‘No coordination between varsities, industry on research’

There is a rueful absence of coordination between universities and industry when it comes to having research that is relevant for driving innovation, JNU Vice-Chancellor SK Sopory said while calling for a more “serious” approach towards academia-industry partnership.

He also said in this respect that a “common portal or website” should be developed where researchers from varsities across the country can post their ideas and industry people can access the same to evaluate their viability.

“The universities need to understand the relevance of the research pursued by their students in order to bridge the gap with the industry and its requirements.

“We often talk about academia-industry partnerships, but there is no coordination at all,” Sopory said on Wednesday at the ongoing Visitor’s conference at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

“The major thrust in this direction is lacking and that is due to ignorance on part of both the parties. Industry sometimes is not fully aware of what research is going on in the universities and if it can be relevant to them or not.

“Similarly, varsities also need to do their homework about to what extent academic research influences innovation at the regional or national level,” he added.

Advocating a more “serious” approach towards academia- industry partnerships, the Vice-Chancellor also suggested that the University Grants Commission (UGC) should offer financial support to such agreements.

“I also think that the API scores needed for promotions of teachers should give more weightage to patents, academia- industry linkages and outreach programmes,” he said.

“Also, there should be a common portal or website where teachers from varsities across the country can post their ideas and innovation concepts and industry people can access it to evaluate which of the projects, processes or patents can be taken forward for commercial purposes,” he added.

Sopory was addressing a gathering of the heads of 114 institutions for which President Pranab Mukherjee is the Visitor during the three-day Visitors’ Conference that opened here on Wednesday.

The topics that will be deliberated upon during the conference include creating linkages of industry-academia, interfacing with ranking agencies, providing impetus to research and innovation in educational eco-system, establishing international networks and workforce sustainability.