Early industry-academia linkages key to startup success, says Jitendra Singh

Union Minister of Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on Tuesday underlined the need for early and equal partnerships between industry and academia to ensure the success of startups.

He was speaking at the release of NITI Aayog’s report “Pathways to Progress: Analysis and Insights into India’s Innovation Story”, launched jointly with Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan at the Planning Commission headquarters in New Delhi.

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Citing the role of private firms in the pharmaceutical sector, Singh said industry participation from the outset had enabled the rapid development and mass production of Covid-19 vaccines during the pandemic.

The minister noted that India has climbed from 81st place in the Global Innovation Index in 2015 to 39th this year, attributing the progress to policy choices, investments in entrepreneurship, and the drive of young innovators.

He also highlighted gaps that continue to hinder startups, including weak academia–industry linkages, lack of patient capital for deep-tech ventures, uneven state-level capacities, and shortcomings in intellectual property protection.

To bridge these, Singh proposed setting up specialized platforms similar to the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) and the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) in other technology sectors.

Government initiatives such as the National Deep Tech Startup Policy and the Anusandhan National Research Foundation, he added, aim to build India’s capacity in frontier technologies and support risk-taking and innovation.

The Science Minister further urged stakeholders to view the NITI Aayog report not just as an assessment, but as a roadmap and call to action—to scale successful models, diversify incubators, strengthen state-level capacities, and boldly invest in frontier R&D.