Take me Home !

Long long time since the last post. Well life has indeed taken me back home to India after considerable twists in the tale ! Since events have taken such sharp turns, I too am inclined discuss more serious matters here.

The topic today is Industry Research partnership in India. Recently attended a meeting with IITB aiming to promote industry collaboration. "Partner with us" came as a welcome surprise to me and it was indeed interesting to note that such partnerships have been going on for decades now, although not in an organized fashion. Apart from portrayal of research benefits that industries investing with IITB have derived, the chief topic was how to promote industry research collaboration in India which is still in a nascent state.  The following points came up,

1. Better marketing by research institutions in India which is currently average to say the least.
2. Clear planning on industry needs and how these institutions can cater to it.
3. Develop programs through which industry affiliates can spend extended durations at the university (already exists to some extent) and younger faculty spend time at the industry end (does not currently exist).

However, as far the primary job of these institutions goes on producing qualified manpower, I believe that it works simply on a supply and demand basis. If there are more industries opening up research positions, there will be more and brighter kids willing to take up research as careers. The current salary gap in India between R&D (probably with the exception of computer science majors) and other jobs such as law, finance etc. is too large and the gap needs to be bridged. This will happen only if companies value the long term impact of research for their organizations rather than short term benefits of "make do" solutions.