Dr Sushil Kumar
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Trend & MindSet that India’s Central Science & Technology Sector Need- A View by Tapas Kumar Choudhury
Last updated on Sunday, October 11th, 2020
The ability to innovate and deploy globally competitive technologies has been recognized as the next key driver of global economic change in the emerging knowledge economy. While science is scholarship driven, technology and innovation are market and competition-driven, respectively. Currently, the Indian Research and Development landscape is largely influenced by the character of public-funded research, and the selection of R&D priorities is mostly supply-driven. The private sector investment in R&D has been marginal. Therefore, the demand-driven component of R&D goals has been limited. Policy, strategy, and tools are required to stimulate larger investment into demand-driven R&D goals. The energy sector invests far too into R&D, although industrial turnover in the sector is extremely high. Promotion of public-private partnership into R&D and clean energy is a critical component of India’s competitiveness in global trade and industrial growth. New strategies and tools are required to stimulate engagement of the private sector into R&D and enhance the share of private sector investment from the current 26% of India’s R&D spend to at least 50% during the 12th Plan period.
2. The larger share of public investments into R&D could also be leveraged by focusing of R&D for public and social ‘good priorities of the country. There is an untapped opportunity for India to emerge as a global leader in affordable innovations under PPP by focusing on R&D for public and social goods in the areas of agriculture and food security, water, energy, affordable health care, education, environment, renovation of urban infrastructure, S&T inputs to rural development etc.
Residual idealism among the youth and vast talent base offers an opportunity for the R&D sector in: the country to gain leadership in affordable and social innovations. The Twelfth, Five Year Plan should lead to the creation of an innovation ecosystem most suited to the developmental phase of the country. Such an ecosystem should be complete with new responses to the risk-averse nature of the society, delivery models for innovative deployment of technologies, business models for financing deployment of innovations and adjustments in governance and management models for supporting strategic goals of innovations. The approach for the R&D sector should address all’ stages of life cycles of ideas; from creation to commercialization and value creation. This1′ would call for paradigm shifts in approaches of planning for R&D in India during the Twelth Five Year Plan period.
3. A Paradigm shift in approach for the Science and Technology sector is required to focus on an output directed development path strategy rather than the present input-driven model. Such changes are essential for making a tangible and traceable change in the socio-economic scene of the country. While basic research would need necessarily an input-led growth path, differences in approach through output directed model would be required for connecting knowledge and wealth-generating activities of the country. The supply-side approach for the promotion of advanced basic research should be further enabled with tools for demand-side planning for innovations and technology development.
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4.The structure and work culture within the R&D sector in the country are supportive of transactions of knowledge for money and technology transfer ideologies. The success of this model has been limited so far. In the selection of R&D priori ties and goals, strategic approaches and time-bound delivery of outputs are not generally factored into. Whenever the participation of the user sector in the selection of R&D priorities has been ensured, the usability of the R&D outputs increases significantly, a relationship model involving all stakeholders engaged in the conversion of concepts into commercial realities has been far more successful than the transaction models deployed in the R&D sector in the country. Several countries have successfully developed relationship models to connect R&D outputs to national goals and economic development processes. Israel is highly successful in creating wealth out of innovations. The approach of the Twelfth Five Year Plan for the R&D sector should adopt such global best models for leveraging R&D outputs for national economic development. Below are some strategic concerns that need to be addressed for strengthening the eco-system and the proposed approaches for the way forward.
Enrichment of Knowledgebase.
5. Natural evolution of Basic research in India during the last three decades is inspired by the directions and priorities of the industrialized world, but without the matching linkages among academy-research and industry. Various factors have limited the global competitiveness of India in basic research. Although there are some general improvements during the Eleventh Five Year Plan period with respect to publications and patents on’ account of several measures, Indian basic research has been mostly supply-driven rather than catering to the increasing demands; both in terms of quantity and quality. Indian systems for supporting basic research has so far not adopted adequate measures for promoting institutional joint collaborative research with active schools in the global scene in futuristic frontier areas of science. The multi-disciplinary approach towards solving India relevant specific problems as challenges need to be undertaken in a systematic manner.
