Chanakya University foundation day: Shamika Ravi, S Somanath and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw urge focus on AI & industry ties

Chancellor and former ISRO Chairman S Somanath in his presidential address said "The challenge is to bridge the lacking connection between university and society."

Bengaluru: Chanakya University in the city celebrated the third Foundation Day on Saturday. The leaders who attended the event urged people and the government to collectively "dream audaciously, experiment fearlessly, and innovate with purpose," positioning research and high-quality education as the "solution space for humanity's greatest challenges."

The leaders collectively stressed that the next phase of India’s growth must be driven by a strong "triple helix" partnership between government, industry, and academia.

Organised under the theme 'Celebrating the Spirit of Vidya Dana,' the event brought together a lineup of industry and policy leaders, including Biocon Executive Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Member of the Economic Advisory Council to the PM Shamika Ravi, who emphasised the imperative for academic institutions to align with India’s technological and economic vision.

Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, a key supporter of the institution, highlighted the transformative role of technology, stating, "The future of biology is computational, and AI has transformed biology from a descriptive science into a design discipline." She stressed that India’s unique demographic and digital health scale provides the foundational layers for precision and personalised medicine. Mazumdar-Shaw urged the nation to build a sovereign AI stack and ensure leadership in green and ethical AI, alongside pioneering advancements in bioengineering, which she termed "biotech's muscle and imagination."

Shamika Ravi said that the paradox of high graduate unemployment coexisting with severe industrial skill shortages. "The most educated segment in our society are nearly five times likely to be sitting at home than our youth with school education," she noted, calling this a failure of the education system to pivot from merely "giving out degrees" to imparting market-ready "skills." 

Chancellor and former ISRO Chairman S Somanath in his presidential address said "Chanakya University is just shaping its character around the core principles of purity of thought, ethical conduct and transformative action...The challenge is to bridge the lacking connection between university and society. The goal is a modern day institution, like a Nalanda or Takshashila, that is rooted in India's civilisational strengths and produces students who are compassionate, curious, and humble leaders."

The gathering also felicitated key contributors to the university. Vice-Chancellor Prof Yashavantha Dongre welcomed dignitaries including Vice Chairman of Bharti Enterprises Rakesh Bharti Mittal, CEO of Azim Premji Foundation Anurag Behar, Founder of Accel India Prashanth Prakash and Founder of Aarin Capital T V Mohandas Pai.