Innovation is driving nations and the world. Hyderabad has many research institutions and incubators to nurture innovation that could benefit industry to come out with innovative products, said, Telangana Industries Minister KT Rama Rao while announcing the launch of Research and Innovation Circle of Hyderabad (RICH) on Friday.

The city has the largest number of incubators in the country. He pointed out, “We have 20 incubators operating across verticals, including T-Hub for IT, agri-incubator in ICRISAT and an incubator in IIT. Hyderabad is also planning to create an incubator for defence sector and is initiating talks with the Ministry of Defence in this regard. We just don’t want to restrict ourselves to science and research but achieve strides in innovation as well.”

India as a country has wealth of talent and intellect which needs to be tapped fully. The country has the largest work force and youth under 35 years. The way Japan and Korea have made a mark for innovation, India should also make efforts in the right direction.

KT Rama Rao added research institutions need not always depend on government funding but can explore avenues to collaborate among the institutions and the industry to expand their research efforts. Researchers should drive innovation and disruption.

“India is an emerging nation and there could be funding challenges. But we have the ability and skills and there is an urgent need to collaborate. It’s time we stop operating in silos. Efforts should be made to bring research to market,” he said.

Its important that State governments make efforts to encourage innovation in addition to the Central government. Education, research and development, innovation, incubation and commercialisation should be integrated. Initiatives such as RICH should operate in hub and spoke mode and provide benefits to rural India, Y.S. Chowdary, Minister of State for Science and Technology.

R.A. Mashelkar, former director general of CSIR, said, India has abundant talent in science and research and this should translate into innovation. Venture capital funds should be available for this. There is a startup culture evolving and India should utilise this.

Source: https://telanganatoday.com/