Jammu:In order to keep pace with the national priorities in establishing meaningful partnership with the industries so as to generate employment opportunities for the students, University of Jammu has embarked on the journey of Industry University Partnership under the RUSA grants sanctioned by MHRD. One of the key areas has been identified as reaching out to the industries local and outside J&K. Some of the initiatives in this direction have been setting up of Industry Academia Partnership Centre (IAPC), involvement of an industry expert in Board of Studies in every discipline taught in the University, and establishment of IPR cell. These steps are intended to create an ecosystem of Industry Academia linkages. To give a fillip to all these initiatives, IAPC, JU started the first webinar series today. Shri. Kewal Kumar Sharma, Advisor to Hon’ble Lieutenant Governor to Higher Education, UT of Jammu & Kashmir, who was the Chief Guest of the event formally inaugurated the webinar series on a digital platform. Sh. K.K.Sharma talked about the changing paradigms of education and business. He apprised the audience about potential of business in J&K and gave a brief description on how the Government is putting efforts to uplift select sectors including Pharmaceuticals, Horticulture, Medical and Health etc. through appropriate policy making. Adv Sharma laid emphasis of the start of courses which are industry driven so that the civil society at large can benefit. He underscored that need for greater involvement of industry partners in enhancing the productivity of apple and its marketing. He further said that the climate of our region varies from tropical to temperate thereby giving opportunity to farmers to start cultivation of high density apple, saffron and wall nut. This will render great help directly to the farmers.
He lauded the efforts of University for being in the first hundred universities of the country in NIRF ranking and expressed his expectations to uplift it further. He also congratulated University for being the first University in UT to setup Section 8 Company. his address he appreciated the initiative of IAPC for organizing webinar on a contemporary theme and also congratulated team IAPC and other members for their efforts towards such deliberation which is the need of the hour
Prof. Javed Iqbal, Former Professor IIT Kanpur, Senior Vice President and Global Head,Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., Founder and Director Peptomedica Biotech, Australia and Singapore was the invited speaker.He delivered the invited talk on “Challenges and Benefits Industry-Academia Partnerships”.In his key note address Prof. Iqbal elucidated about the constantly changing paradigms, in response to growing complexity of business environment that had paved the path for Industry and university to come together for creating synergies.The speaker reiterated that for achieving Atmnirbharta an ecosystem of “Academia,Industry, Investors and Market is of utmost importance. He described the approach University should follow to startup company formation by seed funding, corporate partnership, lead management and platform technology and put some light on issues related to exclusivity and governance. Speaker emphasized on the Corporate Model of University system and its implications in Indian Universities. He also reiterated that to build strong partnership with Industry, Universities must create a culture of Innovation and Entrepreneurship by promoting incubation centers, Industry sponsored research laboratories, patenting technologies and their commercialization.
The guest of honor, Dr. D. Srinivasa Reddy, Director, Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu in his special remarks stated that the Universities would no longer be just teaching institutes that could work in isolation rather an integral part of the State administration and the Corporate Sector deriving the economic growth and he also enunciated the importance of Industry Academia Partnership in the burgeoning times.Dr. Reddy shared his vast industrial experience and success stories with the audience and emphasized on working in translational research. He further explained how a Govt. research institute/University could approach the industry to develop mutually beneficial projects.
The Webinar was presided over by Prof. Manoj Kumar Dhar ,Vice Chancellor , University of Jammu. Prof. Dhar in his Presidential remarks emphasized upon the essence of learning, knowledge, education and industry insights for developing necessary skills in students and researchers so as to make them employable. He accosted that in the pursuit of knowledge, there are no answers and if one tries to find out answers to the unflinching and unshrinking questions, by crossing academic boundaries and venturing in to industry one will reach the pinnacles of success. Prof. Dhar counseled the audience to break the shackles of learning and must learn new things that are happening across the globe. Meanwhile, discussing the importance of inventions and technology in today’s era he emphasized on the vitality of Industry Academia Partnership. He also apprised the listeners about the continuous efforts made by University of Jammu to build an ecosystem for innovation and research by planning to partner with leading Industries across the UT of J&K and other neighbouring states.
Prof. Kamal K Kapoor, Convener IAPC and Head, Department of Chemistry, University of Jammu gave a brief description and objectives of IAPC. He informed that‘Industry Academia Webinar Series’ has been launched as one of the initiatives to bridge the gap between Industry and University.
Earlier, Prof. Sanjana Kaul from School of Biotechnology, Jammu University, Member IAPC and Moderator for the Webinar formally welcomed the invited guests. Speaking on the occasion she informed that such webinars would be a regular feature of University of Jammu in the direction to partner with the Industry. Later, Dr. Sikander Pal, Assistant Professor, Department of Botany and Member IAPC presented formal vote of thanks to the chief guest, Eminent speaker, Guest of Honour, Vice Chancellor JU and RUSA Coordinator. Thanks were also presented to over 250 participants including dignitaries, faculty members , scholars and students from different parts of countries. The webinar was attended by senior scientists from Industry and senior officials from corporate sector which included Dr K V Radhakrishnan, National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, Prof. J M Khurana, Delhi University, Prof. Santosh Gharpure, IIT Mumbai, Dr. Parathasarthy Das, IIT Dhanbad, Dr. Rajesh Thapar Managing Director Racemix, Gurugram, many scientists from NCL Pune and IIIM Jammu. Besides the webinar was attended by Prof. Rajnikant Controller of Examination, University of Jammu, Prof. Kulwant Singh Director DDE, JU, Heads of various Departments, Deans of various faculties, other officials of the University and also the University fraternity including IAPC members.
Dr. SandeepArya, Dept of Physics and Electronics and Dr.Sikander Pal, Asst., Dept of Botany were the organizing Secretaries for the Webinar. Besides, other members of IAPC who played a role in the organization of the webinar included Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Dr. Ginny Dogra, Dr. Raj Sandhu, Dr. SandeepArya, Dr. RachnaMahajan, Dr. Vivek Sharma, Dr. Varunparmar, Dr. NishaKapoor and Mr. AmeetTargotra.