Leading home-grown multifaceted advisory firm, Sathguru Management Consultants has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The University of Sheffield, UK. The MoU seeks to facilitate cooperation in areas of mutual interest and benefit to both institutions. The memorandum serves as a general framework for specific collaborative programmes such as the development of partnerships in the areas of higher education, research and technology dissemination with institutions in India.
Over a quarter of a century since its inception, Sathguru Management Consultants has developed immense capabilities in providing strategic advisory, sector growth assessment, technology management, information technology services to public and private enterprises across the globe. Sathguru has emerged as the chosen partner in several innovative and path-breaking initiatives in the areas of development and capacity building in South Asia. Sathguru is also the oldest technology transfer firm in South Asia, globally recognized for creating innovative technology transfer platforms and nurturing innovation through technology commercialization strategies. Through the MoU, Sathguru seeks to replicate a successful model of inter-institutional collaboration across continents that has triggered educational and development programmes in not just India, but also in other countries in South Asia.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed at the culmination of a week-long exploratory visit to India by Sir Keith Burnett, Vice Chancellor of the University of Sheffield and a team of his senior academic and administrative staff. Over the course of a tightly packed itinerary, the team visited various research institutions, universities and government departments such as the IIT Delhi; Jawaharlal Nehru University; The Energy Resource Institute; Department of Renewable Energy; and the Department of Biotechnology, meeting with directors, faculty, researchers and policy makers. Senior research scientists from IIT Madras and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University also met with Sir Keith.
“Our real aim is to work together more closely in key areas of strength, to a common purpose. We believe this will impact innovation acceleration within Indian partner institutions and provide a strong platform of collaborative partnership involving academia and industry in research, innovation adoption and accelerated absorption of the innovation, duly converging the expertise among the partners in key areas of shared interest, including food security, sustainability, renewable energies, bio-technologies, the interface between engineering and health, applied technologies and policy in such areas as the development of sustainable cities,” Sir Keith said.
More than a hundred years old, The University of Sheffield is a leading centre for quality higher education and research in UK and is a member of the Russell Group that also includes Oxford and Cambridge. The team identified a wide range of opportunities for partnership in India at a strategic level, particularly with a focus around biotechnology and the challenges of feeding a vast nation in the face of climate change, renewable energies and sustainable energy. The team also showed interest in working with partners around the interface of medical science and engineering and met outstanding potential partners in all these areas.
“Sathguru recognizes the historical strength of Sheffield as a centre of global innovation and academic excellence. Our quest for converging academic research, scholarship, innovation application and technology reach to the bottom of the pyramid is perfectly in sync with the Sheffield interest in the region and we see a great potential for the partnership to generate new innovation and accelerate absorption of innovation through the education, research and industry partnership initiatives that are proposed.” Mrs. Hemalatha, Director of Sathguru said.
Sathguru already works with Cornell University in the US in a similar way and will provide advice and guidance as an informed anchor with a deep understanding of Indian education and government.