Translational research is the key to thrive in Post COVID-19 era

SRM University AP, Andhra Pradesh, in association with The Hindu, organized the webinar to rethink the strategies for nurturing a scientific landscape in the post COVID situation. The webinar was chaired by Bharat Ratna Prof. CNR Rao, Linus Pauling Research Professor at JNCASR, Bangalore. Prof. Asuthosh Sharma, Secretary to Government of India, Department of Science & Technology (DST), Dr. S. Chandra Sekhar, Director, CSIR – Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad and Dr. Shashi Bala Singh, Director, NIPER, Hyderabad were the invited speakers. Prof. D. Narayana Rao, Pro Vice-Chancellor of SRM University – AP has initiated this webinar and was the moderator and Convener for the Webinar.

Prof. D. Narayana Rao expressed his gratitude to the prolific visionaries and scientists for being the panelists for the webinar and welcomed them heartily. In his opening speech, he emphasized the dire need for international collaborations. He further says, “India could definitely consider this as a potential opportunity and the Scientists, Technologists, Engineers, Bureaucrats and Policy Makers can reinvent the ways of doing research on Science & Technology. Breaking silos and collaboration among various sectors of Indian industries and academia to find solutions is crucial.” Prof. Rao also informed that CSIR Laboratories and outfits like BIRAC has built a strong bioscience foundation with a robust and start-up corporate base. He ardently believes that in a way COVID-19 Pandemic crises have catalyzed India and its Scientific Community.

Bharat Ratna recipient- Prof. CNR Rao believes in an empowered youth, a potential that if trained and utilized right can do marvels. He believes that human intelligence and determination can defeat COVID-19. He says, “Although this pandemic imposed a temporary slow down, it cannot diminish the intelligence and determination of the scientific community. Science is the urge of people to create and innovate which would keep shimmering even after lockdown.” Prof. CNR Rao supposes that India has to become competitive and futuristic and that the future of India depends on its zeal to be on the top.

Prof. D. N. Rao conducting the webinar

According to Prof. CNR Rao, India today is marginal in science contribution. The scientists of the country should engage in 3 types of research: frontiers of science to combat COVID directly, research that helps in improving the important sectors of India, and domains where India has the potential to beat the rest of the world to be on top. He also attests that India should spend at least 2% of its GDP to promote Scientific and technological research. He concludes by saying, “The scientists need to think with their minds and consciousness. Those who don’t give up, end up achieving success.”

Prof. Sharma pointed out that Covid-19 days have taught us to adopt a problem-centric approach rather than a tool-centric approach. He says, “The future is about the convergence of science and technology. We should understand the fundamental challenges and use the opportunity.”. Prof. Sharma recommends that research should be profound and generate new ideas instead of incremental focus, along with having a socio-economic relevance. He further suggests, “Foundation of culture and confidence should be built. Best training should be provided, creative thinking and risk-taking abilities should be nurtured, systems should be able to absorb losses, and knowledge should be translated to meet the demands of the market.”

Dr. Chandra Sekhar says that in the Co-COVID era, the pursuit of science should be making the people future-ready. Cutting edge research is to be used to combat pandemics in the future. He says that, “Pandemics are going to happen. AI model, computational tools should be used to predict virus mutations and alerts should be given to researchers to prepare a vaccine beforehand. “

Dr. Shashi Bala aligns her speech to the same thread by saying, “For any country to be prosperous, science, technology and innovation are crucial. Indian R&D sector is very vibrant and we have the capabilities to be self-reliant in the sectors of Food and agriculture, biomedical equipment, and pharmaceuticals. All the stakeholders, funding agencies, ministries, government bodies, academia, R&D institutes should come together proactively and exhibit a participatory approach. We should not slow down this tempo which has already been built in the system across all stakeholders. We need to be gearing up our systems to create an ecosystem that is economically and financially vibrant in the co-COVID and post-COVID era.” Dr. Shashi Bala emphasizes that translational research should be made mandatory by the funding agencies. According to her, the main aim of translational research is to promote health and quality of life. Translational research can make a contribution by conforming to basic sciences and testing hypothesis in pre-clinical models. She concludes, “ This crisis has made us realize the phrase, “health is wealth.” We need to be self-reliant in terms of raw materials. We need to facilitate the domestic manufacturing of medical equipment. Fast-tracking of approvals and validation of prototypes are necessary. We need to promote interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research. Industrial participation at an early stage of research can also help in funding and commercialization of products.”

SRM AP conducted a webinar on ‘Future Skills in a Digital World’

The Department of Corporate Relations and Career Services of SRM University AP, Andhra Pradesh conducted a webinar on “Future Skills in a Digital World”. The Industry Readiness Webinar Series provide a forum for the industry experts to share their experience with the students. The webinars are engaging and provides a broader spectrum about the expectations and the pedagogy required to bridge the gap between academia and the industry in various aspects.

