Devashree Jahagirdar retweeted
The Government of India’s deep tech fund has reportedly disbursed ₹2,192 crore in soft loans to 22 companies, of which 15 beneficiaries are linked to members of the selection panel.
Without any prejudice to the capabilities or merits of these companies, this inevitably raises serious questions about neutrality, conflict of interest and the credibility of the selection process.
In Karnataka, we launched ELEVATE in 2018 during my first tenure as IT & BT Minister, with Government-backed grants of upto ₹50 lakh. This year, we expanded that approach through ELEVATE NxT, a dedicated deeptech programme open to startups across India, with grants of up to ₹1 crore.
Every cycle, independent industry leaders and domain experts evaluate thousands of applications on merit. To date, ELEVATE and ELEVATE NxT have supported 1,300+ startups with grants, without controversy over favouritism or partiality.
Public innovation programmes must inspire confidence before they can inspire innovation. Founders should compete on the strength of their ideas, technology and execution, with complete faith that the process is transparent, impartial and independent. That trust is as important as the funding itself
Excited to see our lab's work featured by BioPatrika! A collective effort from our lab towards developing a Placenta-on-Chip platform to advance human-relevant models for maternal–fetal research and safer therapeutics. @srv_mkjee
#researcherspotlight @anshulbhide1 from Prof. Deepak Modi lab @DeepakNModi @icmrnirwoh and Sourav Mukherjee @srv_mkjee from @abhijit_MLab @iitbombay talks about their work on "From Biology to Chip: Recreating the Human Placenta" biopatrika.com/academia/rese… via @biopatrika
Proud to have been part of the organizing team for this incredible gathering. Discussions reinforced immense potential of NAMs to transform drug discovery & inspired us to think how to build faster & smarter solutions for healthcare industry.
The Industry Day on Novel Alternative Models (NAMs) in Drug Discovery held successfully on 12th June 2026 at IIT Bombay brought together researchers, industry leaders, and innovators to discuss the future of drug discovery.
The day featured short presentations by IIT Bombay faculty working across a broad spectrum of technologies, from single-cell data analysis and AI-enabled approaches to droplet microfluidics, organoids, and organ-on-chip systems. The discussions continued through extensive interactions, poster sessions, and laboratory visits.
The highlight of the event was two panel discussions involving leaders from industry, CROs, startups, academia, and regulators, including Dr. Taruna Madan Gupta (ICMR), Dr. Abhay Deshpande (Jay Research Foundation), Dr. K. V. S. Narayana Raju (Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories), Dr. Venkat Ramana (Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories), Dr. Kasinath Viswanathan (Zydus), Dr. Amjad Hussain (Canfinis), Dr. Alakesh Das (HiMedia Labs), and Prof. Ashutosh Kumar (IIT Bombay).
The presence of representatives from organizations such as Zydus, Biocon, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Yashraj Biotechnology, Unilever, ITC, Jay Research Foundation (JRF), Pfizer, Premas Life Sciences, HiMedia, Avay Biosciences, Deloitte, Karkinos Healthcare, the UK Science & Technology Network, and several other organizations including hospitals fostered productive conversations on future collaborations and innovation.
A key outcome of the event was the strong consensus on the need for National validation centre(s) for NAMs; Centres of Excellence to build capabilities and train the workforce; and a consortium model connecting academia, industry, CROs, startups, and regulators.
@abhijit_MLab
Excited to be a part of the satellite conference at @MPSWorldSummit, Brussels on modeling aging using microphysiological systems
#mpsworldsummit2025
#Brussels
