HR issues in way of nano technology in India

Even as India is readying to take the plunge into nano technology, the lack of skilled manpower and very little industry academia cooperation is likely to play a big hurdle on this path.

People in the industry and researchers believe that although research in nanotechnology usually takes longer till they come out with a new technology, there are not enough researchers in the industry who could work in this field.

Unlike the US where the number of researchers in the industry is much higher, it is just the opposite in the case of India. In the US, 75 per cent of the researchers are in the industry and the rest are in academia, whereas 75 per cent of the researchers in India are in academia and 25 per cent in industry.

"We don't have dearth of researchers in the country, but most of them are in the academics. As we aspire to excel in the field of nano-technology, our challenge will be on taking research to industry," said G Sundararajan, Director, ARCI, Hyderabad.

He said it would be wiser on the part of Indian firms focussing on nanotechnology to focus in issues concerning the country.

"We should take into account where the Indian market is quite strong. I believe nanotechnology has a huge role to play in India in the fields of health, drinking water, textiles, auto-components and energy," he added.

Another issue which had been forcing Indian firms to look at the opportunities in the field of nano technology was the lack of support from the government.

Recently, the Centre set aside Rs 1,000 crore as part of its proposed Nano Mission which might play a big role in motivating the firms to take up R&D in nano-technology. The government also proposes to finance companies in their research initiatives from this fund.

However, the industry is of the opinion that the timing of the funding is not good. "It is being announced when countries like the US, Japan, the UK and even China have make significant progress in nanotechnology with proactive government support," said an industry leader on the condition of anonymity.

According to Faruq Marikar, Managing Director, Nanobiz LLC, a US-based consulting firm, many Indians are driving innovations in science and technology for global firms either from India or in any other country. "It is time for the Indians to innovate in India, and for Indian companies," he said.

He, however, said that VCs were not open to funding companies into research and development in nanotechnology.

"A company doing research on nanotechnology or nano science may not be focussing on nanotechnology at the business level. VCs will look at what percentage of their business will come from nanotechnology 10 years down the line. But I believe VCs are of end of the world," he added.