Knowledge based wealth generation offers India the best chance to migrate up the value chain, create prosperity, employment and inclusive growth to enable us to make a move of great significance.

As is known, knowledge based wealth generation requires amalgamation of creativity, knowledge, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. Universities abroad, notably like Stanford and UC-Berkeley, have played a key role in such value creation.

Relationship between Universities and Industry in India, has at best been ambivalent, with each operating in its own “world” with some misgivings for the other. In the past industry, by and large, did not have that compelling a need for major R&D as technology was mostly acquired. IPR rights were not easy to protect. At the same time, faculty at most of the Universities, did not have much industry exposure. “Thinking” was reserved for the universities, and “doing” was the task of the industry.

But now with opportunity to get into knowledge based wealth generation, all that has to change, and is about to change. We have reached a stage where we need to bring these two to work closely together for mutual benefits.

Having spent ten plus years abroad in R&D, followed by twenty plus years of entrepreneurial ventures in India in telecom and software, followed by five years at Nirma University setting up NirmaLabs – a technology business incubator, this author has the unique advantage to be able to see this issue from various view points.

Rather than asking why it is the way it is, the talk will be targeted towards invoking introspection and discussion in the spirit of “folding the future in”.  how do we get a level of close co-ordination, a degree of mutual respect with understanding of perspectives and needs, between Universities and Industry in India, so that we can get them to play effective complementary roles. Framework presented will touch upon “what needs to be changed at both ends to enable this and what initial overtures are needed to get both sides to begin a virtuous cycle”.