Edu-leaders

Industry and academia can no longer operate in seclusion, especially when it comes to research. A report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) titled, Science Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2011, clearly elucidates that “The production of scientific knowledge is shifting from individuals to groups, from single to multiple institutions, and from a national to an international scope, suggesting that a positive relationship exists between measures of research collaboration and scientific impact.” High on talent, but with the lowest researcher base globally, and a meagre number of people employed in Science and Technology (S&T), India is inching towards bridging this gap. R&D companies, universities and research institutions abroad are coming together to groom, hire and motivate students to pursue a career in research.

Supporting Talent at Universities

Uma Sawant was working as a research engineer with Yahoo! Labs, Bangalore, till mid 2011. Today, this postgraduate from IIT Bombay is pursuing a full time PhD at her alma mater. She was among the two employees selected as part of the Yahoo! Coop programme (launched in 2010) to pursue research in the internet sphere. For talented researchers like her, there is a beeline of companies who want to groom them further. Says Manish Gupta, Director, IBM Research, India, “We aim to expose students to challenging research problems and get them interested so that they are motivated to pursue a fulfilling career in the field.” IBM Research gives grants to universities as part of its Shared University Research (SUR) programme, to support research in high computing and networks, and has over 100 universities, including NITs and IITs, in its University Relations programme.

HP Labs India has been offering PhD fellowships in collaboration with BITS Pilani since 2009 to those interested in pursuing research in information and communication technologies (ICT). For its 2011 PhD fellowships for doctoral research in computer science and related areas, Microsoft Research India (established in 2006), received a record 70 applications, the highest ever, and instituted an additional sixth fellowship. Even at Yahoo!, the competition was tough between the final two candidates. There is a growing number of research aspirants, more so with fellowships that take care of the monetary aspects, given the fact that research is time intensive. Yahoo! Labs offers a stipend of Rs 1 lakh per month for the Yahoo! Coop programme, an incentive to attract the best talent. “We offer five times what students would get if they pursue research at an IIT or IISc,” says Rajeev Rastogi, Vice President and Head, Yahoo! Labs.

Companies Rev Up Hiring PhDs

Ten years ago there were only a handful of companies operating in the R&D space such as Texas Instruments and GE Research. However, today there are 705 MNCs in the R&D space in India with 35 per cent of them in the software sector followed by telecom, semiconductor, industrial automation and biotechnology, informs Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, Director, Zinnov Management Consulting. And a lot of these companies are no longer doing only transactional work out of India, but moving up the value chain, and working to build sites in India as research centres. Hence, attracting technically qualified staff is imperative. Applied Materials, which works in the solar and semiconductor space in India, has been hiring PhDs for the last two years.

“What really excites PhDs is working on cutting-edge research and technology, rather than regular design and coding oriented projects. They bring specific technical competencies to the table and we pay special attention to aligning their PhD thesis with the needs of our ongoing projects during the hiring process,” says Abhay Singh, Director, HR, Applied Materials, India. Increasing employability along with competitive pay packages, opportunities to work on pioneering research projects along with greater exposure to the research community (in terms of conference attendance and papers published) are some of the reasons why students opt for jobs with MNCs. The proof lies in the fact that there was a 27 per cent increase in the number of students who opted for jobs in the R&D sector at IIT Bombay. And it is not just PhDs from IITs and IISc who are getting hired. “Companies are going beyond Tier I universities in search of talent which can be groomed further,” echoes Ramalingegowda.

Needed: A Proactive Approach

It is not only companies that are gearing up to tap scientific talent directly. Academic institutions too are realising the need to up the ante. These include foreign university tie-ups, exchange programmes and even dual degree programmes like the IIT Bombay Monash Research Academy. Set up in 2008, a part of the programme sees PhD students visit Monash University, Australia, for a fully funded stay of six months to a year. Mohan Krishnamurthy, CEO of the Academy, makes a point when he says, “Collaborations should be exploring mechanisms for students to stay.” IIT Madras, on the other hand is trying out a new model. It has set up the first university-based research park in the country with the support of the state government, the Union Ministry of HRD, and IIT alumni. “The primary motivation for the research park was to focus on developing a strong portfolio of products, technologies and capabilities to address real problems through collaborative research between industry and academia. Doing real life projects with companies on campus, students will be exposed early on to challenging problems”, says Sandhya Shekhar, Chief Executive Officer of the park.

With such developments on the horizon, the future certainly looks promising for scientific research, but a cautionary approach is advisable. Many feel that it will take time and investment for Indian researchers to be exposed to different ways of thinking, communicating better and developing new ideas. More postdoctoral fellowships would serve as an incentive to pursue PhDs, feels Prof Shiva Prasad, Dean Academic Affairs, IIT Bombay. And of course, comparisons are inevitable. “Although there is a greater visibility of papers by IITs and IISc in international journals as well as increased citations and representation at international conferences, we still lag behind other countries, notably China”, says Prof Soumen Chakrabarti of IIT Bombay. Perhaps the picture will change over the next few year.