6. The approach therefore should be to (i) reduce the artificial divide between academic teaching and research institutions in India, (ii) spot, attract, nurture, and encourage sparks and talent in scientific research from undergraduate to postgraduate research through a lifelong learning approach, (iii) Identity areas of national interest, gaps for promotion of basic research and improving the quality of science education, (iv) focus on oriented basic research for meeting the national priorities on food and nutrition security, affordable health care, water, energy and environment security, etc., (v) Incentive, sharing and collaboration of multidisciplinary approach to enriching the knowledge base through the global integration, and (vi) participate in Global Research Consortia in creating mega facilities for basic research.
University, industry, and Scientific Establishment Collaboration:
7. India has the third-largest education system in the world. A conducive research sector requires cutting edge research universities, industrial R&D Centres and a network of Government Laboratories with well-maintained infrastructure and liberal funding, working together towards defined objectives. Further, effective mechanisms of collaboration need to be created for universities and industry bodies so that research output and innovations can effectively be commercialized and transformed into marketable products and services for last-mile benefits.
8. The approach therefore should be to (i) encourage universities and research centers to focus expertise and resources on key industrial focus areas, (ii) encourage flows of knowledge, created by universities and scientific research establishments, into the industry, (iii) help universities create industry-ready talent pools, with practice-relevant skills, (iv) use university expertise to upgrade industry talent, (v) encourage universities and industries to apply faculty expertise in specific, operations-relevant problem areas, (vi) synergize the expertise in universities and research establishments – in areas such as manufacturing, ICT,and industrial management – to enhance the efficiency and productivity of existing industries vi) identify, develop, and scale programs and projects (such as new research parks) that draw on and synergize complementary capacities within research institutes and the private sector vii) draw on industry practitioners’ experience and expertise to develop and advance research objectives at scientific establishments, teaching curriculum development and upgrades at universities, and (viii) utilize industry infrastructure for upscaling of technologies.
Incentivizing R&D in Public and Private Sector
8. There is an urgent need for attracting larger investments of the private sector into R&D. whereas the private sector investments into R&D in most globally competing economies are in the range of 1.2 to 3.0 of GDP, the corresponding investment of the Indian private sector never exceeded 0.2. While public-funded institutions are generating technology leads from Public funded R&D, the levels of utilization of such technology lead by commercial enterprises have been limited. The present models of research funding by and large in the country do not facilitate the venture funding of translational research in the private sector, whereas several global models do so. Current fiscal incentives for the attraction of investments into R&D by way of tax benefits have led only to marginal results and the linkages between academia-research and industry remain underdeveloped and weak. The investments into/by the Public Sector Undertakings for R&D have also been much lower than desired. The State led stimulus for innovative products through procurement guidelines, technology acquisitions or facilitating FDI in research in the country has not been explored adequately. The systematic encouragement to the Indian diaspora also has not
been fully exploited. Stimulation of the entrepreneurial environment, reduction of the stigma on failure, a strong angel and venture capital supporting system to back up innovations and access to the assured market for products of innovation are some key elements of a well-designed innovation ecosystem. The Twelfth Five Year Plan programs of R&D sector should look beyond the generation of technology leads, patents and intellectual products. It should design and position sufficient incentives for not only R&D but also for the utilization of R&D results leading to an economic outcome.
been fully exploited. Stimulation of the entrepreneurial environment, reduction of the stigma on failure, a strong angel and venture capital supporting system to back up innovations and access to the assured market for products of innovation are some key elements of a well-designed innovation ecosystem. The Twelfth Five Year Plan programs of R&D sector should look beyond the generation of technology leads, patents and intellectual products. It should design and position sufficient incentives for not only R&D but also for the utilization of R&D results leading to an economic outcome.
9. There is, therefore, a need to create a vibrant landscape of Public-Private Partnership and an enabling framework for attracting investment from the industrial sector, both public and private sector into R&D system and incentivize the same for linking development with the technology sector. This would include: (i) creating early ‘trial’ markets
around national priorities and allowing private firms to recoup investments in R&D (ii) helping private companies access the best technical resources – increasing the chances of R&D success, reducing uncertainties, and incentivizing investment, (iii) enabling public and private sector companies to overcome risks in commercialization and value capture and (iv) making regulatory frameworks less complex, and more facilitative, for technological innovation in the industrial sector.
around national priorities and allowing private firms to recoup investments in R&D (ii) helping private companies access the best technical resources – increasing the chances of R&D success, reducing uncertainties, and incentivizing investment, (iii) enabling public and private sector companies to overcome risks in commercialization and value capture and (iv) making regulatory frameworks less complex, and more facilitative, for technological innovation in the industrial sector.
