STEM ANNUAL SUMMIT 2015 kick starts in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, 26 November, 2015 – Today saw Society for Technology Management flagging off their tenth annual meet, STEM annual summit 2015. This summit is differentiated as the only platform in India for technology transfer professionals across industry and academia.

The annual summit has supported technology transfer professionals in their endeavor to accelerate commercialization of innovation. STEM moves a step forward this year by felicitating distinguished professionals in the field of technology transfer. Mr. Seetharam Annadana was recognized for his scholarly engagement, experience and contribution in the field of Technology Management. Mr. Kanikaram Satyanarayana from Department of Biotechnology and Mr. RK Gupta from Lall Lahiri & Salhotra were honoured with Life time achievement Award for their contribution to the tech transfer ecosystem.

The sessions began with Mr. Sean Flanigan, Chairperson from Alliance of Technology Transfer Professionals (ATTP) delivering the key note and sharing valuable knowledge on economic impact of academic technologies available globally. Important speakers included Mr. K. Vijayaraghavan who spoke on Essential elements of Spin out Policy and Dr. Guhan Jayaraman, Head of IIT Chennai Incubation Center, IIT Chennai who chaired the panel discussion on academic policies to support spin-outs. Miss Deepanwita Chattopadhayay from IKP Knowledge Park chaired session on hatch level to seed level funding that included speakers like Dr. Shirshendu Mukherjee from DBT Wellcome Trust and Miss Pushpa Vijayaraghavan from Sathguru Management Consultants. Session on Engineering, Devices & Biomedical – Asset protection & Technology Transfer had distinguished speakers like Dinesh Chand Sharma from European Committee for Standardization and Sharad Mi Shukla from Johnson & Johnson.

The 2015 summit also included a Technology Showcasing event whose opening address was delivered by Dr. Jitendar Kumar Sharma, NHSRC, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Govt. of India. The event provided a powerful networking and professional development platform for researchers to learn about funding opportunities and product development imperatives to enhance commercialization opportunity. It also provided industry professionals the much needed knowledge of efforts in Indian institutions.

STEM has officially become a member of the Association Technology Transfer Professionals (ATTP), the global body that is the only institution to recognize the Technology Transfer Professionals as Registered Technology Transfer Professionals. This will provide opportunity for Indian professionals to secure this recognition.

Vijayaraghavan said,“The technology Transfer Professionals are an essential drivers of the “Make in India” initiative by accelerating the commercialization of research results and by creating economic impact through technology absorption for productive asset creation. The need for India to leapfrog in innovation to commercialization pathway is imminent. The professionals in Technology Management will play a dominant role in triggering such acceleration.”