India’s potential for world-class innovation lies not just in its top institutions, but in how inclusively and effectively their resources are mobilized. Bridging the structural, cultural and operational gaps in industry-academia collaboration will be essential for India to rise as a global powerhouse. The time for bold systemic reforms is now.
India has made significant strides in establishing premier educational and research institutions such as IITs, IISc, IISERs, IIITs, NITs and Central Universities, in addition to several PSUs, DST, CSIR, DRDO, ISRO and DAE laboratories, several systemic gaps continue to hinder effective industry-academia-research organization collaboration.
Funding Disparities and Under-Utilization of Infrastructure
A substantial amount of government funding flows into these elite institutions, equipping them with state-of-the-art laboratories and research tools. Yet, access to this infrastructure remains highly restricted - not only to private companies/startups but also to fellow faculty members within the same institution besides other elite institutions. This isolation limits interdisciplinary research, technology transfer and collaborative growth.
A national-level Open Research Infrastructure Policy should be established to mandate shared access to government-funded facilities, with a transparent booking and usage system to promote collaboration and innovation not only across domains but also within the domains.
Brain Drain and Limited National Service
Despite immense investments, a significant proportion of graduates from these top institutions pursue careers abroad. Ironically, India’s core workforce - driving manufacturing, construction and service sectors - emerges from Tier-2 and Tier-3 engineering colleges and private universities.
Introduce structured “Return to Serve” or “Impact Fellowship” programs that incentivize graduates from premier institutes to contribute to national missions or startup ecosystems for a few years post studies.
Weak Industry Connect at the Grassroots Level
Many faculty members and institutions lack real exposure to industrial problem statements, resulting in research that often fails to translate into viable products or solutions, even after many years.
Create “Industry Residency Programs” for faculty, where they spend sabbaticals within companies to understand practical challenges, fostering demand-driven research. For such activities, startups should be funded with some initial funding per sabbatical researcher, while companies need not. The core focus during the industry sabbatical should not be on publications but rather than solving the industrial challenge. This could vary for a period of 6 months to 1 year. Tough regulations should be in place which disallows the professor to start a company of his own, post sabbatical, in the same area of work as the startup/company. Additionally, industries/startups should be encouraged to co-locate/established R&D units near campuses to promote organic collaboration with funding from the Govt and institution. This could also be incentivised.
The Access Divide in Research Ecosystems
High-end equipment bought through government grants becomes symbolic of prestige rather than national utility. In many cases, inter-departmental or inter-institutional sharing is discouraged due to bureaucratic turf wars. The consequence leads to the fact that the students are not exposed to the technology which is globally, not even at basic level. Also access to such facilities is absent for the private companies/startups, on the context of busy/not-working/absence of manpower/maintenance. Delays in execution of the work with the infrastructure would lead to delays in interest from the startup/private company.
Establish regional centers of excellence with a hub-and-spoke model, where facilities are decoupled from departments and governed independently, promoting equal access and collaborative projects. However this needs to be done with single window model. Also entire infrastructure bought through the Government funding is not the property of the individual head/director, but rather belongs to the President of India - this needs to be fed into the minds of the people.
Learning from China’s Strategic Alignment
China’s success in rapidly developing its manufacturing, space, defense, etc, sectors is attributed to tight coupling between academia, industry, research organizations and government through long-term strategic planning, performance-based funding and mission-mode programs.
India must adopt mission-mode R&D programs in critical sectors like space, defense, electronics, green energy, etc., - driven by consortia of academic institutions, research organizations, startups and large industries with clear timelines and accountability metrics.
Real-life Scenario: The Inaccessibility Loop
A small startup working on quantum sensors or additive manufacturing or any other field, often finds it easier to import services or collaborate abroad than to get access to high-end infrastructure in an Indian lab next door - primarily due to red tape, opaque policies or lack of responsiveness. This severely curtails domestic innovation.
Implement a National Research Equipment Grid Portal, allowing startups and researchers to book time slots in shared facilities across India, with a transparent costing model, government-backed insurance and feedback loop. Incentivise joint activities between labs, researchers and startups/industries.
