Education Budget Must Double Every 3 Years, Says IIT Madras Director
Veezhinathan Kamakoti, a renowned academic and director of Indian Institute of Technology Madras, talks about what technology sovereignty means for India and how it can propel the country towards its vision of becoming a developed nation by 2047.
Q What does tech sovereignty mean to you?
A All developed countries have attained technology sovereignty by inventing technologies and patenting them. They have done it by ensuring that whatever technology they bring to the table is part of the global standards. That’s how you get technology sovereignty.
But we can only build a castle when we have the foundation. Our mantra should be: innovation, innovation, innovation, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship, start-up, start-up, start-up…And this is what is going to make our children come up with innovative ideas, which they will patent.
Read also: IIT Kanpur Secures Record-Breaking Milestone With 152 IPR Filings In 2024
And then we have to work as a country to get it standardised. We are the largest consumer market, and we must have a say in these standards. If I have 100 crore smartphone users, the standards must adhere to me. Sovereignty is, in my opinion, to have at least a set of things which we can use as a good negotiation tactic across the table. So that we get equal status in terms of technology.
Q How do you see the role of IITs in India’s goal to become a developed nation by 2047?
A Viksit Bharat 2047 is about India being a knowledge and technology superpower. Innovation and entrepreneurship are the only way to work on it.
Many IITs and almost all the top premier institutions have now started giving courses related to innovation and entrepreneurship. We tell the children that having a career in a start-up is very good. If you fail, it gives you a better resume rather than going and sitting in some company and making tons of money, but, you know, nothing new. So, ‘I am a failed start-up entrepreneur’ is a positive statement in your CV. This is the mindset that we need to create.
Q IIT Madras has incubated a host of deep-tech start-ups. How did that come about?
A We have a couple of courses dedicated to innovation and entrepreneurship. It is compulsory. They [the students] do it in the third and fourth semesters. Just to understand whether they are fit to become an entrepreneur or not. And then the next thing that we also do is motivate them to go and make ideas and try to patent it.
We need the research infrastructure and the manpower. There is a lot of equipment that none of the institutions have access to. It is also a chicken-and-egg situation sometimes. If you have those equipment, people who could use that equipment will join. As I don’t have people who can use this equipment, I don’t buy this equipment. But we are resolving it. We have a cryogenic electron microscopy facility [used to study the structure of biomolecules]. We are now getting very good faculty just because the facility is there.
Read also: JMI faculty’s Pioneering Research On AI And Digital Pathology For Oral Cancer Diagnosis Gets Patent
Q Does IIT Madras not have enough funds for equipment?
A We need a web of equipment. All the top-notch equipment must be made available in our country. And there must be trained manpower who will look after that. Also, the AMCs [annual maintenance charges] should be paid. For equipment, the AMC cost a few years down the line is 20%. Suppose I get a Rs 1,000 crore grant, I have to invest Rs 200 crore in the next five years to keep that equipment running.
If you really want the premier institutions to grow, the budget for education must double every three years.
Q How has IIT Madras been able to become a patent hub?
A We have a very robust patenting mechanism. In 2018, when we started this programme, I started the ‘Patent A Day’ scheme when I was the associate dean. But everybody said it’s a very lofty goal. It can’t be done. But now, every day, one or two patents are flowing out. Last financial year, we had 382 patents filed from IIT Madras.
Q In the US, there are a lot of industry-academia collaborations. Why isn’t that happening in India?
A I have been telling this in all the Ficci [Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry], CII [Confederation of Indian Industry] meetings…big companies should look at young start-ups.
The system integrators need components. And the components should have maximal indigenisation. They should start investing in start-ups and give them purchase orders. They must give purchase orders of Rs 10 lakh, Rs 20 lakh, Rs 30 lakh. What will happen? Will your business fall? No, right? The moment you encourage and start working with them with an open mind, they will grow.
Q China is attracting a lot of its top science and tech talent back to the country. What does India need to do for the same?
A Unless the start-ups show success and promising technologies, this is not going to happen. Start-ups should not just be doing app development. You need somebody like Agnikul [Cosmos] who has made a 3D printed rocket or Mindgrove [Technologies] doing a chipset. Deep-tech companies need to succeed. Only then there’ll be a lot more confidence in our country. Then people will come back.
