST Centre for Policy Research at PU, talked about the recommendations for the promotion of university-industry collaborations at national and regional levels. Prof VijayRaghavan appreciated the suggestion of connecting the industries (micro, small, medium and large) to the universities with the active participation of already-established district industries centres (DICs).
Many industry experts displayed their concern about the lack of interest shown by academia to undertake R&D problems of the industry. During the interactive session, Prof C R Suri, scientist, IMTECH talked about the Nanobioprobe mediated DNA aptameters for explosive detection.
The event concluded with a panel discussion with representation from academia industry and policy makers. An MoU was also signed between CRIKC and TIE (The Industry Enterprises) that promotes entrepreneurship and startups towards increased interactions between industry and academia.