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    The first crucial partnership is between diverse disciplines of science and engineering. When one looks around one sees that discrete boundaries no longer exist between various natural sciences such as physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. Explosive advances in adjacent sciences are shaping up the future of core disciplines. New paradigms of "seamless sciences" and even "seamless engineering" are emerging.

    Partnerships between disciplines are beginning to not only give rise to new vistas in knowledge but also new insights.

    The vanishing boundaries between engineering and science are fascinating indeed. A new breed of "engineering scientists" is emerging. Such engineering scientists will be real "compatibilisers" when it comes to forging new partnership.

    To explain the role of an engineering scientist an analogy with the medical school can be stated. One can find here basic scientists who generate new knowledge. But it is knowledge for its own sake. Then there are the hard core clinicians who use the established tools in their everyday practice. But in between these two communities there are those academic clinicians who understand the language of the basic scientists and they are the ones who know the demands of the profession as reflected by practising clinicians. What these academic clinicians do is to use the methods of science to develop new tools and new paradigms that the practitioners would find most helpful. They also communicate the needs of these practitioners to the scientists. The academic clinicians thus play the great role of facilitators.

    An engineering scientist is like an academic clinician, a facilitator. His task is to look at the continuous advances that take place in basic sciences such as chemistry, biology, and physics. He would harness this knowledge to develop new tools which hard core engineers would put to use. The richness of the profession, therefore, will depend very critically on the vitality of the engineering scientists and also on the rich variety of skills and tools that they bring into the professions from adjacent sciences.

    Tomorrow’s leadership in science will rest with those who are daring to travel the intellectual path by recognizing the key role of cross-disciplinary partnership between scientists and engineers from different disciplines. Advances will be the sum total of numerous creative ideas and interdisciplinary cooperation. In industry, individuals with diverse scientific and technical backgrounds tend to work together in a mission mode. The driving force for industry should be continuous innovation to displace one’s own product by oneself with the well-known fear of someone else displacing it otherwise for them. This is really the core issue in the partnership between different disciplines.

    The second crucial partnership is between science and business. In India, the partnership between the industry and our own research and development (R&D) institutions has been very weak. Massive efforts need to be made to strengthen it since Indian R&D institutions could play an increasingly important role in the process of global competition, restructuring of the economy and in upgrading the local industry to gear it to face the international competition successfully.

    The concept of partnership between the productive sector and R&D institutions will have to undergo a change from the current practice. Publicly-funded R&D institutions should be used as idea generators and providers of new concepts. Indian industry should be prepared to assume the role of partners who have the technical, financial and marketing strengths to take ideas to the market place. Industry should not simply look at institutions as super market where off-the-shelf technologies are sold. In the true spirit of partnership the industry should willingly integrate national R&D resources into their business strategy. All this would be possible only when one can change the climate for an interaction between institutions and the industry with an improved communication and understanding, faith in mutual growth and development of healthy working relationships.

    For example, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). With a chain of 40 laboratories, employing 10,000 highly qualified scientific and technical personnel, CSIR is trying to open up a new chapter in the partnership with industry by linking its research to market place. It has just released a white paper titled "CSIR 2001: Vision and Strategy". It has the vision to become a global R&D platform providing competitive R&D and high quality science-based technical services the world over.

Global R&D Partnership

    The third partnership is between R&D providers and seekers across continents. The chain of concept to commercialisation necessarily crosses transnational boundaries today.

    Several factors are helping to accelerate these new partnerships through globalisation of industrial R&D but the most important factor that is helping the process of creation of seamless laboratories around the world is the evolution of global information networks. Indeed, these networks are allowing the real-time management and operation of laboratories in any part of the world. Thus, companies are seeking to gain a competitive advantage by using the global knowledge resource and working with a global time clock.

    This major paradigm shift means enormous opportunities for Indian R&D institutes. The example of the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL)Pune, can be quoted in this regard. The process of global R&D partnerships in NCL began in 1989. NCL entered the global market in 1990 by signing an agreement for sale of its catalyst technology with a multinational company from the Netherlands. This was the first time such a reverse transfer of technology was taking place in a high tech material. NCL had also won a consultancy contract in China in 1990 by competing with reputed US consulting companies. This initial success led to a number of other companies joining hands with NCL. Names like General Electric, Du Pont, FMC, Ciba Geigy, Oxychem, Exxon, all known giants in the international arena, have become NCL’s partners. This phenomenon has, of course, spread wider today.

    The society is increasingly beginning to realise the importance of the partnership with Nature and it will not forgive any offenders who do not respect the sanctity of this partnership.

    There is a growing realisation in the country that the socio-cultural roots of the present environmental crisis lie in the paradigms of scientific materialism and economic determinism which fail to recognise the physical limits imposed by ecological system on economic activity. The future economies must expand within ecosystems which have limited regenerative capacities.

    Promotion of environmentally sound technologies warrant large-scale technological substitution towards environmentally-benign technologies. Industry as well as R&D institutions will have to change their focus sharply to greener technologies of industrial production, recycle and reuse technologies for end-of-pipe treatment and integrated technologies that minimise media transfer of pollutants, thus minimizing overall pollution-induced risks in all environmental components.

    In the new challenging world everyone will be involved in at least one or more of the four partnerships that have been laid out. It is a firm belief that the 21st century belongs to Asia and India will have a chance to lead provided everyone understands and fully uses the dynamics of the profound partnerships which belong to it, today, tomorrow and the day after.