Kris Gopalakrishnan interview: ‘We want to build an Atlas of the brain’

Venkatesh Kannaiah: Can you tell us about your investments including your philanthropic ones, which are likely to create a large social impact?

Kris Gopalakrishnan: I think my funding on brain research is what will create a large impact. I am committed to donate around Rs 1,500 crore over the next 10 years in philanthropic funding to various institutes including the Centre for Brain Research at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

We are trying to build an ‘Atlas for the brain’ which is unprecedented and it is path breaking original research. It is truly world class research and we should be proud that it is being done in India. When the research team delivers on the results, it will be putting India on the global healthcare map. This would be a story of taking on hard challenges and solving them.

There are around 4 million Alzheimer’s afflicted patients in India, and it is growing by the day. With poor awareness and inadequate research it is a good place for an impact intervention.

Kris Gopalakrishnan is betting on original path breaking research on the brain and its impact on health outcomes.(Express photo by Jithendra M)

I want to walk the talk by putting my money on basic research, investments of which are abysmally low in India. I am for building a world-class research ecosystem in brain research, and innovative products would naturally follow.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: What is the reason for your focus on brain research and how is it linked to your larger goals?

Kris Gopalakrishnan: We want to see how the brain changes with age and, after all, computer scientists have always been fascinated by the brain. The human brain and its functions have always held us in awe, and it is the crux of the journey into the new methods and modes of computing.

Moreover, we need to take up large challenges and try to solve them, and neuro degenerative disease is quite a big challenge with no solutions in sight. Research is going on at various centres across the globe, and we too are in the race. This could be a turning point, and we are betting on that.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: What is your personal investment philosophy? Is social impact embedded in the same or do you want to create impact more through your philanthropic initiatives?

Kris Gopalakrishnan: I look for direct and indirect impact through my for-profit investments and my philanthropic grants. But it is mostly the latter I look for to create a large-scale social impact. However, even at our for-profit ventures, at places like Axilor Ventures, we see that some startups are creating good social impact. Personally too, I have invested in startups with an eye on impact like GoCoop – a global marketplace for Indian handlooms and crafts, and Freshworld – an unique Farm To Home delivery of fruits and vegetables. There are many others too.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: What was the inspiration for the Gopalakrishnan–Deshpande Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and how is it faring?

Kris Gopalakrishnan: It is a one of its kind platform for scientists, academics and doctoral students to bring their research ideas to the market and more than 100 of them have been mentored through this centre. Every year we pick around 10 promising ideas after diligent screening, ideate and work on bringing them to the market.

We provide mentorship and grants for researchers who work on bringing their ideas to the market. It is modelled on the National Science Foundation of the US and it creates a climate of entrepreneurship among researchers and faculty.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: Can you highlight some of your investments which are creating social impact at Axilor Ventures?

Kris Gopalakrishnan: Our startups at Axilor Ventures have had some success at creating impact. One of our investments is in Niramai, which provides a radiation-free, automated and non-invasive breast cancer screening test. Niramai uses artificial intelligence over thermal images to detect abnormalities in breast health. This is a very successful product and is going places.

Secondly, our investment in Algorithmic Biologics is likely to have a huge impact as we experienced during the pandemic that testing needs to be efficient and fast. Moreover, we also need to work on and iron out supply side inefficiencies. Algorithmic Biologics brings efficiency and scale to molecular discovery and diagnostics. It brings such efficiency into batch testing that it could prove to be a gamechanger.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: How has been the progress of your Swasth Alliance initiative?

Kris Gopalakrishnan: We wanted to build a digital architecture for data sharing in the field of health. It is an alliance with many partners and we are building a digital public infrastructure in the health domain. We have built interoperable platforms between healthcare providers, insurance companies and patients. It seamlessly operates health records and claims and adds speed and scale to the health ecosystem.

We are very happy with what we have achieved so far. It is a collaborative effort with other partners.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: Can you throw light on your initiatives in the History of IT like Itihaasa.com and what were your goals in setting it up?

Kris Gopalakrishnan: We must understand that India is a world leader in the IT services industry and five of the top ten companies in this sector worldwide are Indian companies. We wanted to reach out to those who were part of the process and wanted them to recount their journey and their experiences in building the IT services industry in India.

Kris Gopalakrishnan says there are around 4 million Alzheimer’s afflicted patients in India, and it is growing by the day.(Express photo by Jithendra M)

We need to celebrate such achievements. We have videos with industry experts and we have published a book and have held a large number of workshops and conferences.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: Is India ready to take advantage of Generative AI and ChatGPT? And can it be married with social impact?

Kris Gopalakrishnan: There are a lot of opportunities in this segment. It could start with being a kind of personal assistant to help in coding. But as we go along, there would be new products, as these would interface between large amounts of data and users with simple or complex queries.

There could be so many applications, and some of these with social impact could be those which perhaps simplify government rules, regulations for users who could do these queries in various languages.