CHANDIGARH: Chandigarh has the potential to lead in scientific innovation and can even go ahead of Switzerland , a country that tops the innovation chart globally, according to Prof K VijayRaghavan , principal scientific adviser to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.VijayRaghavan is working nationwide to establish clusters where there is synergy between academia and industry. He was in Chandigarh on Saturday to deliberate with Chandigarh Region Innovation and Knowledge Cluster (CRIKC) members at Imtech and how they need to scale up.While talking to TOI, VijayRaghavan said, “These clusters have scientific organisations working together. If science and technology like this connects with the market, Chandigarh — whose reach is in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana — as innovation leader can itself be world-class and be ahead of Switzerland.” He said, “I have come here as I’am inspired by such a model which can be replicated and scaled up.”Two years ago, Bharat Ratna recipient C N R Rao appreciated the working together of CRIKC and said he sees Chandigarh as an “emerging hub of science.” Not differing from this idea, the principal scientific adviser said, “At the national level, we are pushing for synergy between academia and industry. We also need entrepreneurship which is in Chandigarh. However, it cannot be on the lines of Pune or Hyderabad. Chandigarh has to look at its own needs and focus accordingly.”In a closed-door meeting with the directors of the CRIKC, VijayRaghavan asked them to work with private universities and focus on bigger challenges. “The universities are rich in resources, but as the world is changing dramatically, there is a need for quality human resources. Private universities come up with new approaches in science and technology and can provide quality human resources. The business school can also be a part of this team. These components together can transform science effectively.”He said, “There is a need to work in this kind of ecosystem and give CRIKC a branding. If this is done, you will be like Stanford.”Two months ago, President Ram Nath Kovind had chaired a meeting on science and technology where he asked to focus on need to connect central state universities, IITs, IISERs and national laboratories. This would be evaluated by November. This brought the scientific adviser to assess the progress being made by CRIKC and look at the possibility of adopting this model for ‘University-National Research Laboratory (U-NRL) Hub’ (North-western region). Ten U-NRL hubs have been envisaged in India by the office of the scientific adviser to strengthen the research ecosystem of the universities.

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