'Focus needed on converting research into business in India'

India needs to focus on converting its good research work into business and invest in education, Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalakrishnan said today.
Acknowledging that good research work is already being done in India, Gopalakrishnan said, "We need to focus on taking the research and creating businesses out of it. The translation of research to business... That ecosystem is not matured in India, it is very weak, there are possibly very few examples of it."
"This is because it is not part of the culture, it is not part of the process till now... We have to work towards this," he added.

Gopalakrishnan was speaking to reporters to announce the 11th India Innovation Summit - 2015, of which he is Chairman.
Speaking about the quality of research, Gopalakrishnan said, "Definitely, we need to improve the quality of research. If we go beyond the Indian Institute of Science or the IITs, it comes down or probably no research is being done."
Emphasising on the importance of education, he said India has a long way to go and investment is needed both in education and research.

"We have an education system that is focused on teaching, training; it is not focused on research. There are very few research based educational institutions, we need to increase their number, and we need to increase the number of people who are going for PhDs," he added.

Stressing on the need for concerted effort to do this, Gopalakrishnan said, "We have to work together. I would not like to point finger at anybody."
Responding to a question about hype that e-commerce is driving away talented youngsters from research, Gopalakrishnan said, "It is not a worry, these are cycles- some times there is hype about a particular sector..."
"... It is only about 5 to 10 per cent of the retail now (that) happens through e-commerce and technology, there is significant scope for leveraging this not just at the national level, not through these large e-commerce sites, but there is an opportunity at the hyper local level," he said.

The two-day 11th India Innovation Summit 2015 with the theme "Realizing the National Dream - Scaling Local Innovation" will be held on August 6 and 7 with sessions covering topics like agriculture innovations, smart cities, Swachh Bharat, Make in India, financial inclusion, integrated transport system and regional startup systems.