Triple-Helix Model : My recent experience with TN state government

Triple Helix Model & benefits for participants:

Collaboration among industry, academics & government is crucial for sustained innovation cycles, fostering economic growth and addressing societal needs along with effective governance. This was also proposed as the “Triple Helix” model by Prof Henry Etzkowitz emphasizing the relationship & complementary role played by each.

This triple-helix partnership leads to, 

1. Converting academic research into real-world products for practical use cases
2. Innovation & entrepreneurship resulting in growth of economy and job creation
3. Ecosystem for innovation particularly in developing countries
4. Industry translating practical experience to academics & hence making students market-ready
5. Facilitating resource sharing w.r.t skillset, problem statements, data sets(in AI domain) and support system for implementation in real-world scenarios both w.r.t complexity & scale
6. Strategic policy development & efficient governance/public services
7. Effective utilization of energy & innovating mindset from younger workforce
8. Supporting industries to experiment futuristic problems with optimal investment with help of academics

Status in western countries:

Western countries are practicing this very well and one of the primary reasons for the thriving economy in these regions. Collaboration of defense industry & Stanford university, post-soviet development in eastern Europe, medicon valley in Denmark & Sweden on life sciences, partnership of TUM-Munich & KTH-Sweden on ICT, BioTech & clean energy are some of the key examples of this model working well in western countries. 

Status in India and my contributions:

In India, established universities have a well established single channel system with industry & government while tier-2 colleges are still working on establishing such channels with industries. In the last 10-years, universities revised their curriculum to ensure students are market ready by including industry experts in the curriculum development committee. However, tri-party engagement in our country is very limited due to conflicting objectives(primarily revenue targets), IP related issues, funding constraints and difference in culture & communication style. India is targeting a $7-trillion economy by 2030 and private sector participation along with an upskilling workforce are few of the points listed as driving factors towards the targeted economy as per NITI-Aayog’s report which is naturally demanding sustainable triple-helix model.

Jaya chandra Dakala & I have been collaborating with academics since 2017 supporting students with internship opportunities, mentoring students to be industry ready, providing talks in our area of expertise, supporting professors & students in finding problem statements. In my personal capacity, I am also collaborating with government through my membership in the AI-standardization committee in BIS, reviewing technology-based training programs to govt staff by state governments, supporting governments in formulating training programs or courses w.r.t specific technology skills or competitive exams, supporting key policy makers(IAS & IPS) in the state with possible technology-based approaches for some of the key societal problems or policies/programs under draft. I had one such opportunity on 28-Apr-2025 with Tamilnadu state government and shared my experience at the end of this article

Possible opportunities & how you can contribute?

Though industrialists & informal groups interact with ministers & bureaucrats during the policy-making stage, there are opportunities for academicians & professionals to interact with govt for better use of technology & efficient execution. 

Are you a bureaucrat?

1. Publish key problems w.r.t public services or governance & provide internship opportunities for students
2. Publish available data for startups and encourage universities to foster entrepreneurship & innovation
3. Involve industry experts & academicians in ideation & execution phases
4. Seek for automating routine work and using technology for efficient governance

Are you from academics?

1. Take support of industry experts in curriculum formation, establishing internship opportunities and channels to encourage bright minds for opportunities in industries
2. Partner with government & industry to seek real-world problem statements

Are you from an industry background?

1. Support colleges in your locality or couple of students by mentoring them to be industry-ready, sharing your domain knowledge and latest trends 
2. Support students with possible internship opportunities at your workplace

Sharing my recent experience with TN state govt:

Due to my interest in collaboration with governments & academics, I had an unique opportunity to be a panel-member in the panel chaired by Thiru.Vivekanandan IAS along with professors from reputed state institutes for conducting mock interview to candidates who cleared Group-1 mains exams and going to be Deputy collector, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Asst Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Addl director of Panchayat and District Employment Officer among the other key posts. This was organized by TN govt’s AASC and thankful to Prof Sulochana Vijayakumar (from AASC) for the invite to be part of this panel. I have documented some of the key-points & lessons I learnt from this experience that was replicating the triple-helix model. 

Takeaways from this experience:

1. Social justice: TN state govt is striving to be a champion in social justice by conducting free training classes, mock interviews for various stages of UPSC & TNPSC examinations. In my interviews, I have noticed close to 35-50% are women candidates and also enabling people from financially backward groups. But big salute to the selfless AASC staff who are getting this executed at ground level effectively. I observed staff prepping the candidates for interviews, supporting them with necessary facilities & thriving to ensure candidates are benefitted through this program. 
2. I took an interview of a couple of officers who are already in service in Group-1 who have given an exam again targeting as DSP or Deputy Collector post. I notice these officers are thriving for better posts & keeping their learning curve steady while being in the service. 
3. One of the primary questions to each candidate is about the history & socio-economic profile of their district & state. Irrespective of the profession & govt/private service, isn’t it essential to understand our district & state?
4. To my surprise, many of them had limited knowledge about the latest technological advancements including ChatGPT/MetaAI/deep-tech/crypto. This also includes candidates from engineering backgrounds. I conveyed that technology advancements are going to contribute to efficient governance & transparency while being strong in their core subjects is what is going to make them unique among other bureaucrats. 
5. Candidates were also evaluated about their understanding in current issues at international/national/state level and it’s essential to build a neutral opinion of them irrespective of whether you are going to be a bureaucrat or not. 
6. I was part of three panels and had the opportunity to interact with bureaucrats, officers who recently joined services & professors and how they are utilizing technology or mathematics in their day-to-day work. Prof Dr. Anbu Arumugam is engaging her students in AASC activities and early exposure to govt-academic interaction framework. This is definitely going to inspire them to be bureaucrats in the future or good citizens irrespective of their career choices.

I also had an opportunity to briefly interact with Addl Chief Secretary & Director General of training to TN-Govt, Thiru Vikram Kapur IAS about possible use of AI/GenAI for one of the problem statements in governance. Enabling information of govt schemes through whatsapp or portal through conversational-AI and grievance redressal mechanism are some of the common use cases for any of the state govt or union govt.