Commencing conversations on day two of The Hindu Deep Tech Summit 2026 on Tuesday (April 7, 2026), a well-known query took on new urgency: who carries the chance of innovation in India, and who ought to? At the panel, “The State as a De-risker: Aligning Academic Excellence with National Strategic Mission,” voices from authorities, academia and enterprise capital converged to confront diverging points. Moderated by N. Nagaraj, Vice-President of Digital Media at The Hindu, the dialogue introduced collectively Vibha Malhotra Sawhney, Sridhar Bharathwaj, Ramanan Ramanathan, Rishi Dewan and Ashwin Mahalingam.
At the center of the dialog was a putting imbalance. “More than 70% of R&D funding comes from the government,” famous Dr. Ramanathan, Chairperson of the National Expert Advisory Council on Technology, Innovation and Incubation, Department of Science and Technology, calling it a “sad fact.” For a rustic aspiring to lead in deep tech, the personal sector’s restricted stake reveals each warning and a systemic hole.
Yet, the state is stepping in decisively. Sridhar Bharathwaj, founder, Exponential Integration VC Pvt. Ltd, identified that the federal government is now absorbing early-stage technological threat — Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 1 to 3 — validating concepts earlier than they attain the market. But the actual hole, he argued, lies past validation, the place founders should translate analysis into enterprise. Innovation alone will not be sufficient; founders should assume when it comes to worth, returns and scale.
For early-stage startups, the pathway is clearer than earlier than, however not essentially simpler. Rishi Dewan, Associate at Startup India, emphasised that step one is commonly recognition — formal acknowledgement that unlocks funding, mentorship and infrastructure. Still, entry stays layered, requiring founders to navigate an evolving coverage ecosystem.
The larger threat
Dr. Vibha Sawhney, Head, Technology Management Directorate (TMD) and Innovation Protection Unit (PU), CSIR, supplied a long run view. India’s threat urge for food, she stated, had grown considerably over the previous decade, significantly amongst younger entrepreneurs. But capital is just one a part of the equation. The larger threat, she cautioned, is dropping originality within the race to observe tendencies.
Dr. Mahalingam, professor on the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and co-founder of Okapi Research and Advisory Pvt Ltd., launched a crucial provocation. Universities, he argued, should stay areas for “unabashedly theoretical” inquiry, as a result of basic science underpins each main technological leap — from semiconductors to synthetic intelligence. The hazard lies in chasing incremental, “substitute innovations” as an alternative of pursuing breakthroughs. He additionally reframed capital itself: investing will not be merely transactional, however an alignment of imaginative and prescient — one thing many younger founders are nonetheless studying to navigate.
That pressure — between ambition and authenticity — surfaced repeatedly. Dr. Ramanathan referred to as for a cultural shift inside universities, urging establishments to transfer past publications and placements towards problem-solving ecosystems embedded throughout districts and States.
Underlying all of it was a extra human query: what holds innovators again?
“The greatest risk today is not taking risks,” Dr. Ramanathan stated. Dr. Mahalingam echoed it extra merely: for college students, there’s nearly no draw back. If not now, when?
With over 2,00,000 startups and a rising coverage spine, India stands at an inflection level. The instruments exist; the capital, slowly, is following. What stays unsure is whether or not its individuals are keen to take the leap.
Published – April 07, 2026 09:36 pm IST