The $25 Smart Cane: Lessons for Innovation from Lab to Field | Dr. Shirshendu Mukherjee at Digii100

Описание: In this segment from the Digii100 Roundtable, "The Research Playbook: Guiding India’s HEIs from Teaching-Only to Research-Driven", Dr. Shirshendu Mukherjee (Managing Director, Wadhwani Innovation Network) addresses the critical "translational gap" in Indian higher education.

Drawing on decades of experience in innovation funding, he argues that while Indian institutions are excellent at basic research (TRL 1–3), the primary challenge lies in crossing the "valley of death"—the difficult transition to market-ready products at TRL 5, 6, and 7.

Dr. Mukherjee emphasizes that the bottleneck in Indian innovation is no longer a lack of funding, but a lack of translational thinking. He advocates for a "360-degree" approach where researchers must assess market needs, intellectual property (IP) landscapes, and exit strategies at the very start of their work. Using the powerful success story of a "Smart Cane" developed at IIT Delhi, he demonstrates how academic research can be restructured to reduce costs—in this case from $300 to just $25—to achieve massive societal impact.

Key Insights for the Research Playbook:

• The TRL Challenge: Success for HEIs means moving research beyond the initial TRL 1–3 phase; the real work begins when trying to reach translational and market-ready stages.
• "Fund and Follow" Model: Dr. Mukherjee critiques the traditional "fund and forget" approach, proposing instead a model of continuous mentoring and course correction where projects are hand-held from day one.
• Early Exit Strategies: Researchers should identify potential "takers" for their work—whether through licensing, tech transfer, or starting a company—at the conceptualisation phase rather than at the end of the project.
• Incentivising Patents over Papers: To drive real-world outcomes, institutions are encouraged to value granted patents and technology transfers as equivalent to multiple published papers in their promotion and incentive models.
• Building Mentor Networks: Academic research needs a broad pyramid of science mentors and business experts to help scientists convert basic research into translational plots.

About Digii100: Digii100 is a premier thought-leadership platform that brought together 300+ visionaries, policymakers, and institutional leaders for a day of unfiltered dialogue. This wasn’t just another tech conference; it was a community-led movement to reimagine the future of Indian Higher Education through collaborative innovation and digital excellence.

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