Enabling Research Innovation Journeys
The event, organised by the Research and Development Office and the Ashoka Innovation Hub, brought together faculty, researchers, and student innovators to discuss how research can be translated into solutions that make a meaningful difference.
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The Research and Development Office and the Ashoka Innovation Hub organised Enabling Research Innovation Journeys, a morning of talks, pitches and conversations exploring IP-based ventures at Ashoka. The event brought together faculty members, PhD scholars, researchers and student innovators from across the University to discuss how research can be translated into solutions that make a meaningful difference in the world.
Rishikesha T. Krishnan, Vice-Chancellor of Ashoka University, delivered the welcome address, outlining Ashoka’s vision for building a vibrant innovation ecosystem.
Opening the expert talks, Prabuddha Ganguli, CEO of VISION-IPR, emphasised that intellectual potential must translate into intellectual prosperity. He noted that research stages increasingly overlap rather than follow a linear progression, and that innovation begins when an idea is applied and creates value for people. He also highlighted the importance of building a focused patent portfolio within a particular domain and establishing ownership and licensing terms during the research process, rather than addressing them at a later stage.
Krishnan Balasubramanian, Institute Professor at IIT Madras, shared case studies from his experience of how the institute’s innovation culture has evolved since 2000. He traced its growth from a one-person IP office to a team of 46, highlighting initiatives such as a commitment to filing provisional patents within 24 hours and a revenue-sharing model that allocates 72% of revenue to inventors. He noted that graduate students had played a significant role in driving this transformation. Reflecting on the challenges along the way, he emphasised that building a strong innovation culture is achievable and that institutions must prioritise efforts to identify and file intellectual property.
The session was moderated by Shilpy Kochhar, Director of the Research and Development Office.
An idea exchange session followed, moderated by Gurasheesh Paul, in which Kasturi Mitra, Bapu Koundinya Desiraju, Suvrankar Datta, Meghna Agarwala and Deepak Kumar each shared work from their respective research areas.
Geeta Goel closed the morning with announcements on the initiatives planned to support innovation at Ashoka.
The event concluded with a clear way forward: establishing institutional IP agreements with partner universities to ensure that collaborations can begin with clarity on ownership and other terms.