Improving the Flow of Technology
10. It is important that the development and results of affordable technology reach and positively affect the people at the Bottom of the Pyramid (BoP) in the country. Currently, technological innovations fail to be inclusive in nature and cater to only the affluent sections or people with relatively high levels of income in the economy. This is because these technological innovations tend to have a high R&D cost which has to be subsequently recovered when diffused in the economy. This high cost impedes innovative developments to reach the needy and/or people with very low or no sources of income.
11. India is in a unique position to mount a strong initiative for affordable innovations for technologies for social and public good by taking advantage of a) Low expertise costs and b) Vast talent base. However, the engagement of multiple stakeholders and creating Public-Private-Partnership for promoting people-centric research is a challenge to address national goals with specific targets in a time-bound manner. While technologies for public, strategic and social goods would require collaborative excellence, competitive excellence models for private good would come from industrial sector, as is the case in most developed countries.
12. The proposed approach would therefore be to (i) engage multiple stakeholders and creating Public-Private-Partnerships to develop innovative business/engagement models to include all sections of the economy (ii) increase R&D penetration in in the MSME sector by developing institutional linkages with research & development establishments (iii) address the immediate technological barriers faced by some important needs and priorities of the country by setting up PAN India mission mode programmes for agriculture, food, water, energy, environment and affordable human health care and Technology Missions, (iv) create mechanisms for flow of technologies from strategic sector to non-strategic sectors for social and public good applications and vice versa, and (v) enhance the involvement of State S&T agencies to translate the technological developments for local reach.
13. Food security of India is closely related to the development of technologies for increasing the agriculture outputs through process innovations for land saving and water use efficiency. This also calls for the development and deployment of new agro-biotechnology tools and precision agriculture for increasing the output of the agriculture sector in the country by synergizing the strengths of institutions both under the public and private sectors and adopting a new approach for agriculture research and extension. With the robust growth of the economy, demands for research solutions for secondary agriculture are also expected to rise, which would open up several new avenues for research-industry partnership in the country and development of testbeds for assessing the techno-commercial potentials of the technology leads under Public-Private-Partnership models.
14. To achieve optimal health for its people, India has unique challenges due to its large population, demographic transition and vulnerability to all epidemics. Elimination of endemic and pandemic diseases and controlling diabetes are the major areas that require immediate R&D interventions in a mission mode. Biomedical devices and instrumentation is another area of serious gap in the country. Therefore, breakthrough innovations, with appropriate stress on translational research for affordable health care, are the need of the hour and would call for new models and mechanisms for evaluating technologies for improving healthcare at individual and public health level, fostering academia-industry linkage; and linking technology developers with industry for translation of lead products/processes. Given the enormity of the challenges ahead, strengthening of public-funded Bio-medical research system, both in scale and quality is essential, besides incentivizing the industrial R&D through joint research between public and private sector under the PPP model.
15. Water challenge is a major national issue in the country both in terms of quality and availability. Quality related issues on account of contamination of water require a set of technological solutions different from those needed to address quantum related challenges of water-starved regions. Sustainability of research-led solutions depends on the interface of technology with policy and societal behavior. Water-related technologies form an ideal theme for building state-center partnerships. The challenge, therefore, is to convert research outputs from the laboratories into revenue models based solutions in a coordinated manner among the relevant departments in both states and centres for innovative deployment under real field conditions.
16. The Energy sector R&D activities in India is dominated by the public sector, however, the size of investments are much smaller, both in absolute terms and as percentage of the sales turnover. Our expenditure on energy R&D excepting for Atomic Energy, which provides less than 3 percent of our total electrical energy supply, is minuscule compared to what industry and governments spend in developed countries. Biomass and coal, which are the mainstays of the Indian energy system, receive little attention in terms of R&D. A PAN India effort on energy research with effective coordination would seem appropriate. Right sized technologies for decentralized applications for energy generation from agricultural biomass will be a valuable contribution and efforts are already on way towards the development of technologies for high rate bio-methanation from agro residues. Bio-refinery is an emerging theme. Viable technologies complete with solutions for meeting discharge standards would be a valuable step forward. Development of innovative climate-resilient technologies should find a larger share on the overall energy R&D front. Once again development of such technologies must be backed up with suitable schemes for supporting deployment until sustainable revenue models are standardized and market forces propagate technology utilization.
