Bio-summit begins at VIT

VELLORE: Dr Arun Balakrishnan, senior vice president of Piramal Healthcare in Mumbai, has called upon Indian universities to produce  new generation workforce needed for technological and intellectual leadership. This workforce would help develop the knowledge necessary for modern science that serves as an element for worldwide collaboration and communication. Delivering the keynote address at the first edition of the ‘Bio-Summit,’ hosted by the School of Bio Sciences and Technology at the VIT university here on Wednesday, the academician-turned industry leader underlined the need for transparency and adaptive planning in the education system and new initiative for industry-academia collaboration to produce students who are industry-ready.“The need of the hour is to equip the universities that would cater to the needs of industry and thus increase the skill sets of students who will meet the needs of the future world,”Balakrishnan said. He said research should be the main platform of teaching and the educational institutions must unite science, scholarship and new knowledge economics. In India, some universities are creating infrastructure and good faculty but they definitely need to excel and work hard to meet the world standards,” he said. Describing the two-day Bio Summit as a unique event in the history of the VIT, chancellor G Viswanathan in his presidential address pointed out that it was an attempt to bridge the gap that existed between the industry and academia for long.“We want to lead in equipping our students and faculty to understand the needs of the industry so that they could plan ahead for the challenges of employability. In USA, the universities and industry have a symbiotic relationship and this helps both the institutions and the industry in a big way,” Viswanathan added. Dr Anilkumar Gopinath, director of SBST, in his welcome address at the event said that over 36 experts from 25 industries from South India would be taking part in four panel discussions which is spread over two days.