HIGHLIGHTS FROM NITI AAYOG 3 YEAR ACTION AGENDA

CONTEXT AND CHALLENGES

India had a good beginning in Science and Technology (S&T) at independence. By 1970, various institutions had achieved great vibrancy. Many Indian scientists and engineers competed on the frontiers of research. While we continued to build on the S&T infrastructure in subsequent decades, we experienced a loss of momentum during the 1970s and 1980s. Luckily, there has been some return of this momentum in recent years though we have been greatly outpaced by China.

IMPEDIMENTS TO INDIA'S PROGRESS IN S&T:

1. PUBLIC FUNDING ON RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (R&D) IS LOW. In 2011, India spent 0.82% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on R&D. During the same year, the Chinese and South Korean governments spent approximately 1.8 and 3.7 % respectively.

2. PRIVATE INVESTMENT ON R&D ALSO REMAINS LOW. The private sector contributes about one-third of R&D investment as a share of GDP while public funds make up the rest. The dearth of funds hinders the translation of research to commercialization.

3. MANAGEMENT OF S&T INITIATIVES IS INEFFICIENT AND NON-UNIFORM. Bureaucratic hurdles, lack of interdepartmental synergies and a lack of clear prioritization hinder the implementation of various schemes.

4. GOVERNMENT SCHEMES FOR INNOVATION HAVE BEEN PRODUCING INADEQUATE RESULTS. Existing schemes for innovation suffer from duplication of efforts, long approval times and lack of clear evaluation guidelines.

5. TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IN KEY SECTORS HAS BEEN SLOW. Sectors such as agriculture, energy, waste management, health and crosscutting areas such as security and connectivity have not witnessed significant technological advancements.

6. THE LACK OF A WELL-FUNCTIONING NATIONAL ECOSYSTEM. We have a limited number of idea incubators and dedicated technology parks. Such facilities have proved important in developing an S&T ecosystem in China.

7. THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM HAS LAGGED IN TERMS OF R&D AS WELL AS PRODUCING AN ADEQUATELY TRAINED SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE. With research located in councils and teaching in universities and colleges, the critical link between teaching and research has been severed in India. With a lack of focus on research in the universities, industry-academia research link, so important in countries such as the United States, has also been lost. Furthermore, the absence of research at the universities has adversely impacted teaching and the growth of adequately trained scientific workforce.

GOALS FOR 2017-20
• Over the next three years, India’s S&T efforts should be directed towards creating a supporting environment for innovation and development and focus on priority sectors.
• Indian innovations should address the needs of the burgeoning middle class and rural residents.
• Development of affordable and durable products must be facilitated that are suitable for the local demand and context.
• Mechanisms to attract funding for and manage S&T initiatives must be put in place to achieve this broad vision.
• It should also be ensured that S&T is harnessed in a strategic manner to address challenges in key enabling sectors.
• Thirdly, efforts should be directed for building a powerful national innovation ecosystem, through incubation facilities, quality higher education and supportive policies.

MEASURES TO MAINTAIN A VIBRANT S&T ECOSYSTEM:

EVALUATE EXISTING GOVERNMENT SCHEMES IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION: There is a need to create a comprehensive database of all existing schemes related to S&T across different ministries and departments. It would aid in avoiding duplication of efforts, reducing approval times, increasing accountability & collaboration between entities and in measuring outcomes. Accordingly, schemes that are not delivering on their objectives should be discontinued. The released funds should then be spent on revamping and consolidating well-functioning schemes and new high- priority schemes.

DEVELOP CLEAR GUIDELINES FOR PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS (PPPS) IN S&T: The involvement of Industry in S&T is important for ensuring demand-driven and relevant R&D. This can be achieved by facilitating collaboration between academic institutions, government departments and industry, through PPPs. Unlike the infrastructure sector PPP in R&D projects are associated with a higher risk and longer timeline for achieving results. This factor should be taken into consideration and clear guidelines should be developed for implementation of PPPs in S&T.

INSTITUTION TO COORDINATE ALL PUBLIC S&T EFFORTS AND ACTORS: The action agenda proposes to set up a “National Science, Technology and Innovation foundation” headed by a distinguished scientist. The foundation will coordinate with S&T departments, concerned ministries, state governments, researchers, private sector leaders and other stake holders to identify and deliberate national issues, recommend priority interventions in S&T and prepare frameworks for their implementation. The progress of public projects can be monitored through the proposed foundation. With the inputs from the expertise of the foundation members the societal impact of the projects can be maximized.

