'Strengthening national and institutional focus on research vital for better India': Narayana Murthy

The pioneer of India's IT revolution N R Narayana Murthy delivered a lecture on 'The importance of research for India and the World'.

Bengaluru: Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy stressed the importance of strengthening the focus on research in India across both national and institutional levels, while addressing the gathering during the announcement of the Infosys Prize for 2025 in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Infosys Science Foundation Office in Jayanagar, the pioneer of India's IT revolution delivered a lecture on 'The importance of research for India and the World'.

Quoting some well-known researchers and statesmen, including Jawaharlal Nehru and Alan Turing, and Thomas Alva Edison, he called on Indian institutions to commit to creating a robust research ecosystem.

"Research is humanity's noblest collective enterprise. It demands courage, persistence and imagination. It bridges society, reason and values, and ethics and dignity," he said, and that creating nurturing ecosystems of research is "our failing duty". "Ultimately, research is the only means we have to make India a better nation, and this world a better world. This is the only way we can fulfil the dreams of our founding fathers," he said.

The responsibility of fulfilling the dream of the founding fathers lies on the "bold, daring, imaginative, and caring" shoulders of the Infosys Prize laureates, he said.

"I am sure you will succeed in this through your research, because, like me, you too are inspired by the confident, emphatic, visionary and immoral works of the celebrated mathematician, David Hilbert, who said, 'We must know, We will know'," he signed off.

He was accompanied by fellow trustees of the Infosys Science Foundation, Kris Gopalakrishna, SD Shibulal, Srinath Batni, Pratima Murthy and Foundation President K Dinesh in announcing the awards for six categories on Infosys Prize 2025.

The Infosys Prize was first launched in 2009 to honour individuals whose research and scholarship significantly impact India.

Awardees of the Infosys Prize 2025 will be officially felicitated in January 2026, when the Foundation will be hosting a symposium in Bengaluru.