Indian educational system must have linkages with industries to produce new and innovative technology to help boost the economy of the country, said Anil Kakodkar, member of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC).
“Education domain must be linked with research and both education and research should be linked with industries to produce technology that is affordable for rural India,” he said today while speaking at the National Technology Day seminar observed by National Aluminium Company (Nalco).
“Technology can be a game changer to boost economy as we have seen how economy of Finland grew because of mobile phone maker Nokia,” he added.
In developed nations, the size of economy expanded rapidly because of new innovations, technology and large number of research scholars. In India, though the expenses on science and research is comparable to global standard, there is a need to push the budget in science and engineering education, said Kakodkar, who is also Homi Bhaba chair professor.
“We need to expand the number of people in science,” he said.
To adopt technology upgradation, there is a need for paradigm shift in policies. Besides, stress must be given on five key issues to make technology user-friendly, affordable and to push the national economy, he said.
“We need cheap technology for safe drinking water, need to find proper use of biodegradable waste. For energy sector, we can think of relying on non-fossil energy for transportation and other means. Moreover, we need to make use of the natural resources by extracting key metals from earth and will have to combine information and communication technology for providing quality education,” he said.
Engineering and research oriented institutions should be located within close proximity to provide an ecosystem for innovation in technology as happened in several countries, especially in China. The ecosystem can be replicated in India by combining educational institutions with small industries, industrial clusters and special economic zone.
“We do not need large industries to be set up besides the engineering colleges for linkages. The engineering students can be engaged in large number of SMEs (small and micro enterprises) for providing solutions as innovation does not always mean great discovery or invention,” he said.