Mr. Bikram Nayak was invited as a guest for the webinar on May 16th, 2020, Saturday. He is an astute leader with over twenty-two years of experience in the Technology, Design, Engineering & Construction industry with a demonstrated history in the management of Human Capital. He is a celebrated HR consulting professional with expertise spanning across Screening and Formulation of HR Policies, Leadership hiring, Performance & Rewards, and Talent Management. Currently, he is the Head Human Resources at L&T-NxT-The Digital and IoT platform business unit of L&T.

Dr. V K Saraswat, Hon’ble member, NITI AAYOG, Chairman has talked about the capability of our scientific community in mitigating the crisis through epidemiological studies, stimulation and gene concepts. He further says, “The commitment of scientific community, institutions, DST, ICMR, DRDO, IITs, and pharmaceutical industries have been incredible in the battle against this raging pandemic.”

In his previous role as Head Talent Acquisition – L&T, Bikram has hired more than 100 CXO level executives and helped building robust businesses in Smart Cities, Edutech and Digital platforms. In his earlier stint as Head HR of L&T’s Design Centre, he has played a pivotal role in strengthening the Design business by recruiting more than 550 Design Engineers and Architects. He launched “DISHA”, the Employee Assistance Program for the Gen Z employees to mitigate psychological issues. This initiative was then crystalized across the entire L&T group in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Sciences enriching lives of hundreds of employees. Mr. Bikram was also instrumental in launching the SCOPE (Safety Conscious Person) scheme for workmen’s safety, which has created a safe work culture and secured environment for lakhs of working-class people in more than 100 project sites around the world.

Mr. Bikram is an avid speaker and has been a panelist in various forums, IIMs, premium colleges, and Institutions across the country on contemporary Human Resource Development and practices like Talent Management, Employee Engagement, People Analytics, Skills Development, HR in Industry4.0, Diversity & Inclusion, Community Impact, Health and wellness etc. Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology inducted him as an expert member to its “Advisory Board” of Post Graduate Diploma Program on “Construction Management and Infrastructure Development”. He is also on the advisory board of Noida Institute of Engineering & Technology. Mr. Bikram has been one of the sponsors of Australian Government’s student exchange and Technical Education programs.

Mr. Bikram has been conferred with TA Pai Young HR Leader Award in 2019, South India’s Most Talented HR professional by World HRD Congress in September 2017 and many more leadership awards in Human Resource Development. L&T won prestigious Talent Acquisition awards at the People Matters TA League Annual Conference in May 2019 & 2018 and two HR Excellence Awards at the SHRM Annual Event in Oct 2018, under his leadership.

“I was excited and motivated to reach out and was looking forward to interacting with the excellent students and having an intuitive discussion with the brilliant faculty of the university”, begins Mr. Bikram, thanking SRM AP for the opportunity. He used two analogies to commence his lecture. The first being our basic need for food, clothing, and shelter, which are made available using smart technology in recent times. His second analogy was the fortune 500 companies which earlier took decades to become a billion-dollar company. Today, with the advent of improved technology, it merely takes 4.4 years for the companies to reach the milestone. Some of the best start-ups in India have used technology-based digital platforms. Companies like Paytm, BYJUS, OYO, Swiggy, OLA, Magicbricks, have scaled up their business to become a billion-dollar company in their natal years. Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and the Internet of Things (IoT) are where the entire credit is due to make these companies flourish and create employment.

Mr. Bikram spoke of the 82-year company, L&T, which was a renowned name in the manufacturing and engineering sector until a few years earlier. With a change in business patterns and technology, today, L&T is aspiring to become one of the best technology companies in the world. The four business units within L&T’s IT domain are L&T Infotech, L&T Technology Services, Mindtree which was acquired a year back and the newest venture L&T Nxt. “We are thinking beyond the traditional model. We started experimenting with solutions provided by our IT ventures in L&T constructions which offered lucrative rewards in terms of improved efficacy and productivity. We are now going global in the US along with catering to the needs of domestic companies’ pertaining to efficacy, safety, and other measures.”, exclaims Mr. Bikram.

