Leaders call for convergence and collaboration at The Hindu Deep Tech Summit

The opening panel of The Hindu Deep Tech Summit 2026, held in collaboration with SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST), set the tone for a day of forward-looking conversations on expertise and its function in shaping India’s future. Titled “The Deep Tech Decade: Engineering the Next Revolution”, the session – organised at Feathers, A Radha Hotel, on Monday (April 6, 2025) – introduced collectively voices from academia and trade. Moderated by Suresh Vijayaraghavan, Chief Technology Officer at The Hindu Group, the panel featured Nitin Nagarkar, Thirumalai Srinivasan, Dinesh Kumar Sundaravelu and Kannan Vijaya Raghavan.

The panel concurred that India stands at a decisive second. “The time is right for our country to pitch in,” stated Dr. Nagarkar, professional vice-chancellor of Medical Sciences at SRMIST, describing a part by which deep applied sciences, from synthetic intelligence to robotics, will transfer past labs to the touch on a regular basis life.

Deep tech’s affect

For Mr. Srinivasan, director of entrepreneurship and innovation at SRM and Industry, the following decade shall be anchored by two sectors: semiconductors and renewable vitality. Together, he steered, they might place India not simply as a participant however as a world manufacturing hub.

Others widened the lens. Mr. Sundaravelu, CEO, at the Tamil Nadu Research Park Foundation, pointed to the rise of multi-stakeholder partnerships, the place governments, startups and establishments collaborate throughout geographies, from metros to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, to speed up innovation.

At the centre of the dialogue was a single, recurring thought: convergence.

Mr. Raghavan, president at the Society for Technology Management, stated that no self-discipline can function in isolation anymore. Breakthroughs, whether or not in drug discovery or medtech, now sit at the intersection of biology, engineering, computing and scientific sciences, he stated. “Individual sciences cannot create products today,” he famous.

Industry and academia

Relating the inter-disciplinary convergence to the evolving function of universities, Mr. Srinivasan emphasised the necessity for the academia to embrace failure as a part of the method, whereas trade should step in to information concepts towards real-world outcomes.

That journey, from lab to market, stays one of many largest challenges. While foundational analysis typically begins in universities, translating it into viable merchandise requires funding, incubation and regulatory help. Panelists known as for stronger “translational ecosystems” and extra versatile, sandbox-style rules to allow quicker experimentation. The function of presidency, they agreed, is vital, not simply in funding however in shaping coverage and expertise pipelines. As India transitions from a service-led financial system to a product-driven one, the necessity for a brand new type of workforce is changing into clear.

“Gone are the days when a degree alone defines talent,” Mr. Srinivasan noticed, pointing to a future the place adaptability and skillsets will matter greater than formal {qualifications}.

As the dialogue drew to an in depth, there was a broad settlement on the place the most important disruptions will unfold: healthcare, biotech and semiconductors. Yet, the bigger takeaway was much less about sectors and extra about programs. India’s deep tech future, the panel steered, won’t be in-built silos, however by means of collaboration, convergence and a willingness to rethink how innovation itself is completed.