I deem it a great pleasure and honour to address this 37th Convocation of IIT, Kanpur. Over the past four and a half decades of its existence, this institute has distinguished itself as a pre-eminent institution for technological study and high calibre research. It is not mere coincidence that this institute of erudition has been rated as the best technical school in the country, in the most recent Data Quest India IDC and Nasscom survey. It is your hard work, devotion to quality, contributions of your illustrious alumni, dedication of your teachers and staff, and, vision of your management, which are responsible for this signal achievement. It gives me great pleasure to acknowledge the dynamic leadership of Prof. Sanjay Dhande, for maintaining a trail blazing record of this institute.

Truly, my dear young graduates, this morning belongs to you all. But, it also rightfully belongs to another illustrious person among us. I am sure, most of you could guess who I refer to. He is none other than our indefatigable Prof. C.N.R.Rao, who deserves our rich tributes for his most recent extraordinary feet. Prof Rao, is unparalleled in the history of modern India for the depth and breadth of his academic scholarship and research accomplishments of International standards. It is fitting that he is recognized with the prestigious Dan David science prize in Material Sciences for the year 2005 signifying his mark at the very threshold of the highest global recognition. Let us warmly congratulate Prof. Rao for this unique achievement.

My dear young graduates,

Today marks an important day in your lives and a significant milestone in your life’s journey. Entering into this institution facing intense competition, you pursued your academic work with great dedication. By your hard labour and by dedication to maintain high standards, you earned your degrees and awards. It is a moment of pride for you as much as it is for your teachers, parents and those who had any part in shaping your life so far. You can recall that your mission for higher learning began here with great passion. But know for sure that it will not end here. It will not end until you feel fully confident of meeting uncertainties and challenges of the life’s laboratory and dealing with successes and failures with an equanimous attitude. I am sure that each one of you has different dreams but surely you should never give up your dreams and aspirations for it is those aspirations that will drive you to higher levels of achievements and make your life purposeful. From the depth of my heart, I wish each one of you success in your future endeavours.

1. Preeminence of IIT Alumni

You can justifiably proud of the fact that you belong to an institution which played a pioneering role in building the brand image of contemporary India. Several among your alumni gained a pride of place in the world by scaling new heights in enterpreneurship, academic excellence and innovations in organizations that become the engines of growth in economic and corporate spheres. On 26th of April 2005, the House of Representatives in the United States passed a resolution (Resolution No. 227), honoring the economic innovation attributed to graduates of the Indian Institute of Technology. The resolution particularly recalled the commitment and dedication of IIT graduates to research and innovation and promotion of trade and international cooperation between India and the United States.

2. Dawn of Knowledge Age

Today we live in a world where global economies are increasingly interconnected. Knowledge is recognized as a key resource for achieving economic growth and social development. Knowledge traverses the world, having no regard for national borders. It is sought from every part of globe. The course of this Knowledge revolution is not fully known – but the outcome is certain. It will restructure manufacturing processes, redistribute markets, redefine relations among other nations, refine methods of governance and reorganize societies in every conceivable way. It is in this context that our Prime Minister has recently announced the Government’s intention to constitute a knowledge commission.

If you are prepared to think big and act in time with conviction, you can be rewarded. Otherwise, you will be left behind. You should hold on to your goals even if you stumble here and there, and learn your lessons.

3. Implications of Knowledge Revolution for India

What are the implications of Knowledge revolution for India? As a society, we traditionally valued and nurtured the knowledge building activity. Knowledge age seeks and rewards ideas, irrespective of where they originate and reside. The perennial source of human capital of India has to be tapped and converted into value. Current age provides a new opportunity for India to shed its isolation, play a bigger role in the world and leap frog its own process of development. India’s role and destiny in the world will thus depend on the quality of her human resources. It is laudable that IIT, Kanpur is extending its outreach to spread its academic excellence to other institutions through technology enhanced learning and other programs. Excellence of Indian professionals in different fields are to be well imprinted on wide canvas of the globe. This process is already on. One can see that in more recent times, outsourcing of R&D talent in India by global industries has become significant. Still, there is immense potential for India to transform herself into a global R&D platform.

