On Line Industry-Academia Collaboration

Date: 5th March 2025

Organized by: Srijan Sanchar, CSJM University, CSJM Innovation Foundation

In the contemporary knowledge economy, synergistic collaboration between industry and academia serves as a cornerstone for fostering innovation, catalyzing economic growth, and advancing technological frontiers. In recognition of this imperative, Srijan Sanchar, in collaboration with CSJM University and CSJM Innovation Foundation, is organizing  an online webinar titled "Great Products and Services Require Both Wings and Wheels." This metaphor underscores the essential duality of groundbreaking innovation (wings) and pragmatic implementation (wheels) in the development of transformative products and services.

The webinar expects a multidisciplinary discourse among distinguished scholars, industry leaders, and policymakers, aiming to delineate effective collaboration frameworks that translate academic research into commercially viable solutions, drive knowledge capitalization, and mitigate the disconnect between research institutions and industrial enterprises.

Key Areas of  discussions of the on line Meet 

1. Aligning Research with Industry Requirements: Deliberations centered on optimizing 

academic research to address pressing industry challenges, ensuring its applicability to real world market demands.

2. Intellectual Property and Commercialization Strategies: Discussions underscored the 

significance of patents, copyrights, and technology transfer as pivotal instruments for 

safeguarding and monetizing academic research outputs.

3. Soft Skills and Workforce Preparedness: An analysis of the necessity for equipping 

graduates with industry-relevant soft skills and professional competencies to enhance 

employability.

4. Sustainable and Resilient Innovation Ecosystems: Examination of sustainable 

manufacturing paradigms, energy-efficient solutions, and circular economy principles to 

ensure long-term viability.

5. Institutionalized Collaboration Frameworks: Introduction of structured methodologies to 

facilitate seamless academia-industry partnerships, including problem identification, 

research prioritization, and iterative solution development.

● Dr. Kalpana Maheshwari

● – Frameworks and Modalities of Industry-Academia Collaboration

Structural modalities of academia-industry partnerships, emphasizing the systematic delineation of collaborative inputs, expected research outcomes, and reciprocal benefits. She advocated for the institutionalization of knowledge exchange mechanisms and sustainable research funding models.

● Bhoopendra Singh – Future Trajectories of Industry-Academia Engagement

Mr. Singh will provide a forward-looking perspective on industry-academia synergies, emphasizing translational research as a conduit for market-ready innovations. His discourse encompassed the establishment of robust intellectual property regimes, deep-tech acceleration, and the 

institutionalization of sustainable, resource-efficient industrial methodologies.

● Mr. Venkatesh – Soft Skilling and AI-Integrated Workforce Development

Mr. Venkatesh will  highlight the prevalent deficit in professional and behavioral competencies among graduates, which poses a barrier to effective industry integration. He proposed leveraging generative AI and adaptive learning technologies to democratize skill development, ensuring scalable and cost-efficient training mechanisms.

● Dr. Renu Agarwal – Transforming Intellectual Capital into Economic Value

Dr. Agarwal shall  delineate strategies for capitalizing on academic knowledge to drive economic expansion. Key themes included fostering an entrepreneurial ecosystem, fortifying technology transfer pipelines, cultivating investor-academia collaborations, and leveraging intellectual property rights to optimize market penetration.

● Prashant Bohra – Optimizing Research Dissemination for Industry Engagement

Mr. Bohra will be  outlining strategic communication methodologies to effectively bridge the gap between academic research outputs and industry requisites. His discourse would encompass tailored engagement frameworks, industry-academia networking platforms, and case studies demonstrating successful knowledge commercialization.

● Nitin Gawhane – Systematic Industry-Academia Problem-Solving Framework

Mr. Gawhane –shall  be   introducing a structured Industry-Institute Interaction (I3) Framework, comprising six phases: problem identification, analytical diagnosis, strategic prioritization, solution ideation, industrial implementation, and iterative refinement. He underscored the necessity of feedback driven continuous improvement mechanisms to sustain collaborative efficacy.