Monday, August 22 2005 17:51 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Manipal: Knowledge is the strongest bridge between the developed and developing worlds where the value of intellectual wealth is far greater than material wealth, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman and Managing Director, Biocon Limited, said.

Speaking at a special convocation where she was confered honorary doctorate degree by the Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE), a deemed university of Manipal, here, yesterday (August 22, 2005), she said that each recipient generation has the responsibility of absorbing and more importantly, building the knowledge base to a higher plane, she said.

Mazumdar-Shaw said the world is in a state of turmoil where political and religious conflicts are destroying the moral fibre of societies across the globe. " India can rise above this if we commit ourselves to achieving global economic success on a strong foundation of innovation combined with a deep social conscience."

India's skill base has an enormous potential to be harnessed to pursue innovative development, she said. Mazumdar-Shaw said that the innovation calls for a strong spirit of inquiry and a deep sense of purpose. "We also need to steer away from imitative efforts and chart a differentiated path based on discovery and novelty."

The National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the national science foundation (NSF), have been instrumental in the development of innumerable drugs that are today block buster drugs being marketed by pharma majors, she said.

Mazumdar-Shaw said that the institutes along with universities have also played a key role in incubating biotech start-ups where it is startling to note that 80 per cent of US biotech companies owe their origins to universities and research institutes.

Valuable studies on disease progression, new treatment regimens also served as a validation platform for novel diagnostics, novel therapies and provided high quality clinical evaluation of new drugs and diagnostics. Medical centres such as manipal should emulate such models.

While clinical trials is being hotly pursued all over the country as a lucrative business opportunity, "I would like to urge medical centre and medical investigators partaking in such activities to focus on building high quality systems and more importantly, a strong research platform that will enable india to assume a high quality, knowledge intensive profile",she added.

Dr Ramdas Pai, Chancellor, MAHE said that educational institutions are the mainstay of the society to provide self-confidence, wisdom and foresight to mankind. While religion serves the spiritual aspect of an individual, education offers him the opportunity to know the world.