New Delhi: The first day of the three-day Visitor’s Conference 2016 at Rashtrapati Bhavan was successful yesterday (November 16, 2016) with an interactive session between Industry and Academia and exchange of 67 MoUs between Central Institutions and industry organizations. Also, for the first time, India will have the National Student Startup Policy as it was unveiled by the President Mr Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Mr Prakash Javadekar.
The National Student Startup Policy, formulated by AICTE, aims to create 100,000 technology based student start-ups and a million employment opportunities within the next 10 years. The policy plans on achieving this by developing an ideal entrepreneurial ecosystem and promoting strong inter-institutional partnerships among technical institutions. The National Student Startup Policy will encourage Indian youth to contribute to the nation’s socio-economic progress through promotion of technology-driven student start-ups. Through an exposure on entrepreneurship, the policy will lend crucial soft skills like decision-making in the students.
Speaking after the exchange of MoUs, the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee said “there is vital need for the industry and higher education to interact in a mutually beneficial framework. A strong interface between these two core sectors will have positive spin offs for the entire economy. What is taught and researched in the higher education system must find application in the industrial sector.”
A robust industrial linkage provides an efficient mechanism for transfer of knowledge from the higher education system to the economic system, added the President.
Earlier in the day, four persons of eminence Shri K.V. Kamath, President, New Development Bank; Mrs Ela Ramesh Bhatt, Founder, SEWA; Prof. Ramachandra Guha, Historian and Mr0N.R. Narayana Murthy, Founder, Infosys addressed the Conference.
The interactive session between Industry-Academia in collaboration with CII was addressed by Prof. Anurag Kumar, Director, IISc, Bangalore; Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, DG, CII; Dr. R. Brakaspathy, Secretary, Science and Engineering Research Board; Mr MS Unnikrishnan, MD & CEO, Thermax Ltd; Mr Ramesh Datla, MD, Elico Ltd.; Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman, AICTE; Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras; Mr D. Thyagrajan, CMD, Blue Star and Shri Ashok Sethi, CEO & ED Tata Power.
The Visitor’s Conference, a conference of Vice Chancellors/Directors/Director Generals of Institutions of higher learning for which the President is Visitor, is being held from November 16 to 18, 2016 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
