Research, innovation necessity for sustained growth of pharma sector: Mandaviya
New Delhi, Jan 29: Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday stressed that research and innovation is a necessity for sustained growth of pharmaceuticals sector as he launched the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) Research Portal.
Underlining the importance of healthy competition, both in industry and academia, he said that competition and demand is a necessity of research and innovation as this promotes quality ideas and solutions for citizens.
The NIPER Portal has been created to disseminate the information about pharmaceuticals research activities, patents filed and publication information at one place.
Reiterating PM's vision of 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan, Jai Vigyan and Jai Anusandhaan', Mandaviya said that research and development is one of the crucial pillars for a country's economy. "We need to harness this energy of aspirations of all stakeholders and create a holistic ecosystem. Our expertise in generics can also be further expanded to other sectors," he added.
"The country already has young talent and human resources, but we need to channelise them effectively through industry-academia cooperation. To enhance this industry-academia collaboration, the Department of Pharmaceuticals has created this research portal to capture the research activities of all seven NIPERs," he said.
The platform would help in promoting this synergy and would be a boon for the industries, especially the MSME sector, he underlined.
Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Bhagwanth Khuba, who was also present with NITI Aayog's Health Member Dr V.K. Paul at the event, said that India is the third-largest pharmaceutical manufacturing country and its vaccine development story is an example of effective cooperation among stakeholders.
He said that the platform will track the research and tasks of all NIPERS together.
The portal has been designed to authenticate the availability of the ongoing research work and help other researchers and especially the industry to work together with the relevant organisation. The research portal will bring together the research institutions of different government departments on one platform.