Need to create more effective industry-institution ties: Profs

Coimbatore: Professors of technical institutions from Coimbatore, in their inputs for framing the national Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (STIP-2020), have stressed on the need to create more effective industry-institution ties and to convert more final year engineering projects into startups.
The inputs and feedback have been collected in consultation with industry heads, representatives of professional bodies and government officials. These inputs have been forwarded to the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in order to frame STIP-2020.
Professors said they have channelised their inputs through DST’s ‘Science Policy Forum’, a platform that facilitates stakeholder engagement, to add value to the first draft of the STIP-2020, which would be released in October.
“We are circulating information on STIP-2020 among various circles and policy experts for inputs and feedback,” said Prashant R Nair, associate professor, Computer Science and Engineering, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, who is the institute’s campus ambassador for STIP-2020. “The policy would impact both technical education and startup ecosystem. So we are trying to make it inclusive and tech-driven,” he said.
Across the country, only a miniscule number of final year engineering projects are being converted into products, he rued. “We are focussing on how to effect the transition from projects to products to startups.”
As for industry-institution collaborations, there have to be newer models of seamless engagements, for which representatives of professional bodies such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) have been working, he said.
R Navaneethakrishnan, assistant professor of ECE at Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore, and the chair of the Madras section of IEEE’s Society on Social Implications of Technology, who has also been collecting inputs on STIP-2020, said under industry-institute collaboration, they are not only focusing on recruitment, but also on areas such as bridging the gap between the two spheres by involving professional bodies. “We have been soliciting inputs from top-level management of industries, premier institutions such as IITs and NITs, and also tier-II and tier-III colleges,” he said.
Work on consultations and collecting feedback has been going on for six months now, and professors said they are fine-tuning the inputs and adding value to them. After the first draft of the STIP-2020 is released in October, there would be more changes to it, they said.
DST and the office of the principal scientific adviser (PSA) to the Union government are involved in framing the STIP-2020, for which a secretariat has been set up as a link between the PSA and DST. The policy process involves four tracks: extended public and expert consultation, thematic groups, ministerial and state consultation, and apex-level multi-stakeholder engagement.
As per the Science Policy Forum, the policy’s draft will be put out in public domain for comments and feedback from mid-October to mid-November 2020. After incorporating feedback and necessary changes, the final draft would be taken for cabinet and higher-level approvals.