New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS): Stressing on higher education's crucial role in developmental effort, President Pranab Mukherjee has called for a strong interface between industry and higher education sectors, a Rashtrapati Bhavan statement said on Thursday.

"The higher education sector has a crucial role in the national developmental effort.

"Growth of the industrial sector depends on higher education in some important ways...There is therefore a vital need for the industry and higher education to interact in a mutually beneficial framework," President Mukherjee said at the Visitor's Conference in Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday.

"A strong interface between these two core sectors will have positive spin offs for the entire economy. What is taught and researched in the higher education system must find application in the industrial sector," he said.

Mukherjee also termed research collaboration another important component in the relationship between the industry and academic institutions.

"A robust industrial linkage, to my mind, provides an efficient mechanism for transfer of knowledge from the higher education system to the economic system. It also leads to better coordination of R&D effort thereby avoiding duplication," he said.

The President also said that at times, institutions and industry may find it difficult to establish intensive linkages as business entities may be focused on quick outcomes, and faster availability of new products while universities and institutions may lay more emphasis on basic research having long gestation.

He added that to collaborate, they must build a common meeting ground of business and intellectual perspectives.

President Mukherjee said this requires top management in both, corporations as well as institutions to be involved in and convinced about collaboration as a strategic purpose.

On Wednesday, the first day of the three-day Visitor's Conference 2016 at Rashtrapati Bhavan, 67 MoUs were exchanged between central institutions and industry organisations.