Panel Discussion 1

Fostering Better Industry-Academia Collaborations

Prof. S Krishnaswamy, DY Rao, Dr PK Seth, Sarath Naru, Dr D Balasubramanian, Vijay Chandru, Dr Ajeet Verma and Dr Gita Sharma.

Can industry leverage existing capabilities in public funded research units? How about a Bayh-Dole Act for India to spur academy-industry collaborations? How to buy the Inventor's commitment for full-scale commercialization? Do research labs look at industry as "milch cows" to achieve revenue objectives? Dr D Balasubramanian, Biotech Advisor, AP government and director, LV Prasad Eye Institute and Sarath Naru, CEO, APIDC-VC, jointly moderated this session to explore the ideas to make a new beginning. Dr PK Seth, managing director, Lucknow Biotech Park, Dr Gita Sharma, chief scientific officer, Magene Lifesciences, Dr Vijay Chandru, managing director, Strand Life Sciences, Prof. S Krishnaswamy, managing director, Animal Biotech, Dr Anil P Kariath, managing director, Sartorius, Dr DY Rao, head, technology networking and business development division, CSIR, and Dr Ajeet Verma, Amity Biotech were the panelists.

"Industry and academia should engage in regular interaction. Academia needs to communicate about some of its ongoing projects to the industry and explore how they can help the industry."

- Dr Ajeet Verma, Amity Biotech

"The academia should prioritize their activities and focus on need-based projects so that public funds shouldn't go wasted. They should also have timeline commitment. Industry should give a regular feedback to the research organizations on the projects the latter are working on."

- Dr Gita Sharma, chief scientific officer, Magene Lifesciences

"Although we see a change in industry and academia relation, still a lot needs to be done. Offering incentives will encourage the scientists to take up more projects."

- Prof. S Krishnaswamy, managing director, Animal Biotech

"Things are changing at both government level and at the industry side. In the last five years Rs 270 crore has been disbursed under NMITLI, a largest public private partnership scheme as soft loan to various companies. We have about 37 projects at various stages of development. There are already two products as a result of this initiative. So there are a lot of advantages if both industry and academia work together."

- Dr DY Rao, head, technology networking and business development division, CSIR

"A partnership with the academia or research organization will give a lot to the industry. The industry needs to find out the list of projects and place their requirement to them."

- Dr P K Seth, chief executive officer, Lucknow Biotech Park.

"The Bayh Dole Act for India is necessary but not sufficient. It only helps in developing a patenting culture. We have to look beyond the Act and a workable proposition where commercial benefits have more weightage."

- Prof. Vijay Chandru, chairman, Strand Life Sciences

"At present industry and academic research are running parallel. They have to converge or else the industry will incur losses. Organizations like ABLE should come out with a list of technologies available at different research institutes for transfers too for the benefit of the industry."

- Dr AP Kariath, managing director, Sartorius India

"Industry should create or generate a fund pool to promote research activities among students community. Industry should look at sponsoring couple of students at PhD, postdoctoral studies without any strings attached."

- Dr Rashmi Barbhaiya, founder, Advinus Therapeutics

"The Bayh Dole Act is necessary but not a sufficient condition. There should be a mentor in lab. Further, the best means of industry–academic collaborations include licensing, joint venture, hiring, meeting at conferences, communication, etc. The academia needs a mentoring approach and also a mentor in a lab. The industry can also share ideas with research organizations, which are of commercial interest,"

- Sarath Naru, CEO, APIDC-VC

"Talents are available but are well hidden. Academia should look at how to showcase these talents. The academia should consider the commercial values while taking the projects."

- Dr KK Narayanan, managing director, Metahelix