Lack of proper mechanism in the ‘Lab to Land’ process is haunting research institutions, thus delaying the research output reaching the common man. Realising this gap, the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad, is set on plugging it by appointing professionals who will help smoothen the transition. “We have identified the gap. we need money to invest and manpower to ensure that things work,” said IIIT-Hyderabad Director P.J. Narayanan.
Research output in the university laboratories cannot be directly transferred to the companies, and in India that gap is huge. A system needs to be created where the workable models of research output can be presented to companies. “We have many technologies and solutions created by researchers and their efforts have to benefit people.” The process is on and within a few months that layer will be created, Prof. Narayanan told The Hindu on the sidelines of a programme on ‘Road to GES’.
Prof. Narayanan seemed excited about the start-up culture in the country. He said start-ups are doing what the country needed – creating solutions to local problems. Big companies generally do not concentrate on local problems due to the economic viability factor.
Sriram Biradavolu, senior vice-president, Information Sciences, T-Hub, agreed that start-ups and their solutions removed inefficiencies from the system effectively. Start-ups are very interesting because the cost of big companies is too high for Indian solutions and the former can provide it at a very low cost.