As all the sectors are thriving forward using technology, L&T Nxt is also planning to enter the platform business through Edutech and Fintech. It is predicted by Mr. Bikram, “Tomorrow a pharmaceutical, agricultural, automobile, or oil and gas company will also become a tech company.” Sectors that are going to shape up the world in the coming days are Gaming Business which requires coding skills, animation skills, and expertise in AI-ML and Cybersecurity. Mr. Bikram explains how, he says, “From youngsters to senior citizens, the Gaming Business has kept everyone glued to the screens, especially during this current situation. The companies are rising to the occasion by improving their creativity, and advertisements skillfully embedded in the virtual environment specifically regarding COVID 19, which makes it more relevant, and relatable to the users.” Another sector that is expected to flourish is the Edutech Business that requires data science/analytics skills, IoT-ML experts, and content curators. “L&T’s upcoming Edutech platform will offer project management, project planning and skill development courses to help improve employability by offering a career mileage through these rigorous courses for students, working professionals, and the broader society.”, informs Mr. Bikram. The third potent sector is Online Home Delivery Business which requires expertise in IoT, data science, and ML.

To sum it up, the five crucial technical skills that is unparallelly beneficial to the students are IoT for tracing materials in supply chain and to take precautions when machines need repair, Data Science to decipher business decisions through power BI tools and Chatbots, Cyber Security to minimize the ample chance of data leakage, AI-ML, and Additive Manufacturing/3D printing. “AI are computers that can predict/do things like humans and ML is a subset of AI. AI-ML can be used in the HR/training domain for the screening of CV’s based on predetermined parameters, whereas, Additive Manufacturing/3D printing is the future. It significantly makes one self-reliant and assists in creating jobs for others. Through Additive Manufacturing, objects can be created through digital blueprints. Nepal has used 3D printing in piping, and it can also be used in small parts of India to create their own products. L&T has made a prototype two-bedroom house using 3D printing. Human organs can be built through 3D printing in the future. People are researching how to create artificial hearts, lungs, livers. This is the next big thing in tech space.”, Mr. Bikram states.

According to Mr. Bikram, a good leader must possess social skills along with technical skills. “To conquer smart we should have SPACE, as I call it.”, is what Mr. Bikram suggests. He moves on to explain the acronym.

S – Self Awareness

“Know your strength and weaknesses. If you do what you can do best and where your heart is, you will prosper.”

P – Passion

“The driving force/energy will come from your passion. The hunger quotient will define your success.”

A – Agility

“One should be alert and be aware of what is happening in the world. To keep pace with the globe, do the tasks now.”

C – Collaboration

“Interdependence of subject experts is the key to a successful business. Reach out seek ideas.”

E – Empathy

“You live in an ecosystem that consists of many things other than just you. Urging you to nurture this skill, and rest can be learned or imbibed.”

Mr. Bikram concludes his lecture by stating, “There is no specific roadmap to success. One needs to be flexible and adaptable.” On this note, he declares the Q&A session open and invites students and faculty for discussion.

Vishnu Kalyan, a student of SRM AP, was intrigued to understand the opportunities in L&T. To which Mr. Bikram replies, “The technology is changing every day and one needs to update himself to harness the opportunities, we expect you to be versatile in L&T”. He informs that although L&T works with the defence sector to manufacture missiles and tanks, and identify land mines using drones and other equipment, students are urged to look beyond the traditional systems. He beautifully explains, “Today war is won through digital platforms and not in battlegrounds. As progressive students, you need to move forward. For example, we already have automated trains, how about the students think of ways to fly airplanes without pilot and run vehicles without drivers.”

Dr. Deepak Kachave and Dr. Tapas Kumar Mishra from Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SRM AP, had meaningful inputs to share with Mr. Bikram on consumer benefits and India’s capability to delve into the genre of developing operating systems.

Another student raises the query regarding marketing opportunities provided in L&T to B.Tech students. Mr. Bikram says, “We need domain experts who can talk well to pitch our products to the clients.” Pavan from CSE department enquires on the programming languages used in L&T. Mr. Bikram answers, “Python and NLP are a must. We expect you to be adept in algorithms of different kinds.” Sumith, a second-year CSE student asks about internships provided at L&T. Mr. Bikram informs. “L&T provides paid internships to Civil, and Mechanical Engineering students through a rigorous selection process.”

In the end, Dr. Sriram S. Padmanabhan, Director, Corporate Relations – Career Services, expressed his gratitude to Mr. Bikram Nayak for putting in the efforts to inform the students regarding the expectations of industries from the soon to be graduates. The immensely informative and interesting webinar enabled the students to take a step closer to preparing themselves for their dream job.

