Why industry-academia collaboration will shape India’s next R&D chapter

India has traditionally been seen as a strong talent pool for the global pharmaceutical industry. What needs to change for India to become a stronger global hub for healthcare R&D and innovation? 

Today, India is well established as a major global talent and capability hub. The number of global pharma and healthcare GCCs operating here, and the growing complexity of the work they bring, reflect that well. We are no longer contributing scale alone. We are increasingly contributing to the science, the thinking and the decisions that shape global healthcare R&D. 

What needs attention now is depth. Two things can make a real difference. First, institutions such as the NIPERs must be strengthened as true centres of excellence, so that more advanced work in biologics, translational science and data-driven research finds a stronger home here within our ecosystem. Second, initiatives such as the Biopharma SHAKTI mission need sustained followthrough, because capability in specialised emerging science is built over years, not through one cycle of investment. 

Alongside this, addressing supply chain dependencies, particularly around critical APIs, will be important for India to hold a more central role in global R&D. The foundation is in place. What matters now is consistent follow-through. 

As pharmaceutical R&D becomes more complex and technology-driven, what new skills will the next generation of R&D professionals need? 

Science is changing faster than any curriculum can keep up. Deep scientific grounding in biologics, genomics and translational research remains nonnegotiable, but it must now be complemented by fluency in computational biology, AIenabled analytics and digital tools that can compress timelines and improve probability of success. 

This is not an either-or shift. Tomorrow’s breakthroughs will come from scientists who are comfortable with interpreting data and algorithms, and equally strong in understanding the science. They also need to collaborate across borders as the normal way of working. R&D today is continuous, not sequential. For example – Our teams here work on the same datasets and participate in the same decision-making forums as global counterparts. That requires confidence beyond execution: the ability to shape thinking, challenge assumptions and own outcomes.

What role should universities play in preparing students for areas such as clinical research, pharmacovigilance, regulatory affairs, data science and other emerging R&D functions? 

Universities no doubt play a foundational role, but they need to move beyond teaching concepts alone and also teach context. A student can understand pharmacovigilance in theory, but real exposure shows how a safety signal is evaluated, documented and acted upon. That kind of applied understanding is difficult to build entirely within a classroom, which is why closer industry engagement is so important. 

What universities can do well is build the foundation: strong scientific fundamentals, analytical thinking, and curiosity that stays sharp even as functions evolve. Where they truly add value is by inviting industry in early, through curricula that reflect real R&D functions, faculty who stay connected to practice, and structured collaborations that let students engage with live problems, not simulated ones. 

The strongest outcomes happen when academia and industry design that exposure together. 

How can stronger industry–academia partnerships help bridge this gap and make students more industry-ready? 

Industry academia collaboration provides the students an opportunity to interact with and learn from seasoned professionals solving real R&D problems, in various R&D functions such as pharmacovigilance, medical writing, regulatory affairs, scientific communication etc. That shift changes how a student thinks, not just what they know. 

This is why we have built Catalyst with a growing network of academic partners, including prestigious institutions such JSS Academy of Higher Education & Research (AHER), Dayananda Sagar University, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), NITTE and NMIMS Shobhaben Pratapbhai Patel School of Pharmacy & Technology Management (SPPSPTM). 

The idea is simple: keep academic rigor intact but give students a chance to apply what they are learning against real industry expectations early enough that the gap between classroom and career starts to reduce.

Done well, these partnerships do not just prepare students for interviews. They prepare them to contribute from day one. Through Catalyst, we have already seen this play out: some of the students trained through the programme have gone on to join us and are doing exceptionally well. 

Merck has partnered with eight academic institutions and launched the Catalyst programme in few of them. What are the learnings from these collaborations about the skills and expectations of today’s students? 

Working with academic institutions through Catalyst has taught us a few important things about today’s students. What stands out first is scientific curiosity, and a genuine eagerness to work on problems that carry real world impact, not just theoretical ones. 

What’s equally clear is that students are looking beyond technical knowledge. They want to build skills like problem-solving, collaboration, adaptability, and communication capabilities that matter as much as domain expertise in today’s innovation environment. 

We have also seen that students respond best to experiences that are interactive and industry connected. Direct engagement with practitioners helps them understand not only possible career pathways, but also what the workplace actually expects from them in terms of problem-solving, collaboration, accountability and communication. 

If there’s one thing these collaborations have reinforced, it’s this: academia-industry partnerships don’t just build skills, they build readiness and confidence for the professional roles ahead. 

Beyond employability, can academia–industry collaboration help strengthen India’s overall innovation capacity? If so, what would a successful model look like? 

Yes, and this is where the real potential lies. Employability is often the visible outcome, but the deeper value of these partnerships is in building research culture, curiosity, and problem solving ability that extends beyond any single job outcome. 

A successful model is one where industry does not just guest lecture but co-designs the learning experience around real R&D problems. 

When this becomes consistent, not episodic, universities start producing not just job-ready graduates, but young professionals who can think originally. That, over time, is what strengthens a country’s innovation capacity.

Looking ahead, what should industry, academia and policymakers do together to ensure that India has the talent needed for the next phase of pharmaceutical and healthcare R&D? 

We are no longer dealing with talent availability alone; the bigger issue now is coordination. The pieces already exist: policy frameworks like Biopharma SHAKTI, institutions like the NIPERs, and industry programmes building earlycareer pipelines. What is missing is better alignment between them. In my experience, real progress happens when good ideas are connected into one system, instead of being left to work in separate lanes. 

Policymakers need to treat talent infrastructure with the same urgency as R&D infrastructure. Academia needs to treat curriculum renewal as a continuous process, tied directly to where science and technology are moving. Industry needs to move from occasional engagement to sustained ownership of talent pipelines, not only at the point of recruitment, but much earlier in the learning journey. 

The real shift happens when these three stakeholders stop working in parallel and start working to a shared timeline. We already have strong initiatives in place. What we need now is that they move together, with discipline, coordination and urgency.

If we get this right, the impact will not be limited to any one organisation or institution. It will show up in the quality of science we produce, in the confidence with which young researchers step into complex roles, and in how the world begins to see our ecosystem: not just as a place where healthcare R&D happens, but as a place where it is shaped. 

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