Recreate Nalanda as an innovation hub

But what8217;s the modern reincarnation of Nalanda? Agreement on this vision is an essential first step for the strategy to build an institution that attracts the right group of scholars, students, advisers, and others as well as fosters research.

Discussion has centred so far on the rebirth of the university8217;s Buddhist heritage. The university8217;s history as a crossroads of science and humanities is equally significant: Nalanda was the hub of a knowledge network that we have yet to recreate for the modern era.

The old divisions were by geography. Nalanda overcame distance by bringing together a physical community of thousands of researchers and students from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia, and Turkey among others. The campus, an environmental and architectural masterpiece, was one of the first to have dormitories 8212; a step forward in creating a community.

But geography no longer keeps people apart. The new divisions in knowledge are by academic discipline, economic opportunity, and culture.

The new Nalanda must be interdisciplinary, and it must also be an innovation hub that explicitly engages academics, industry, and policymakers and encourages them to interact around a research program directed by questions from NGOs, social groups, and policymakers.

But an innovation hub is more than a university or training facility. We must go beyond conventional definitions of excellence such as academic rankings based largely on publications.

This is a unique historical opportunity to make a greenfield investment in a new kind of academic-industry-society cluster to promote innovation for smart growth, problem-driven research, and a holistic approach to development questions.

How can this be achieved?

Basically, it requires creating a funding structure and a communications infrastructure to encourage interdisciplinary research and knowledge sharing across academic and social divides even before the physical site is ready. We must encourage people to begin research projects, develop applications for their academic findings, and think about pressing social problems 8212; and to be attracted to Nalanda as a place to carry out these efforts.

An infrastructure for interdisciplinary research can be put together quickly, without waiting for the physical site to be ready.

The first step would be to create a Nalanda board, composed of internationally diverse academicians, policymakers, as well as social and corporate leaders. This board should determine the goals and priorities, identify opportunities for collaborative work on broad social problems such energy security, environmental sustainability, international peace, poverty reduction, lessening of inequality and other pressing development issues, and interface with donors and sponsors.

Several mechanisms could then be added to this core governing body in the short term. First, a virtual clearing house for problems and solutions that would serve as the point of contact for policymakers, NGOs, companies, or any other groups. This group could then identify the appropriate resources in the participating countries8217; academic systems or among Nalanda8217;s partners. This would solve an important information asymmetry that hinders collaboration today.

Second, a network of centres that takes advantage of existing research capacity around the world and directs it toward specific goals. Member institutions would provide information about their faculty and other available resources to a central place to facilitate joint research projects. Ongoing collaborative projects could be brought in here, expanding the network as the institutions become involved. The network could also have a subgroup to support faculty and student interchanges.

Both of these mechanisms would encourage a wide set of specific projects, driven by individuals, and directed by dispersed knowledge. The community 8212; the eventual goal 8212; will emerge from these projects. Existing innovation hubs such as the Silicon Valley cluster, the San Diego biotech and IT cluster, in which the UCSD participates, the North Carolina 8220;research triangle8221; and others grew organically. The Nalanda project should aim to jumpstart a similar growth.

The virtual community will only increase the demand for the physical community that is being re-created.

Nalanda conjures nostalgia about a golden period in Indian history. To make this relevant for contemporary challenges, we must think beyond the past, out of the box, and look t the future. Incubating an innovation hub is one way of doing this.

Regular columnist N.K. Singh and Dr. Jessica S. Wallack, a professor of economics at University of California, are collaborating on a book on infrastructure reforms on India. Essays based on their research will appear every fortnight