Samir K Brahmachari, 58, is quietly transforming the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), where he took over as director-general over two years earlier. He has reorganised the 40 laboratories into five verticals and set up a decentralised management structure. The average number of files that land at his table daily are just 5-8, from about 75 in the days of his flamboyant predecessor, Raghunath Mashelkar. He is also in the process of setting up a for-profit company which would house all the intellectual property generated by the Council. The professor on his tenure in an interview with Joe C Mathew and Vandana Gombar. Edited excerpts:
Are you satisfied with what you have achieved in the two years at the helm?
It is an accident that I am DG. I came to Delhi (in 1997) not to become DG. My single-point mission was to put Indian on the genomics map. I transformed an insignificant lab in the CSIR system —- the Centre for Biochemical Technology, which was later renamed as Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology —- to one of the most productive ones.
What was the brief given to you when you took over as DG?
When I met the Prime Minister, he told me CSIR was built 65 years ago to meet the challenges of that time. He wanted me to build a new CSIR which would fulfill the aspirations of modern India.
CSIR needed repair. I personally visited all the 40 labs. Now, we are all connected. There are new directors at 19 labs. We have organised the labs into clusters. Most of the irritants have been ironed out. I do not get so many complaints now. My objective is to just spend an hour on administrative work and invest time in development work.
What are the more fundamental changes in the pipeline?
We are spinning off a for-profit company, CSIR Tech, which will house all the intellectual property of CSIR, vested in over 3,000 patents. We will hold 49 per cent stake in the company, the scientist will hold some stake and the rest will be given to the licensing partner. The structuring is currently being done by bankers.
We want to hold equity, and be visible. What I have discovered is that individual labs are better known than CSIR. Nandan Nilekani came and told me he did not know that NAL (National Aerospace Laboratories) was a CSIR lab, and he is from Bangalore.
A for-profit company would be a complete change in the philosophy of CSIR.
What is to be done? I gave technology to Ranbaxy and today it is gone. Tomorrow, some other company will go. I will now hold equity, so that even if the company is sold, the rights to my technology are with me.
You are also reviewing your international partnerships?
We have reversed the international policy. We said that we will only work with the best in the world and in an area which is futuristic. For instance, we have tied up with Berkeley for synthetic biology and with Harvard University for low-cost diagnostics.
What is the progress on the CSIR Academy?
We are setting up an Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research which will award degrees in new areas. This will churn out 1,000 PhDs and 1,600 post-graduates annually, doubling the current number. CSIR is also mentoring three new NIPERs (National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research). The CSIR Academy has got all necessary approvals.
There are critics of CSIR…
All over. Just remember, there are critics of Shah Rukh Khan. CSIR is hurting the vested interests of the multinationals. Because we are the only competitor for those MNCs when it comes to patents. CSIR gets patents but doesn’t sell these exclusively; exclusivity reaches only the rich. So, we always give non-exclusive rights.
Is there a change in CSIR’s broad philosophy?
We are enhancing our relevance to the nation.
To ensure affordable healthcare, we have started am open source drug discovery programme. We have some initiatives in sustainable energy. We have taken a mega project on solar mission. In engineering, we have plans to come up with micro-machines and robotics. We have developed underwater robots. We are developing flying machines.
What is your leadership mantra?
I read a book called Good to Great and I learnt that to achieve greatness, you need to achieve a level-5 leadership. They are the ones who build an institution without caring if they are awarded or rewarded. What I tried during the last two years was to achieve that level-5 leadership. So, I focused on four things. First, I felt industry is getting mature and they don’t need us for today’s problem. But, they need us for tomorrow’s science. So focus on tomorrow’s science, which is my genomics focus. Second, the people should be happy. So, the focus was to clear the promotions and have clear communication. Number three, give young people power. Now we say all project leaders have to be between 35 to 45. We organised the labs into five clusters. A sixth cluster - CSIR 800 – was also formed to work towards developing technologies for citizens.
Are you meeting your time targets for the transformation?
I said I will finish everything in eight quarters. I am one quarter off. I will complete the remaining agenda in two years, when I retire.
