Ganguly, who was the worldwide director of research and development at Anglo-Dutch major Unilever, said that the initiative towards making R&D an unambiguous business-driven process and part of business strategy, has to be taken by the CEO.

``CEOs will have to take the lead towards the new revolution which is coming about in making R&D an integral part of the business process. Knowledge and information technology are bringing about this revolution,'' said Ganguly while stressing that a new paradigm is emerging where no industry can survive without knowledge.

``Those CEOs who can combine knowledge and business will see tomorrow,'' said Ganguly, warning that managers who ignore the message, will do so at their own peril. Headded that the rise of the ``scientist entrepreneurs'' will pose a challenge to the Indian industry.

``The time when capital and raw materials were the basic needs for the industry to survive is almost gone. The next leap will be by knowledge workers and not capital owners,'' Ganguly said.

Dwelling upon the importance of R&D in an organisation, Hindustan Lever chairman Keki B Dadiseth said: ``Technology was the language in Unilever. Most people think that HLL is a marketing company. It is not. It is a technology company and if it was not for technology, we would not have been successful.''

Dadiseth added: ``It is because of the strong interaction between research and business that a global player like Unilever is in a position of leadership today. Without technology we will not be able to access everybody in the market place.'' He added that the highest level of technology is needed even for simple products. ``Unless technology is available for simple products we will not be able reach these products tothe consumer and make it affordable for him,'' Dadiseth said.

Speaking on the occasion, chairman of ICICI Ltd N Vaghul said that for knowledge creation, corporates and academicians have to come together. He said that an example of where Ganguly's ideas have been put into practice is the `ICICI Knowledge Park', coming up at Hyderabad, which offers research facilities at attractive costs for business-driven research. ``It will act as a gateway to a vast pool of India's scientific talent. The ICICI Knowledge Park will offer modular laboratories with state-of-the-art networking facilities,'' he said.

ICICI has invested roughly Rs 20-crore in the ICICI Knowledge Park as part of the first phase. An investment in the second phase expansion will follow shortly.