Utilization of Literature Policy and Extension to Startups
A substantial amount of government funding flows into these elite institutions, equipping them with literature as a major tool. Unified system under “One nation one subscription” has been proposed and is supposed to giving elite institutions access to research literature under a national policy, which will benefit all educational institutions.
Create a policy where startups in all sectors recognized by Startup India will also have access to all literature which is also possible to be accessed through the National Policy towards sharing of literature in educational institutions and Government research organizations. This will improve the growth rate and success of the startups.
Creating a Welcoming Ecosystem for Global Talent and NRIs
India lacks a systematic approach to attract and integrate highly skilled personnel from abroad - both foreign nationals and Non-Resident Indians (NRIs). Despite their expertise, many are met with bureaucratic roadblocks, skepticism or indifference, often resulting in disillusionment.
India must implement a Global Talent Integration Mission - offering fast-track startup approvals, sandbox R&D zones, simplified visas and tax breaks to highly skilled diaspora and foreign nationals willing to build or mentor technology ventures in India. Returning highly skilled Indian nationals, should be incentivised.
Empowering NRIs as Strategic Enablers of Innovation
A vast pool of India-origin experts across the globe can be catalysts for deep-tech innovation and capital inflow. Yet, they often face red tape, lack of clarity in IP laws and mistrust.
Establish an NRI Innovation & Startup Fund and Connect-to-Root Schemes, allowing NRIs to co-develop technologies in India, with co-ownership models, government-assured dispute redressal and integration into flagship programs like Startup India or Make in India.
Quality of Indian PhDs: A Crisis in the Making
The quality of PhD degrees in India is alarmingly inconsistent - often driven by quantity over quality. Many theses lack originality, research ethics or real-world relevance, leading to a dilution of scientific credibility. This is also resulting from the fact that no one fails in India during a PhD. The Consequences like Weak academic credibility globally, Mismatch of skills in employment, Poor translation of research to products, Brain drain of deserving researchers, etc.
Mandate national-level quality audits of PhD theses. Introduce PhD+Industry Apprenticeship as a requirement. Create Doctoral Quality Index (DQI) tied to research outcomes, patents and industrial impact. Globally recognised grading system needs to be implemented. E.g., Summa-cum-Laude to Laude. Besides that, Access to Research infrastructure throughout the country should be available to the researchers to solve problems through a transparent single-window clearance system as mentioned above. Mandate industrial collaboration and relevance during the PhD. Candidates who finish their PhD with one professor should not be allowed to have the same professors in all other future committees. Employees from Govt research organisations carrying out their PhDs should not be allowed to fund the institution, but rather go through a Government unified portal for such projects, where such problem statements need to be created in a transparent way. Competition is good but collaboration is equally important.
Government Unified Portal needs to be created with all stake holders of the Government of India rather than e-procurement portals or individual projects as problem statements, can be given in a unified way. On a similar concept of GEM portal, but the difference is that the Problem Statements of all the Government Bodies including PSU's should be put forward in an open way to all the startups, companies registered under various ministries to be able to bit in an unanimous way with uniform rules and regulations. Uniform criteria will be established through this process. All these projects should have free access to the ONOS portal, Open Research Infrastructure portal, etc.
Unlocking National Infrastructure - A Game-Changer
Crores of rupees have been invested in state-of-the-art facilities established by Government or through the support of the Government. Yet, this equipment often lies under-utilized, poorly maintained or is simply inaccessible on many pretexts.
Root Problems include:
Lack of manpower to operate instruments
Departmental silos and control-based mindset
No incentives to share infrastructure
Bureaucratic restrictions on private sector usage
Funding for running cost and return of funding to the Elite institution or Govt Laboratory for utilisation of equipment
Return of funding to the organization
India needs a National Research Infrastructure Sharing Policy (NRISP) with the following features:
Single-window access portal to book infrastructure time across India.
Negligible user costs (up to 25%) for private companies during their first 10 years to foster innovation.
Incentives for infrastructure hosts (labs/institutes) based on usage hours and maintenance quality.
Mandatory 24x7 utilization mandates for high-value equipment with trained operator pools - including through partnerships with startups.
Manpower gaps filled via private contracts, where startups/companies can deploy their own trained personnel to operate the machines on agreement.
