innovation centres and that is enough. It cannot be one or two centres. We need to create 30-40 institutes of prominence with good funding support. It has started happening but I think we need more.
The basic research has to be taken forward but at the same time as you suggested, the PPPs too can play a role. Yet I feel that these should be based on the lines of PPPs in Europe where the focus in more on translation research. The government must create an innovative capital fund.
One of the increasingly potential areas in India, is the medical technology industry. How do you analyse the trends and policy here?
The medical technology indeed has good potential. Given the fact that we have a huge engineering skill base in India, we need to ensure that we create a right kind of environment for medical devices. We can become a manufacturing hub but not only the low end. I mean not just an assembling hub where you put a battery in the device and be satisfied that we are innovating.
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We have to do the cutting edge science. We have the core skills, national institutes and required fundamentals but what we need is the right nurturing. The future of human bodies would be driven by devices and robotics. If we miss out on these, we will miss the bus of future opportunities too.
Isn’ t the Make in India a step towards that?
I think we need to get our make in India slightly better. We should not deprive the multinationals their opportunity to innovate in our country just because we are running a campaign. If there is a cutting edge science from outside India and we are putting curbs on it, we are depriving the people of its benefit or knowledge of that benefit. So, in the areas like devices, the government must have adequate incentives to manufacture here. Government must ask MNCs about their feasibility to manufacture in India and give support wherever possible. It can be also make in India and export globally.
Protecting domestic manufacturers at the cost of innovation is something where government will have to balance out. As an example base metal stent is cheaper yet not popular. So, you might manufacture it here in India yet not have as many as buyers. Even a middle class person will go for a quality one. We have to also understand that there is difference between older and newer medical devices. For example the device in 1940s was more about having an alternative to natural human part while in 2016, it was like a digital device or walking computer.
Especially on science and technology including medicine, we have to be careful in not creating the walls for innovation.
Does the $ 100 billion Indian bioeconomy by 2025 target look feasible to you?
There is no harm in setting up targets but we have to understand that the value generation happens with lot of sweating and realistic roadmap. The countries like Europe and America has got huge investments into their biotech sectors. Here too it is only the government which can do it. It has to start with the basics such as creation of strong knowledge base, skilled manpower and long term career option to
We cannot always remain in competition by saying that we offer a cheap alternative to labour cost. It will not work in longer run as more and more innovation is happening in automation technologies. lure the exceptionally talented workforce into the sector. A good manpower will keep us in the game.
Similarly, it takes 20 years to build a reputed company. It is not an overnight possibility. Industry must avoid the shortcuts wherever it can. We cannot always remain in competition by saying that we offer a cheap alternative to labour cost. It will not work in longer run as more and more innovation is happening in automation technologies. It will be smarter for the companies to manufacture in their own countries than to outsource.
Finally, I hope that this target is achieved and let us keep trying.
What according to you should be the vision for biotechnology industry in India?
The vision of Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru was greatest for science. As a thought leader, he did a lot. In his speech to IAS officers at Doon Academy, he told the aspiring bureaucrats that the scientists first came, then doctors and their place was last in the line of importance. India has to follow this philosophy even now. Science has to come first.
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