A webinar on: Post COVID 19: Resurgence of Indian Industries and R&D

The pandemic in the form of Covid-19 has shaken the entire world and is believed to re-shape the economy, industrial strategies in a post-Covid situation. SRM AP conducted a webinar with eminent personalities to discuss the Post-Covid 19: Resurgence of Indian Industries and R&D. The panelists were Dr. V K Saraswat, Hon’ble member, NITI AAYOG, Chairman, Prof. D Narayana Rao, Pro VC, SRM AP, moderator and convener, Dr. G Satheesh Reddy, Chairman, DRDO, Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwalaa, Institute Professor, IIT Madras, Dr. K Varaprasad Reddy, Chairman Emeritus, Shanta Biotechnics, Ltd, Prof. Prasant Mohapatra, VC Research, UC Davis, USA, Prof. Damodar Acharya, Ex- Director, IIT Kharagpur, Prof. V.S. Rao, President, NIIT University, Prof. B.S. Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad, DR. Akhilesh Gupta, Adviser/Scientist-G, DST, Prof. Rakesh K Khandal, President R&D and Business Development, India Glycols LTD.

While welcoming the panelists and the participants of the webinar, Prof. D Narayana Rao, Pro Vice Chancellor, SRM University, AP, moderator and convener, says, “COVID 19 has disrupted the world and the world is struggling against the Virus. At the same time, COVID 19 is giving an unenvisaged opportunity in building a new India. It is inevitable that the world will shift from China to India for imports. India emerges as an alternative source to countries like the US, Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan. More than 300 MNCs will export via India instead of China. India needs to utilize this opportunity by building taskforce, infrastructure, and dedicated industrial fast track clearances. Further He said that India should develop the future Workforce for the World.”

Dr. V K Saraswat, Hon’ble member, NITI AAYOG, Chairman has talked about the capability of our scientific community in mitigating the crisis through epidemiological studies, stimulation and gene concepts. He further says, “The commitment of scientific community, institutions, DST, ICMR, DRDO, IITs, and pharmaceutical industries have been incredible in the battle against this raging pandemic.”

However, according to Dr. V K Saraswat, India exhibited delays in setting up of test centers, and supply chain problems require revamping and correction. He suggests, “Bringing down the interest rate, funding to industry R&D consortia, setting up R&D centers/labs, development of robotics embedded with IoT, tax breaks to Indian companies outside India, and upgrading testing labs is crucial. India centric epidemic preparedness, vibrant electronic device manufacturing ecosystem, medical devices, E-commerce, genetically modified crops, cybersecurity should also be implemented and improved to thrive in a post Covid-19 situation. “

He informs that Apron and textiles, automobile sector, Tourism and aviation, building construction, food and agriculture, finance, education, retail, and MSMEs alone with 30% of GDP contribution and providing employment to 140 million employees, will be most affected. “Understanding sector-wise business imperative and developing appropriate policy support to unconventional strategies will be the pivotal point for the revival of Indian economy.”, says Dr. V K Saraswat.

Dr. G Satheesh Reddy applauded the response of the country to fight against Covid-19. He says, “PPE, Masks, and Ventilator production has increased exponentially. Various industries are coming forward to submit designs for ventilators which were minimally used till the outbreak of coronavirus. The onus is to produce 60k ventilators in the coming days.” He further suggests, “We should have collaborations with industries abroad, acquire technical know-how, and become self-reliant eventually “.

Prof. Prasant Mohapatra says, “Higher education needs to focus more on innovation and creativity. Whereas South Korea invests 5%of GDP on R&D, India only invests 0.85%, exhibiting a huge opportunity for investment on R&D. Indians have high intellectual capital and focusing on high-quality education system will improve the R&D results of the country”. Dr. Akhilesh Gupta spoke of the extramural R&D. He says, “India needs to quadruple present full-time researchers to increase R&D spending to 2%”.

Dr. K Varaprasad Reddy believes that MNC’s should be compelled to share the research knowledge inferred in our land. Also, he instructs, “We need to reorient ourselves to combat against plausible bio attacks in the future”. Prof. B.S. Murty identifies that Internet and network connectivity with good speed and bandwidth should be provided to everyone at affordable price, as education is likely to get digitized in the future and the world has recognized its benefits during the outbreak of COVID 19. Meanwhile, Rakesh Khandal says, “Technology status appraisal should be prepared to identify the capabilities we have today in India. Also, funding to universities on R&D should be based on real content.” He further claims, “Traditional health systems like Ayurveda should be used to improve immunity and combat COVID”.

Dr. V K Saraswat concluded by saying, “India should be competitive in terms of quality, quantity, and cost effective by standardizing the products and settling for larger value addition.” The webinar highlighted the reversal of brain drain during this pandemic as intellectuals and workers have moved back to their hometown. Further, Young entrepreneurs who have mastered modern tools and are more connected to the world should be working with the academy and industry as they come up with solutions and develop technology rapidly. At the same time, it is vital to identify that we might need to live with Covid-19 for a long time, which requires self-sanitized logistics and public transport, robotics in hospitals, developing social distancing equipment, and drugs to improve immunity.