According to reports from PTI, BITS Group Vice Chancellor Ramgopal Rao emphasized that India cannot become a global innovation hub merely by building more companies around technologies developed elsewhere. The renowned academician stated that India has two enormous advantages: talent and problems at scale, both of which can become the basis for globally important companies. Rao highlighted that technology that succeeds under Indian conditions can often succeed anywhere in the world, though the challenge lies in deep technology development that doesn't follow normal startup timelines. He stressed that India needs homegrown solutions in semiconductors, healthcare, agriculture, space, energy, water, advanced materials, artificial intelligence, defence and manufacturing to achieve global competitiveness.
As reported by PTI, Rao explained that while a software product can be developed or improved in weeks, medical devices, semiconductor technology or new materials may require years of research, repeated testing, certification and substantial capital before the first customer arrives. He noted that the weak link is often not the idea or even the prototype, but the long middle between a laboratory result and a dependable product. Rao stressed that industry and government must be willing to provide test beds and become early customers, as for a deep technology startup, the first serious customer is often more valuable than the first investor.
According to PTI, BITS-Pilani has emerged as the leading undergraduate institution represented in the Avendus Wealth-Hurun India U30 List 2026, with 11 alumni founders getting featured this year. Rao, a former director of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, attributed this success to the entrepreneurship culture built over several decades, now producing visible results among people who are not even 30. The institution offers a New Venture Creation course designed around doing rather than merely discussing entrepreneurship, where student teams begin with ideas, speak to potential customers, study competition, test technology viability, develop minimum viable products, and understand finance, legal compliance and fundraising. Each team also works with an experienced entrepreneur as a mentor, providing structured guidance throughout the process.
As reported by PTI, Rao highlighted that BITS Pilani is the only institution in the country where a student can graduate with as distinct programmes as a Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science and a Master of Science in Chemistry in about five years. He explained that similar combinations are possible with physics, mathematics, biological sciences and economics, with the second degree allotted after the first year based on academic performance. Rao noted that many important innovations today lie at the intersection of disciplines, citing that drug discovery needs biology, chemistry and computing, while climate technology needs engineering, economics and public policy. He emphasized that when students are exposed to more than one way of thinking, they are more likely to see possibilities that a narrowly trained person may miss.
According to PTI, Rao stressed that Indian universities must build the entire pipeline from research to impact, choosing important problems, funding early-stage research, protecting intellectual property, building prototypes, supporting testing and certification, and connecting researchers with industry and patient capital. He emphasized that a research paper creates knowledge, a patent gives ownership over that knowledge, but it is only when the knowledge becomes a useful product or process that it begins to create wealth for society. This wealth creation includes new industries, high-quality employment, manufacturing capacity, exports, strategic independence and solutions to problems affecting millions of people. Rao noted that entrepreneurship needs unlike minds, and the academic structure at BITS makes it possible for such minds and disciplines to meet.
