The academia, the starting-point of the innovation cycle, deserves a policy that enables them to start businesses, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon said on Wednesday.
Speaking on the “Virtuous Cycle of Innovation” at the Commonwealth Science Conference, she said “science and technology has to become part of the country’s economic agenda.” India invests 0.6 per cent of its GDP on research and development, compared to the US which spends 3 per cent and Israel’s 5 per cent of its GDP.
“Scientists can become entrepreneurs,” she said, citing her own example. Describing herself as an “accidental scientist” who started as a brew-master and turned to pharmaceuticals, Ms. Shaw said she had to overcome the “huge credibility challenge” that came with being a woman, and a young scientist.
Scientists must realise the value of what they were doing and the need to monetise innovations, she said. “There is a lack of an IP-oriented culture in India. Unlike in most of the world, we publish first and patent later.”
Besides a virtuous cycle of innovation, there needs to be a virtuous cycle of financing, Ms. Shaw said. While much of the academia depends upon public funding, the sector should be also be supported by angel investors with risk capital. “But investors and capital markets are risk averse. There is a poor investment climate especially for long-term gestation.”
In his talk on “The Indian software industry and its contribution to India and the world”, N.R. Narayana Murthy, co-founder of Infosys said that the software industry had “raised the international image of India like no other sector had.” The software industry brings US$ 40 billion to the city, he said.