“Indian Institute of Science has always strived to be one of the
best in the world. However, at every stage there have been constraints”, said
Prof P Balaram, former Director, IISc. He was chairing a session on ‘IISc as a
Global Institution - Reaching the top’ on the last day of the IISc Alumni
Global Conference at J N Tata Auditorium, IISc.
In reference to Global University Rankings, Prof Balaram said,
“Institutes have to run very hard just to retain their rankings over years”. He
also mentioned that funding for science is going down in India, and research
institutes should brace for difficult times. Referring to rising the political
interference in the higher education, he said, “Due to growing political
interference, building institutes has become more like a game of snake and
ladder”. Noting the growing influence of NRI’s in India’s policy, he urged the
IISc alumni who hold top positions in reputed universities abroad to sensitise
the Government on how important it is to support an institute which has survived
a century. He urged the alumni, faculty, students, and everyone realise that we
need to preserve and protect our institutes.
Prof Sunil Kumar, Dean, Booth School of Business, University of
Chicago suggested that IISc should embrace risk, if it wants to reach the top.
“It should also be distinct from the global institutes, and leverage its
research”, he said. Prof Usha Vijayaraghavan, Chairperson, International Cell,
IISc took the audience through a virtual tour of formal collaborations IISc has
with institutes in USA, Europe, Australia, and Japan.
Prof B N Raghunandan gave a presentation on the new IISc campus
that is shaping up in Challakere, 220 km away from Bangalore. Many research
centres including Solar Power Generation and Research Centre, Climate Research
Centre, Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Semi-arid Research Centre, Skill
Development Centre, an air strip and a large scale wind tunnel are planned in
the new campus. The campus is also running a Talent Development Centre, which
has already trained thousands of high school teachers. It will also be home to
Centre of Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education, an initiative which
caught Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attention, for which he quickly released
Rs 1 crore.
The session on ‘Mind to Market’ was organised to discuss ways to
convert IISc research into usable products. Prof Chandra Kishen, Chairman,
Centre for Scientific and Industrial Consultancy, said “Through the Centre,
IISc faculty have shared their knowledge on a variety of projects from cyber
security and lunar landing guidance”.
Prof Jayant Modak, Chairman, Society for Innovation and
Development (SID), said that SID has interacted with about two hundred
organisations, and earned Rs 175 crores. According to him, IISc faculty file
upto 30 to 40 patents every year.
KVS Hari, Professor, IISc, an entrepreneur himself, said, “Some of
the IISc faculty think that making money is a sin. That may be one reason why
many faculty may not be keen to take up entrepreneurship.” Comparing Indian and
Western mindsets, he said, “Failure is not perceived as a disadvantage in the
West. However, in India we are not allowed to fail. This mindset should
change”.
Rajalakshmi Iyer, Chief Technology Officer, pro.com and an IISc Alumnus, suggested IISc to set celar
targets on the number of business plans it wants to develop and the number of
startups it wants to see in a year.
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