The manufacturing sector of the Indian economy is faced with multiple challenges of varied nature. While economic and financial challenges in the short term are putting pressure on most industries, greater challenges loom on the horizon. These include the need to adopt greener technologies that are financially viable, and maintaining competitive edge over other emerging economies of the world. These challenges make it imperative for the manufacturing industry to continuously adopt new technology in their processes. However, this imperative itself poses a challenge, not only in front of the industry, but all other stake holders as well, such as the government, research laboratories and technological institutions. While the government can act as a facilitator, development and adoption of new technology demands active collaboration among the industry, researchers and educationists. The IT and ITES businesses of India have already made some progress in working with academia to evolve solutions for the long term issues which affect their global competitiveness. The focus of interaction of IT and ITES companies with universities and institutions of technology is on employability of fresh graduates. A small component of this interaction is for development of new technology. As far as the manufacturing sector is concerned, a different approach is required to leverage the potential of academic institutions not only in education but also in research. While industry-academia interaction is of undeniable importance, the best way of converting good intentions into tangible benefits has perhaps eluded the parties involved.
Like any organisation, an academic institution is made up by people. Students, faculty and support staff of an institution combine to determine its culture and ethos. However, the goals and aspirations of the institution are set more by the goals and aspirations of faculty members than those of students. This is mainly because the students are in the institution for learning, and the faculty members decide what and how they should learn. Tracing the origins of the concept of a university, it becomes clear that the purpose of academia is the pursuit of knowledge for the sake of knowledge. However, when institutions such as IIT’s, NIT’s, IISc and IISER’s are funded by public money, demands for useful output and accountability are placed on them by people through the government. Creation of capable manpower is the visible output of these institutions familiar to most people. However, most of these institutions have always created new knowledge through research and development, which is not apparent to the public eye for various reasons. Therefore, industry-academia interaction must emphasise creation of new knowledge through research, apart from education of current and future manpower.
Industry is fundamentally different from academia in their view of knowledge. With the profit motive as the basis for all their activities, industry treats knowledge as one of the resources that must contribute to profit-making. Academics are more interested in sharing the findings of their research with fellow research through publications. Such sharing has been the basis of progress made in science and engineering. This difference in perspective often proves a hindrance to effective industry-academia interaction. In the shared goal of developing India’s manufacturing strength, it is imperative for the industry to acknowledge the value of sharing certain type of fundamental research results with other researchers through publications. On the other hand, academics must acknowledge the importance of intellectual property for industry. This is just a reiteration of what has been already said and done in many parts of the world. There are instances of people from both sides coming together to identify pre-competitive fundamental scientific issues which the academics pursued in their research. The outcome of the basic research could then be used by the industry to develop their intellectual property.
The above points lead to the importance of fundamental research. There are many manufacturing technologies that started off in the industry. Some progress was made by adopting an empirical approach in developing the technology and the products. However, further strides in performance of the products could only be achieved by fundamental research. At such stage, academic institutions of repute stepped in to carry out the fundamental research to identify the underlying scientific principles that governed the performance of the products. These were in turn used by the industry to advance the technology. One example of such a path is thermal barrier coatings technology for jet engines. There is no reason for other technologies to follow the same path.
It is clear that fundamental research is invaluable, and academic institutions are the bastions of fundamental research. Most of industrial R&D and publicly funded research laboratories have clearly defined applied research goals. Hence, if not academia then who would carry out open ended fundamental research?
If the industry-academia interaction is to succeed, a few entities need to act as facilitators to bring people from both sides together. Administrators of institutions are already working hard to bring people together. IIT Madras, for instance, is the first in India to establish a research park wherein industrial personnel, IIT faculty members and students can work together on mutually interesting research problems. More efforts are required to develop consensus among the different players such that each respects the concerns of the other and agrees to a common approach that protects the interests of all participants. Academia should provide better framework for faculty members to spend time in the industries to gain insights into current practices and problems. Inviting industrial experts for interaction with students and faculty is necessary. Industry can reciprocate by taking initiative in inviting faculty members to spend time on the shop floor as observers and share information on the processes followed.
A perception lingers in the minds of the people that Indian manufacturing industry has largely neglected R&D efforts and therefore do not have the technology road map that will propel them towards global leadership in competitiveness. I am confident that the currently there is a renewed investment in R&D in the manufacturing industries of India. Apart from financial investment, it is important to realise that R&D efforts should focus on the long term, perhaps more than the short term. This shift in focus will go a long way in identifying collaborative projects with academia, which will have strong impact on crucial technologies.
Apart from developing competitiveness through research collaboration, industry-academia interaction can contribute by working together in education. Most of the manufacturing industries have traditionally hired fresh graduates as trainees. This practice is based on the tacit understanding that universities teach the basics of science and engineering to their students and the particulars of any industry can be learnt through on-the-job training. However, there is need for fresh graduates to possess better employability. The emphasis on soft skills is growing by the day. These aspects are not given sufficient emphasis in a university curriculum. Universities and the industry can do well to formulate the set of hardcore knowledge and soft skills required for today’s graduates so that they can contribute more effectively to the industry’s success at an early stage. However, it must be realised that training in job functions will continue through in-house training programmes only.
The dynamic environment of today’s global economy and the ever-changing technology landscape make new demands on experienced industrial professionals. Continuing education is the opportunity for these professionals to keep themselves abreast of new technologies and other aspects of their industry. Many leading institutions have well established processes for continuing education. Generic as well as user-specific training programmes are conducted frequently and industries utilise these opportunities effectively. The experience with continuing education can be used for enhancing the industry-academia interaction in the fields of developing syllabi for basic education, as well as improving the efficacy of R&D collaboration.
The global economic crisis, the need for environmentally friendly technology, and ever increasing demand for energy pose intricately interwoven challenges to the manufacturing sector in India. With greater understanding on the part of each stakeholder of how the academia and the industry function, it is possible to undertake collaborative efforts for developing new technologies to propel India towards global leadership in manufacturing capabilities. Close cooperation in devising syllabi for basic higher education will make India’s workforce more employable. It is already clear that positive changes are happening and India has the great opportunity to emerge as a manufacturing superpower.