‘India needs to create technology that other countries would use’

Kris Gopalakrishnan advocates for world-class research and development in India to transition to a product-led economy.

Kris Gopalakrishnan, Infosys co-founder and trustee of Pratiksha Trust, raised the need to “be an evangelist for world class research and development, and translational research in India”.

Shortly after being conferred with the DMDSC Lifetime Contribution Award 2024 by Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre (DMDSC) on Saturday, he said, “We are very good at research but stop at paper publications; translational (research) should be addressed.”

Listing down his call for action, he said that for every five dollars spent on research in the United States, spend one dollar in India, support visiting chair professors for the transfer of knowledge and collaborative research, and set up 20 world-class mission mode large programmes.

“We need to transition to a product/IP-led economy. This is important for the transition to the USD 30 trillion economy by 2047,” he said. He added that India should create products and technology that others would use.

There was a need to create capacity for large programmes at institutions, he said, adding that India was one of the four countries in space due to mission mode programmes and committed funding. “Identify white spaces, think of strategic areas, look at national interest and think of ‘from India to the world’,” he added.

“We have to support world-class research in India, either be involved or encourage students to take up a career in science and research,” he said.

He talked about increasing investment in research. Mr. Gopalakrishnan went on to elaborate on his support for research in the area of brain science.