The automotive world is changing at a rapid pace. In 10-15 years from now, there could be a radical change in the auto industry landscape. In an ever competitive environment where automobile companies are ramping up efforts to manufacture and market their products better, along with growing competition, pressure on costs is also increasing as product life cycles are shrinking.

Academic institutions, on the other hand, are witnessing a growing number of professors, students who are conceptualising and developing new ideas for the mobility industry. From enhancing efficiency of existing concepts to all-new concepts in a variety of fields, a lot of action is taking place in the labs of engineering colleges leading to many patents being awarded to the bright ideas. A set of technologies which do not fall in the area of pure automotive still attract interest as vehicles look to get more connected, thereby expanding the boundaries of 'automotive technologies'.

In a scenario where the industry players' bandwidth to invest time and resources (financial and human) is shrinking on one hand, and the ability of academia to enhance efficiencies and innovate new technologies and concepts is growing on the other, there are a lot of reasons and opportunities to collaborate. The benefits could be in many areas ranging from cost reduction, lightweighting to all-new concepts in the areas of mobility or manufacturing.

It is common to see strong industry-academia collaboration in the West. It is time that India, an emerging automotive market which also has a strong academic base, leverages her strengths to rise in the global arena.

Reflecting the above mentioned motive, Autocar Professional & Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) are organising a day-long seminar on the theme of 'Industry-Academia Collaboration and India's Growth'.

The next edition of The Automotive Forum will bring together a key group of professionals from the industry and academia to discuss and debate on how the industry and academia in the country can complement  each other and power India ahead faster than ever before.

Tata's Nano, and Mangalyaan, India's maiden mission to Mars that was accomplished at a cost that surprised the whole world are just two examples of India's ingenuity and capabilities in the area of frugal engineering. Could there be many more in other areas too that may emerge when the best of the automotive industry and academia come together? 

We sincerely hope you will be able to spare your time to participate and share your views and comments on how the rich talent in the academia and the automotive industry can work in close cooperation for mutual benefit.

A few stories that reflect the growing importance of industry-academia collaboration

- University of Birmingham targets India

- Tata Motors partners BITS Pilani for automotive engineering programme

- JLR to set up new Rs 1,000 crore R&D centre in the UK

- Ford and St. Petersburg university use space test learnings for connected cars