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Sentence of the Day

Institution’s Innovation Council

Minutes of the meeting of Institution‘s Innovation Council

Presided by : Dr. P.V. Vijayaraghavan

Convened by : Dr S.P. Thyagarajan

Minutes by : Dr. Vidya Ramkumar (Faculty member)


Proceedings

The meeting began with all the council members introducing themselves.

Dr S.P. Thyagarajan, Convener of the IIC, briefed the council regarding the scope and mission of innovation council. He explained the structure of the committee. He briefed about the major focus areas of the council, and benefits of the council to students, faculty and university were highlighted. He further shared the schedule of events from Jan 2019.

Dr. P.V. Vijayaraghavan, President of the IIC, addressed the council and gave suggestions on plan of action. He mentioned about the existing incubator at SRIHER. He invited Dr. Roshan Dinesh Yedery, from NMIMS to share his ideas on the functioning of innovation counsel with the council members.

Dr. Roshan Dinesh Yedery (Representative from nearby Incubation Centre) Representative from nearby Incubation Centre joined the meeting via Skype from Atal incubation centre Mumbai, NMIMS. He gave a brief introduction about himself and the scope of the IIC. Dr. Roshan shared his views on the IIC. He discussed the challenges in academia to develop ideas into product. He recommended the following:

  • Policies in SRIHER for IPR and Entrepreneurship. Separate policies for students and faculty
  • Despite several health care technology incubators, he mentioned that none focussed on clinical trials. He suggested that this may be considered by SRIHER.
  • He highlighted the potential in Sports medicine to collaborate and innovate
  • Provide hospitality for those coming to partner for incubation so it becomes sustainable. E.g. nominal hostel fee
  • He suggested to have in house mentors in subject matter, and also industry mentors


Dr. Deepa Bopanna, (Patent Expert) expressed the importance of filing for patents and copyrights. She mentioned that syllabus, unpublished projects, clinical protocols and Performa could be copyrighted in addition to books

Ms. Diya Srinivasan, and Mr. Raghav Rao from Camomile presented their suggestions for the functioning of the IIC. They suggested to have an assessment of facilities and develop eco system for innovation and introduce a student innovation club. They suggested that the IIC adopt on board mentors like Dr. Raghothama rao of IIT Chennai, and also partner with international incubation/ innovator centres (like Texas Medical centre). They emphasized on the importance of seed funding, which they believe is crucial for innovations to become business ideas. Camomile group expressed their interest in being SRIHER’s project management team for IIC.

Dr. John Nesan (Alumni Entrepreneurs from Host Institutions) elaborated on his journey and inspired the student members. He suggested to network with mentors to seek help in taking innovative ideas to fruition.

Mr. Gnanamuthu (Representatives of SIDBI/NABARD/Lead bank / Investor), assured that Indian bank will partner for seed funding. He confirmed his support on providing literacy on financial aspects of seed funding.

Student member Arushi, 2nd year BPHARM, explained her role in innovation bazaar and her enthusiasm to be a part of the council. Dr. S.P.Thyagarajan requested her to initiate a student Innovation club comprising of 100 student members from various faculties on a voluntary basis.

Dr. P.V. Vijayaraghavan suggested that workshops for a group of 30 students may be conducted at a time to encourage small group focussed learning. He also suggested to conduct one program every month through the innovation club. He suggested that up to 5 more students may be included from faculty of AHS in the IIC council.

Dr. S.P. Thyagarajan requested Dr. Vidya Ramkumar (Faculty member) and Dr Gowri (student coordinator) to coordinate the constitution of the innovation council.

Dr. P.V. Vijayaraghavan suggested that Camomile group may be added to the google groups of IIC to keep them in the communication loop.

Dr. P.V. Vijayaraghavan requested Dr. Roshan to suggest incubation centres for student members to visit. Dr. Roshan recommended IIT incubators for medical technology, for bio technology he recommended to visit TBI at Anna university, and also Willgrow based in IIT Chennai. Her suggested to contact Prof. Ravi in IIT, Mumbai of BITEC medical technology towards networking, mentorship to students

The meeting concluded with Dr. S.P. Thyagarajan summarising plan of action as follows:

  • Dr. Vidya Ramkumar, Faculty Member and Dr. Gowri Palanissami, IICs Coordinator (student) will add student members to whatsapp group and google groups and coordinate innovation club activities. Ms. Arushi, 2nd year Bpharm student will initiate the formation of the club among students.
  • A mentor will be invited to talk to the members of the innovation club
  • Network with technical institutions like IIT, SSN, and other collaborators will be strengthened
  • CRF will provide the infrastructure support for the IIC