4. Technology Ownership and human capital

Becoming a mere destination for outsourcing should not be our main goal. There is overriding priority to undertake technology development in different fields, to vigorously acquire IPRs and to make them the nerve centres of our industrial corpus.

In one of his recent and perceptive articles entitled “Importance of investing in technology” which was published in THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE,
Prof. Indiresan, the former director of IIT Madras highlights the sustaining force of human capital while emphasizing the need for countries like India and China to develop their own technologies. He reiterates following words of caution and I quote:

“An economic divide by which the West produces Intellectual Property, China undertakes contract manufacture and India provides the back-up services, does not provide us enough bargaining power to make our growth sustainable. It will not let us pursue our national welfare: Our future will be constrained by the self interest of nations that control technology” (Unquote)

Who else can bring about a transformation in our technological wealth than institutions like IIT, Kanpur? Who else is better positioned than you to accept such challenges to change the status quo?

5. Knowledge-Innovation-Organisation Triad

How can India generate knowledge, which has contemporary value? High quality education and high calibre R&D hold the key. However, we are aware that mere accumulation of basic knowledge is of limited practical use, unless it is translated into innovations, providing economic or social value. Contrary to common belief that innovation is a random creative process, much of innovation in the world today is an organized activity, involving systematic and disciplined efforts. There is another important link in the chain leading to economic impact and it is the organizational system. If India has to establish herself as a technology source or as a global R&D platform all these three elements namely basic knowledge, innovative application, and social organization have to be strengthened.

6. Incentives for innovation

Our thrust should be to enhance R&D both in academic institutions and in industry. Greater incentives are to be provided for promoting innovative behaviour in institutions. It is pertinent to see that after Bayh-Dole act was passed in the United States in 1980, it became an instrument to spawn new businesses, create industries and open new markets. Although ventures are created through inventions produced under Government funded research, the act allowed the royalty incomes from such ventures to be shared with the inventors and this acted as an incentive. Experience showed that the act has substantially increased technology transfer from universities to industry and ultimately to the public.

7. Expanding horizons of R&D

We have the excellent examples of Indian engineers taking rapid strides in innovations in the field of Information Technology, and creating a major impact on a global scale. This has to be extended to other engineering disciplines as well, particularly involving design and manufacturing. Such a development in areas like power or construction, nano or bio-technology, and medical or material sciences should take our country to the forefront and transform it into global source of R&D. These initiatives are to be supported through other measures such as venture funding, affordable access to capital equipments and strengthening of academic and industry relationships. When we pursue such challenging goals, a few failures are bound to occur. They should not deter us from pursuing nor they should be a cause for withdrawing support to R&D. It is borne out by experience of all nations that failures are the stepping stones for greater progress, provided lessons are appropriately learnt.

8. Values and holistic development

My dear graduates,

You are among a few fortunate persons who had access to educational experience at this renowned institution. This experience will reward you throughout your life besides providing you with the key to the storehouse of vast alumni links. You are already awakened to the realities of intense competition and acquired capacity to take advantage of competitive environment. While you may use this capacity to create wealth and welfare for you and for the organisations you work for, it is also your bounden duty to strive for welfare of society, for reducing disparity therein and to empower those who are disadvantaged. Remember that noble values of caring and sharing, of service and sacrifice have kept our society away from dangers of extinction and made it vibrant at all times. As inheritors of a society which blossomed up great values for life and a deep concern for human development, you should intensely aspire for deepening and broadening your knowledge, learn to experience the power of collective team work, and always be guided by higher values which you believe in. In all that lies before you, may God grant you wisdom, success and true sense of fulfillment of your cherished ideals and goals.

Thanking you.