17. MSME sector in India which is a strong pillar of economic growth is characterised by low technology levels with some exceptions. This acts as a major handicap in the growth of MSME sector in the emerging global market and is therefore, seen as the next frontier for infusion of technology, While R&D has taken great strides in other fields, its penetration to the MSMEs has been very minimal. Despite efforts, institutional linkages with research & development establishments and industry (including MSEs) have not developed. The challenge therefore is to enable the MSMEs embrace the new technologies to leap frog and contribute significantly in the inclusive growth process.
Promoting Collaborations through Clusters
18. Collaborations can play a crucial role in stimulating innovations and fostering knowledge transfers which would foster interconnections that link intellectual, financial, human, and creative capital as well as unleash underutilized capital. Such enterprises could take the shape of physical or virtual clusters, which bring together research, business, risk capital, and creativity to turn ideas into products, processes, and services. In the Open Innovation Model, by using an “open source” and collaborative approach, organizations could expect to develop affordable products for the world which otherwise would not be a cost effective option for many organizations. Many clusters and collaborative initiatives to foster innovation have begun to operate in the country.
19. Government needs to take appropriate steps to promote the growth of such collaborative initiatives, both in the physical and virtual domains. The National Innovation Council (NInC) is in the process of facilitating the setting up of industry and university, based clusters to spur innovations.
Intellectual Property Rights
20. Management of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) has become extremely important in the new knowledge economy with global competition. An adequate right on the intellectual property produced by an innovator enables innovators to’ recoup their investments and make profits. Thus IPR spurs innovation. Good national IPR systems also enable knowledge of technological advances to be accessible through the patent system to others who can build on them. Thus innovation can be further facilitated. To obtain both these benefits for innovation, India must improve its management of IPR. On one hand, the administrative machinery for IPR management must be considerably strengthened and professionalized-DIPP has taken up this task. At the same time, India must engage with confidence in the evolution of international frameworks for improving IPR
management.
management.
21. Holders of IPR have incentives to strengthen and extend their monopolies. However monopolies can restrain competition and further innovation, and thus tend to increase costs for customers. This is the fear even in the West, with respect to pharmaceuticals for example Moreover, the concept of monopolizing knowledge that underlies prevalent models
of IPR, can have perverse effects when it is extended to areas of traditional knowledge, preventing poorer people from continuing to use their own knowledge without payments to those who have ‘patented’ it under IPR. New models of collaborative innovation are emerging, such as Open Source Drug Discovery-an Indian innovation, that reduce costs of
innovation and increase its speed. Concepts of IPR will have to be developed to suit such new models of innovation in which, incidentally, India has great stakes because of their potential to produce ‘frugal’ innovations for inclusive growth. Therefore, as India aims to become amongst the global leaders in innovation, it will also have to be amongst the leaders in efficient management of and innovations in IPR.
of IPR, can have perverse effects when it is extended to areas of traditional knowledge, preventing poorer people from continuing to use their own knowledge without payments to those who have ‘patented’ it under IPR. New models of collaborative innovation are emerging, such as Open Source Drug Discovery-an Indian innovation, that reduce costs of
innovation and increase its speed. Concepts of IPR will have to be developed to suit such new models of innovation in which, incidentally, India has great stakes because of their potential to produce ‘frugal’ innovations for inclusive growth. Therefore, as India aims to become amongst the global leaders in innovation, it will also have to be amongst the leaders in efficient management of and innovations in IPR.
Platform for Best Practices and Innovations.
22. Currently, there are many enterprises across the country which are delivering benefits to citizens and meeting the challenges of inclusion in areas such as health, education energy, low-cost housing, sanitation, and more through innovative solutions. Often these go beyond the formal confines of R&D labs to include innovations in public service delivery or organisational innovations in local communities aimed at inclusion. However, there is no aggregated platform or single repository to collate and disseminate these best practices and ideas. Also, while some such innovations manage to gamer attention on a national scale, most of these workable solutions remain confined’ to their local contexts and don’t achieve economies of scale because of the lack of a single platform for sharing these best practices among multiple stakeholders. Strengthening the innovation eco- system requires a platform for information sharing and dissemination to ensure:
(1) improved access to knowledge and (2) Support in the form of resources, linkages, mentoring and outreach. Greater knowledge of innovations can stimulate their adoptions and adaptations on a large scale. This decentralized, open, and networked model would enable information sharing on innovations and collaboration among stakeholders on an unprecedented scale.