REINVENT TEACHING-RESEARCH-INDUSTRY LINK: The education system needs to begin establishing close link between teaching and research. The objective should be to eventually allow research to go beyond Research Institutes and Councils and be encompassed by research Universities as well. The burden of teaching should be reduced and research must be made an integral part of the responsibilities of faculty members at the universities. The universities must also be given autonomy to attract research staff from abroad or local research bodies to create a critical mass of research faculty in specific areas. They must also be encouraged to compete for research projects from industry.

IMPROVE THE ADMINISTRATION OF PATENT REGIME: India is a party to WTO Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and has established a strong Intellectual Property Rights Regime. In May 2016, the Cabinet also approved a National Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Policy. It is important that this policy be communicated and disseminated to scientists, engineers and other researchers in the public and private sectors to spur innovation. More importantly, there is a need to streamline the administration of patent regime. There are widespread complaints about delays in the grant of patents in India. Slow processing often discourages potential applicants from filing patents. It is appalling that according to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) data, patent applications by residents in India steadily rose from 6,296 in 2007 to 12,579 in 2015 while patents granted to them fell from 3,173 to barely 822 over the same period. In contrast, patents granted to residents in China rose from 31,945 in 2007 to 263,436 in 20155. Hence a quantum jump in numbers is needed to clear the backlog and meet the international standards in terms of time taken in processing patents.

PRIORITY SECTORS FOR INTERVENTIONS IN S&T:

India needs a focused approach to S&T to address its socio-economic challenges in key sectors and fields. India needs to draw lessons from the experiences of China and South Korea and focus on priority enabling sectors for growth. Some of the priority sectors as identified by NITI Aayog are as follows:

1. WATER MANAGEMENT: India’s growing population puts pressure on its finite water resources, innovations in the management and cleanliness of water will therefore prove critical to providing access to water to its citizens. Development of cost-effective, implementable, scalable, water sector technologies such as desalination, recycling, removing heavy toxic metals from water, and water conservation technologies should be prioritized for realizing the target of Water for All. These efforts should begin before 2019 to ensure that access to water remains uninterrupted as the country urbanizes and industrializes at a rapid pace.

2. AGRICULTURE: Agriculture accounts for nearly half of all employment in India and about 17% of the country’s GDP. However, the number of new technological innovations in the sector remains low. The government therefore should encourage innovations in three areas within agriculture that will help increase productivity in an environmentally sustainable manner.
i. It should seek to develop technologies for rejuvenating soil affected by overdose of pesticides, fertilizers and other toxic chemicals
ii. It should invite research to help develop cost effective technologies for implementing Precision Agriculture (PA) or satellite farming or site specific crop management (SSCM) for farming management based on observing, measuring and responding to inter and intra-field variability in crops
iii. It should invite scientists to develop cost-effective technologies for food storage and transportation to minimize post-harvest losses in agriculture.

3. ENERGY: The government should encourage the development of clean coal technologies and renewable sources of energy. To drive growth in a sustainable manner, the manufacturing sector needs reliable access to a variety of energy sources, including sustainable energy. Stakeholders should be incentivized to develop technologies for capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and combining it with hydrogen for producing Methanol (fuel) and olefins (for use in textile and other industrial applications).

4. WASTE MANAGEMENT: As India industrializes, waste management will play a crucial role in ensuring that the development takes place in a sustainable manner. The government urgently needs to fund the development of cost-effective technologies for addressing waste accumulation in solid, semisolid and liquid forms as well as technologies to convert "waste to energy." Development of Technologies for transforming agricultural waste into Methanol or other forms of energy should also be encouraged.

5. HEALTH: The government should help develop creative and cost-effective solutions to recurring vector borne diseases such as chikungunya, dengue and drug resistance malaria. Solutions may take the form of new vaccines, devices that help detect and kill mosquitoes carrying the viruses and creating sanitary conditions that prevent the multiplication of mosquitoes in the first place.

6. CONNECTIVITY AND SECURITY: Policymakers should also incentivize innovation in crosscutting areas such as connectivity and security that affect the economy and the success of other programs in the short term. With respect to connectivity, the government should help develop affordable technologies for providing nationwide digital connectivity, which will form the backbone for e-governance, e-health, communications, rural innovations and entrepreneurship in realizing the Digital India Vision.

By: Chandan Sharma