Symbiosis to set up Rs 300-cr health sciences park

After marking its presence in general education, Pune-based Symbiosis International University is now planning to set up a health science and technology park with an investment of Rs 300 crore. The project will be completed in five years.

The university will seek help from the Belgium government in this regard and set up the park on the lines of the Science Park of Wallonia (SpoW) in Belgium. The university would soon sign a memorandum of understanding for the same.

"They have plans to set up two such parks, one each in India and China. In India, they are partnering with us. They will be the knowledge partner in this project," said Vidya Yeravdekar, principal director at Symbiosis.

Symbiosis Health Science and Technology Park will focus on collaboration between R&D centres of corporates, and engineering and technical institutes. The park will also have a charitable hospital with a 200-bed capacity.

The programme will be completed in five years. While the university plans to fund the project through internal sources, it might also take assistance from corporates.

"This is one of the most ambitious programmes of the University. We do have an engineering school. This park will for the first time see an institute that will bring health sciences and engineering together. We will also invite corporates to set up their R&D (research and development) centres here, where students can be part of the R&D aspect right from their campus days," said Yeravdekar.

The university will fund the project internally as the plan has been in the works for the past three-to-four years. "We have earmarked for these funds as we have been discussing this for the past three-four years and waiting for environmental clearance. We might not be required to put in the total amount since many corporates might want to fund their own centres setup," Yeravdekar added.

In terms of the setup, the university which already has engineering, bio-tech and a health science school, will add a charitable hospital. The health science school will focus on areas such as stem cell research, immunology, and vaccinology while the engineering school will focus on radio science.

The university said the initial discussions with corporates have been encouraging. "In India R&D and academics, have been two separate aspects. In our interaction with the corporates I have found that they have started thinking that R&D should not be in isolation but should happen at campuses, which is a global norm," said Yeravdekar.

For access to faculty, the park, R&D centres and SPoW will work together. Along with the existing faculty at Symbiosis, which will get access to participate in live research projects, researchers at the R&D centres will also be tapped for lectures. The university will also look at visiting faculty from SPoW.

Symbiosis comprises of 43 institutes imparting training in diverse disciplines spread over nine campuses in Pune, Noida, Bangalore and Nashik. Ranked among the top 200 universities in India, it has students who hail from all states of India as well as 75 different countries.