Just two years ago, the tree-lined roads on the campus of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bangalore were a joggers' paradise. The only sounds were those of rustling leaves and chirping birds. These days, blaring horns and speeding Toyotas are more the scene, occasionally forcing terrified pedestrians into the wedge-shaped drains on the sides of the roads. "Everyone here is in hurry," says S. Vijaya, a professor of microbiology at the institute. This flurry of activity is a result of a radical culture change at the IISc, widely considered India's premier scientific institute. Fourteen companies ― including Belgium's Janssen Pharmaceutica and New Jersey-based Novozymes Biologicals ― now rent laboratory space on campus. Researchers at the IISc have acted as consultants for 161 companies and completed more than 100 projects in the past ten years. And in the past three, five professors have launched their own companies.
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