(1) improved access to knowledge and (2) Support in the form of resources, linkages, mentoring and outreach. Greater knowledge of innovations can stimulate their adoptions and adaptations on a large scale. This decentralized, open, and networked model would enable information sharing on innovations and collaboration among stakeholders on an unprecedented scale.
Improving Governance in S&T Institutions:
23. Optimum utilization of appropriate institutional framework created to enhance India’s R&D capability need to undergo critical review to ensure that the much needed resources, both financial and human, are deployed in an optimal fashion. This may even call for foreclosing some of the programmes which have outlived their relevance. It is critical to leverage the industrial infrastructure and create appropriate institutional framework and organizational mechanisms cutting across departments to derive maximum benefits of the investments.
24. It would be desirable to (i) bring in radical but participative transformation, which is multifaceted and multi-directional for structural changes in rebuilding and transforming existing institutions, (ii) provide greater autonomy to S&T institutions including de- bureaucratization, (iii) provide flexibility to younger generation of scientists to pursue their creative ideas, (iv) enhance synergy for inter-institutional collaborative research, (v) promote setting up of newer world class publicly owned and privately managed institutions and (vi) bring in process reforms, particularly with relation to HR, finance, procurement and performance appraisal.
Use of GIS for Development
25. Geographical Information System (GIS) has assumed a critical role in the planning process and is the key to better decision-making. GIS is also now powering more open government and thereby leveraging economic and social development and reaching the gains of development to the grass-root level and also bringing in accountability and responsibility of public activities. It provides a much needed foothold for solving complex spatial problems: such as tracking the air, surface and groundwater flows and concentrations of pollutants, developing population distribution projections, preparing land use scenarios and anticipating future land development; developing urban growth models etc.
26. Therefore it would be necessary to (i) make available the spatial information, and the dissemination of this information to all concerned by development of a centralized GIS with a common IT platform for accessing information, resulting in streamlined processes and greater operational efficiencies (ii) frame the Policies that support the necessary sharing of data across the stakeholders, data interoperability and standards (iii) fully integrate the global positioning system and remote sensing imagery with GIS and radical new forms of display on a 3D view of the terrain (iv) educate potential
users on the utilization of GIS data.
users on the utilization of GIS data.
Supportive Financial System
27. Innovation requires a financial system which is supportive and inclusive and which provides the necessary risk capital to spur innovations and enterprises. Venture Funds are recognized globally as the most suitable form of providing risk capital for the growth of innovative technology and breakthrough ideas.
28. While India is amongst the top recipients in Asia for Venture Funds and Private Equity Funds so far, these investments need to be focused on small early stage start-ups and not only into relatively large and ‘safer’ investments. To have a greater impact existing funding options, especially made available by the Government need to increased India’s dependency on foreign VC/PE funds and almost no domestic venture capital needs to be addressed.
29. Despite the growth in the VC industry in India and the complementary increase in government schemes, the
seed funding stage continues to be severely hampered. Also, it is especially crucial to provide funding for stimulating innovations that will produce socially useful outcomes for poorer people and enterprises which are focused on delivering this. In light of this, the Indian innovation eco-system requires early stage funds acting as angel investors. A dedicated fund, seeded by the Government, and targeted at promoting innovative initiatives that focus on inclusive growth could play a crucial
role.
seed funding stage continues to be severely hampered. Also, it is especially crucial to provide funding for stimulating innovations that will produce socially useful outcomes for poorer people and enterprises which are focused on delivering this. In light of this, the Indian innovation eco-system requires early stage funds acting as angel investors. A dedicated fund, seeded by the Government, and targeted at promoting innovative initiatives that focus on inclusive growth could play a crucial
role.
30. In addition, there is a need to take up policy initiatives for grants to private sector for undertaking R&D in public and social goods, establishment of test beds for indigenous technologies developed by public funded institutions, competitive grant system for states for innovative deployment of indigenous technologies, and fostering partnerships between R&D institutions under socio-economic ministries of the Government of India and academic institutions.
31. Regular, rather frequent interaction with G-20 and SAARC countries would be needed for keeping update our S&T plan. The Department of Science & Technology New Delhi could be the nodal agency in this regards.
