True that, Manoj. Not enough of our students are taking up research, something we now need to change, across all places in India. We can do it, 25 years before we had far more papers and were ahead of China, we can come back in the game, even if catching up is far away
At VLDB 2025 (https://vldb.org/2025/) arguably the world’s most prestigious database conference, being held in London this year. Some eye-opening numbers from VLDB 2025: Submissions from 53 countries; 38 countries got at least one paper accepted. From India: just 5 submissions, only 1 accepted—and that one was ours. From China: 170 submissions, 50+ acceptances. Even countries with just a few million population had stronger representation. India has near zero presence in this flagship conference on databases. Databases, data management, and data analytics are the foundation of intelligent AI systems. Yet as a country, we are barely in the game. If India truly wants to lead in Data & AI, we need to ask ourselves: Are we investing enough in research, innovation, and global contribution?
S. Sudarshan , great point. Genuine passion and love for the subject, databases or drones, needs to be sparked early. Research mindset coupled with eagerness to publish and share should be the spirit…and not some vanity KPI. I believe an equally matched passionate set of mentors to complement the young professionals is important as a guiding force.
Director of Product - Microsoft Agentic AI
2wSir, with the current trend in the industry, students will have no option but to go deep in their academia get a doctorate before they join the tech force. So in 10 years the trend should shift, if obviously the brain drain remains low.. Happy Teachers Day!