Event: ‘Roundtable Meet’ entitled Challenges in Technology Commercialization
Date: February 1st, 2020
Venue: Seminar Hall,CIL Building at Panjab University, Chandigarh
To strengthen the innovation ecosystem of India, DST-Centre for Policy Research (CPR) at Panjab University, Chandigarh in collaboration with Chandigarh Region Innovation and Knowledge Cluster (CRIKC) organized a ‘Roundtable Meet’ entitled CHALLENGES IN TECHNOLOGY COMMERCIALIZATION’ on Saturday, February 1, 2020 in Panjab University, Chandigarh.
The keynote speaker, Prof. R K Sinha, Director, CSIR-Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) deliberated upon the technology commercialization ecosystem of CSIO. In his speech he addressed four major challenges in technology transfer i.e. ‘Individual level, Technological level, Organizational level and National level challenges. He further emphasized the fact that, government is focussing more on administrative issues whereas, to enhance the technology commercialization, technical issues need to be given more importance. Prof. Sinha also added that, for an effective technology transfer ecosystem, strong Industry-Academia linkages are of paramount importance. He also dwelled upon the reasons for stupendous success of CSIO for transferring technologies to the industries. This success, he said, was due to high calibre scientists ably supported by technical staff and the presence of high end instruments. He also emphasized that, institutions should be headed by champion leaders who are for not only professionally competent, but also a team leader.
Prof. Shyam Sunder Pattnaik, Director, National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR), Chandigarh, Guest of Honour of the event, vocalised his views regarding integration of industries and institutes, wherein the industry can provide financial and business support to the academia which intern will help in resolving their research problems. He shared his initiatives taken at NITTTR to engage industry with academia. He further added that universities absorbing superannuated scientists tend to attract more funding from the public and private sectors.
In his welcome address, Prof. Rajkumar, Vice Chancellor, Panjab University, Chandigarh encouraged the academicians to undertake industry oriented research and engage industry personnel in the academic activities. He also urged the gathering for an Industry-Academia club under the aegis of CRIKC.
The highlight of the event was a Roundtable Meet on the challenges in strengthening the technology commercialization ecosystem. The technology experts from 15 CRIKC member institutes (IIT-Ropar, Panjab University-Chandigarh, IISER-Mohali, PEC-Chandigarh, NITTTR-Chandigarh, Chitkara University-Chandigarh, CSIR-IMTECH, CSIR-CSIO, NIPER-Mohali, NABI-Mohali, CIAB-Mohali, C-DAC-Mohali, SCL-Mohali, PSCST-Chandigarh and Maharaja Aggrasen University-Baddi) deliberated on the gaps existing in technology commercialization and also provided solutions to most of these challenges.
Few glimpses from the event:
