Pharma firm Laurus Labs on Tuesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Indian School of Business (ISB), making a one-time contribution of Rs. 30 lakh to support a ‘Technology Commercialisation’ programme for scientists across agriculture, pharma, IT, BT and manufacturing sectors.
At a press conference, Deputy Dean of ISB, Deepak Chandra announced the contribution from CEO of Laurus Labs, Satyanarayana Chava, an alumnus of its Post-Graduate Programme for Senior Executives (PGPMAX). This was the largest individual alumni grant from an alumnus, he said.
The first module of the four-module programme of four days each will begin on July 29.
Mr. Deepak Chandra said the ISB facilitated focussed work on entrepreneurship and innovation through the Wadhwani Centre for Entrepreneurship Development and the Biocon Cell for Innovation Management. Scientists working on innovative technologies now had a new opportunity to go back to the classroom.
“Today, scientists in laboratories are coming out with innovative technologies. But there is a gap between the technologies and its commercialisation that our new programmes seek to bridge,” he added.
Mr. Satyanarayana Chava said Laurus Labs, that registered a turnover of Rs. 720 crore in the last fiscal, spent about six per cent of revenues on research and development. It was focussed on active pharmaceutical ingredients on anti-retroviral drugs for HIV and on oncology, he said.
