Translating Academic Climate Research into Industry Implementation | CLIMAFIX Summit 2025

Описание: Translating Academic Climate Research into Industry Implementation | CLIMAFIX Summit 2025

This panel at CLIMAFIX Summit 2025 examines how academic climate research can move from the lab into industry deployment. Panelists discuss platform models, funding gaps, TRL bottlenecks, philanthropic and blended capital, industry–academy collaboration, and practical measures to scale research into commercial impact.

Panel focus: building repeatable platforms that link universities, research centers, alumni, funders and industry to translate research (TRL 2–4) into deployable solutions (TRL 5–7+).

Speakers:

Moderator: Satya Seshadri - Energy Consortium (IIT Madras)

Mirik Gogri - Spectrum Impact / membrane research initiative

Ajeya Bandyopadhyay - International Finance Corporation (IFC), Energy Transition & Industrial Decarbonization

Nishani Manohar - Head of Operations, IIT Madras Alumni Association (IITMAA)

Raghuttama Rao - Gopal Krishna Pande Center (GDC), IIT Madras

⏱️ Timestamps

00:00 – Opening music & session intro
00:41 – Panelists take their seats; session context and goals
01:05 – What the platform aims to solve: scaling research → implementation
02:02 – Energy Consortium’s venture-studio approach & deployment partners
03:16 – Call for a replicable, scalable model across universities
04:18 – Raghuttama Rao (GDC) — GDC mission, TRL gap and commercialization challenge
06:55 – Ajeya Bandyopadhyay (IFC) — IFC’s role, de-risking instruments & policy alignment
09:25 – Nishani Manohar (IITMAA) — alumni engagement: time, talent & treasure
14:04 – Mirik Gogri (Spectrum Impact) — industry perspective; membrane hub & India Translational Research Initiative
16:12 – Examples of gap-driven infrastructure (CGMP, vaccine/mRNA facilities)
18:06 – Discussion: grant capital, blended finance & philanthropic funding models
21:21 – IFC: de-risking, specialized funds & alternative instruments for pilots
22:20 – GDC: the missing pieces — funding failure tolerance & entrepreneurial human capital
25:04 – Mirik: rallying philanthropic capital and mindset change for donors
28:38 – Alumni giving: donor preferences, trust and willingness to fund riskier innovation
30:38 – Are researchers willing to tackle hard problems? Ambition and incentives
32:30 – Global comparisons: policy, incentives and ecosystem structure (US / China / Israel)
34:55 – Positive signals: discovery, industry awareness & opportunity to surface research
37:05 – Panel recommendations: platform design — outreach, problem prioritization, entrepreneur support
39:38 – IFC & panel: connect to global innovation networks and market feedback loops
41:06 – GDC: need for trained entrepreneurs who understand science + tolerance for failure
42:36 – Balancing audacious long-term research with short-term wins / revenue paths
42:56 – Closing summary: openness, knowledge-sharing, failure tolerance & next steps
43:24 – Thanks, wrap-up & mementos