Upgradation costs to be covered by the govt to keep the infrastructure state-of-the-art.
This will result in:
Rapid commercialization of R&D.
Massive savings in duplicate capital expenditure. Duplicates in infrastructure are necessary, depending on the location, but not that all the infrastructure is only available with one laboratory.
Distribution of infrastructure could be carried out based on diligent allocation of funding the Organizations/Institutions based on the suggestions and recommendations of an industry and startup empowered national committee.
Empowering deep-tech startups
Better maintenance, documentation and modernization cycles of equipment. Encouraging inter-lab, interdisciplinary innovation.
Establishing a National Instrumentation Registry and Health Audit System
Currently, there is no centralized record of high-value research instruments (AM machines, SEM, TEM, XPS, nanoindenters, etc.) procured with public funds. Many lie unused, broken or duplicated across institutes.
Create a National Research Instrumentation Registry (NRIR)—a geotagged, live database of all government-funded research tools. Mandate annual equipment health audits and performance metrics. Link future funding to usage reports and sharing statistics. This increases transparency, avoids duplication and ensures every public rupee is accountable.
Another Real World Scenario
A national centre recommends a vendors machine, as the members of the committee get a cut, either to their accounts or in lieu of some personal services. The instruments lie within the country under utilised. Sometimes, the instruments lie in the boxes for over a year on the pretext of building not ready, out lack of infrastructure for installation.
Bringing in bribes is a massive hurdle to the growing ecosystem of the country. The power of negotiation should always be there with the buyer/Govt Organization. If free perks/freebies are requested either officially for attending an event or for sponsoring a conference or something else, the financial liability indirectly transfers onto the Govt Organization only when they procure the item. During procuring the item’s price would be accordingly adjusted. This is really unnecessary. The Govt should get in frameworks, where the people involved get to the point and do not get freebies.
Public-Private Technician Fellowship Programs
A huge gap exists in trained manpower to run advanced instruments. Equipment sits idle because no trained staff is available - especially in Tier-2/3 institutions.
Launch a Research Technician Fellowship Program (RTFP) in partnership with private companies. Train B.Sc./M.Sc./B.Tech graduates as certified operators. Allow private startups to sponsor fellows, who in turn operate the instruments for shared access. This builds a skilled pool, reduces downtime and generates jobs. Launch a Technician-Innovation Fund. Generally the technicians have a greater understanding of re-building or repairing imported machines. This could be leveraged to build much advanced and upgraded machines where the technician with his innovative ideas could build a machine out infrastructure better than the existing one globally.
Research Sabbaticals for Industry Professionals in Academia
Reverse flow is missing - while some academics consult in industry, industry professionals rarely contribute to teaching or research.
Initiate Sabbatical-2-Academia schemes, allowing professionals from manufacturing, aerospace, biotech, etc., to spend 3–12 months in academic departments. Allow them to co-mentor PhDs, design elective courses or assist in translational research. This brings practical perspective and strengthens problem-solving in academic R&D.
Project Outcome-Based Research Evaluation
Current research evaluation (for grants, promotions) is still driven by publication counts and journal impact factors—with minimal weight on practical impact.
Redefine metrics to include:
• Product/prototype developed
• Patent commercialized
• Startup incubated
• Skill training imparted
• Create a National Research Impact Score (NRIS) across departments/labs.
This incentivizes translational research and closer academic-industry alignment.
Policy for Upcycling and Redistributing Idle Infrastructure
Across CSIR/DRDO/IIT labs, many legacy instruments (older but working) are simply discarded or locked up. This is a huge loss to smaller colleges or startups.
Create a Govt R&D Asset Redistribution Policy where equipment older than 7–10 years but still functional is refurbished and transferred to:
Tier-2/3 colleges
New-age universities
Private incubators/startups
This ensures maximum lifecycle usage and helps democratize access.
Integrated Research and Startup Zones in Smart Cities
Currently, research parks and incubation zones are scattered and often disconnected from the industry ecosystem.
In each smart city, designate a ‘Research-Industry Cluster’ - co-locating:
Govt labs branches
Academic R&D units
Private startup zones
Common instrument banks
Policy & IPR facilitation desks
This physical proximity accelerates collaboration, problem-solving and trust-building.
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