Fundamental research as an entrepreneurial activity

2 Jul 2026

Great honor to be a part of discussion led by Prof Vasi,Electrical Engg,IIT Bombay on industry academia collaboration. Research has always had to and will always have to balance funding from government and industry while pursuing something that is truly novel ,yet can have practical applications in the future.

Directed research has its merit. But nothing beats original ,curiosity driven enquiry. Majority of science and all of its transformative ideas that we take for granted today were discovered by people who were merely following their curiosity and not thinking about immediate applications. Those came decades later. All pioneers were explorers — they built new fields where no expertise existed.

Fundamental research carries with it the potential to create new industries, it's difficult to put a dollar value on it and it can't exactly be funded in the same way as a typical R&D lab with a fixed outcome or a deliverable. Scientific inquires can be and should be purposeful but that purpose may not be aligned with business goals. This disconnect is real.

Such pursuits have an element of risk associated with them and whether it bears any actual fruit can only be determined years or decades later. It is important therefore to consider fundamental research as an entrepreneurial activity. An undertaking that can enable new business to exist ,new sources of wealth to be created rather than merely improving incrementally upon what already exists. That's how industry,science and society grows. By leaps and bounds.

Comments

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Akshat Jiwan Sharma

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