Ahmedabad University and the Centre for Technology, Innovation, and Economic Research (CTIER) have collaborated to launch ‘R&D Managers of the Future,’ an online curriculum for middle and senior research and development (R&D) professionals.
The 3-month online weekend programme has been designed and will be taught by faculty from Ahmedabad University, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB) and Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) and R&D leaders.
Speaking on this development, Ahmedabad University Vice-Chancellor Professor Pankaj Chandra, said, “We understand the multi-layered challenges faced by today’s R&D managers in India including building credibility and trust in the products that they develop, operational bottlenecks/functional silos, identifying and nurturing talent, commercialisation of R&D, and creating linkages between corporate strategy and R&D strategy, among others. By strengthening capabilities of R&D leaders and the R&D teams in India, we can significantly enhance the innovation output of our organisations and the economy at large.”
Dr Naushad Forbes, Co-Chairman, Forbes Marshall and Chairman, CTIER, in a release issued by Ahmedabad University said, “In particular, Indian industry invests less in in-house R&D than our peers elsewhere. This is true across all sectors… At the same time, we have an abundance of talent available to us in the form of qualified engineers. How do we build the capability in our firms to make the right investments in technology? How do we formulate and select the right R&D projects that will deliver differentiated capabilities? To address these questions, we have developed this unique executive development programme along with Ahmedabad University.”
The programme comprises 14 core modules, individual projects and special sessions with industry speakers and other experts.
It is designed keeping in mind R&D professionals who are looking to lead R&D teams in the future and to enhance their people and project management skills.
Employees can be nominated for this programme by their organisations. The program’s successful participants will receive a certificate of completion signed by Ahmedabad University and CTIER. The program’s application deadline is February 16.
India’s industrial R&D expenditure was USD 6.8 billion, according to CTIER, which is low by global standards.
Indian industry’s combined R&D spending is lower than the top 20 global spenders. Only five of the top ten global R&D sectors are represented by Indian industry.