Indian Science and Technology landscape: a leap for a better future
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India produces a large quantity of scientific research, ranking 4th globally in terms of total research publications in 2020 according to Elsevier SciVal and having the 9th largest number of publications in journals included in the Science Citation Index. However, the country is comparatively lower in terms of the innovation environment it offers, being placed only 46th in the most recent Global Innovation Index.
As per UN’s forecasts India’s population will grow to 1.5 billion by 2030 and will overtake China’s by 2025. Out of 5 million students who received a bachelor's degree in STEM subjects worldwide, 29% were from India. The Government of India’s 2020 budget (£330 billion) awarded a 13% increase to science ministries, announcements included major quantum and genetic mapping programmes, alongside aspirations to build a “new Indian economy” around AI, 3D printing, drones, Agri-tech and DNA storage.
While delivering the inaugural address at the 107th India Science Congress in Bengaluru on 3 January 2020, Prime Minister Modi said, “There is a need to revolutionise the landscape of Indian Science Technology and Innovation.” The ongoing Indian government initiatives such as the new national policies particularly the Science and Technology Policy (currently under revision), consolidation of research fund, commitment to increase gross expenditure on research and development from 0.7% to 2% and international collaborations are all targeted to realise India’s ambition in this area and improve country’s overall productivity.
A better understanding of India’s science and technology environment is crucial for UK institutions looking to cooperate with Indian partners in this area. This article attempts to provide a comprehensive picture of the research and innovations landscape in India, its policy and institutional framework, the key drivers and stakeholders. It also shares insight on the emerging priorities and factors which are likely to shape the future direction of India’s international collaborations and discusses existing partnerships and initiatives to support joint research between India and the UK.
Policy framework and priorities
The National Education Policy of India (NEP) 2020 clearly identifies enhancing India’s overall research capacity a key area of development where Indian HEIs currently rank low as compared to the global rankings. The policy states that through regulatory reforms and internationalisation, the key focus will be to raise the level of rigour of research management in Indian HEIs and setting up start-up incubation centres, greater linkages with industry and academia and inter-disciplinary research.
NEP 2020 proposes to bring in to focus the need for greater investments in research and coordinated effort from all institutions to place India higher in global knowledge production. The National Research Foundation (NRF) will be established as the nodal agency for research to provide merit-based, peer reviewed research funding and recognition to outstanding research not only at national level but also at state where research capability is comparatively lower. It will be the special purpose institution which will help in channelising systematic investment in research and innovation in India which has been low (0.69% of GDP) in comparison to the UK which spends around 1.7% of GDP on research and development. Some other countries spend even more, such as US with 2.8%, China (2.1%) Israel (4.3%) and South Korea (4.2%).
The key functions of NRF towards promoting a culture of research in the Indian education ecosystem will be to fund competitive, peer-reviewed grant proposals of all types and across all disciplines; seed, grow and facilitate research at academic institutions; act as a liaison between researchers and relevant branches of government as well as industry; policymakers are constantly made aware of the latest research breakthroughs and recognise outstanding research and progress achieved via NRF funding/mentoring across subjects.
In addition to the enhanced emphasis on quality of research, the newly proposed draft Science Technology and Innovation policy (STIP) aims to make India self-reliant in science technology and innovation (STI), focuses on development of institutional and individual excellence in research and innovation and aspires to be globally recognised among the top three scientific super-powers in the next decade.
The recent comprehensive public consultation on the draft STIP demonstrate India’s strong ambition to establish a future-ready ecosystem that will promote evidence based, consultative and stakeholder driven STI planning process and will promote world class research and innovation opportunities in India. The policy advocates for effective Research Excellence Framework for HEIs in India to review and assess the quality of research work that takes place in HEIs periodically. In addition, Collaborative Research Centres (CRCs) will be established that will bring together the entire research ecosystem (industry, academia, MSMEs and start-ups) with a goal to enhance industrial effectiveness and global benchmarking.
Further, the draft STIP lays considerable emphasis towards an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to nurture research and innovation in India that will help in breaking new grounds in new areas but at the same time help achieve socio-economic sustainable goals of growing India.
Complementing these policies, there are two overarching initiatives to take note of, which aim to bring in fresh perspective and creates a shared vision of scientific and research excellence for the next decade.
(i) The Mega Science Vision 2035 (MSV-2035), a policy initiative of the federal government started recently, involves a wide range of national stakeholders from research, academia, and industry. This will set out the direction of travel for India to take the STI leadership role, be ready to address the challenges of today and of future particularly in key thematic areas critical for India and the sub-continent. The exercise is expected to lead to more elaborate and in-depth roadmap and plans in alignment with the national priorities for the next decade and half.
(ii) Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC)
Further, the vision 2035 articulates the roadmap for critical technological capability and capacity that India will need to develop to achieve these prerogatives and align it to sectoral priorities such as Education, Medical Sciences and Healthcare, Food and Agriculture, Water, Energy, Environment, Habitat, Transportation, Infrastructure, Manufacturing, Materials, Information and Communication Technology.
Government Institutional Structure including central and key government institutions leading STI in India
The wide spectrum of research activities stems from the huge diversity of India. It is supported by a comprehensive structure comprising government (at federal and state level) and autonomous institutions. The graphic below provides an overview of the research ecosystem of India. The central government outlines the policy framework in consultation with state apparatus and is delivered by the respective institutes focusing on specific research themes and initiatives. Prime Minister along with Council of Ministers from respective Ministries and Principle Scientific Adviser (PSA) and the Prime Minister’s Science Technology Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) is the body that brings together industry, academia to propel the research and innovation initiatives across thematic areas.
Source: Landscape Analysis of India’s Current and Emerging Research and Innovation Excellence – PWC
The key central ministries (red boxes in the graphic) coordinate and conduct research through their affiliated autonomous institutions and laboratories. Some key autonomous institutions involved in leading cutting-edge research in science are covered below in detail.
Department of Science and Technology (DST): It will also be noteworthy to share some of the government initiatives/mission that have been established under the specific ministries like DST that was set up in 1971 with a mandate to provide sure footing to S&T activities in India and establish frameworks and policies to coordinate and integrate scientific activities across ministries, institutions, industry in India and internationally. Since then, DST has come a long way to promote STI in India with its multi-dimensional programmes impacting researchers, academia, industry, start-ups including a lasting impact on citizens.
As the largest extra-mural STI funding agency, DST’s investment in S&T has more than doubled from about £287 million (INR 2900 Cr) in 2014-15 to £602million (INR 6072 Cr) in 2021-22. DST has been instrumental in addressing key challenges to improve the quality of STI activities in India through training and capacity development of researchers, developing policy framework for effective collaboration with national and state level institutions, providing both short-term and long term grant for research activity to boost research output and impact, forging international collaborations with leading knowledge societies to address global and regional societal challenges and enhancing India reputation as an emerging STI destination globally.
To achieve all the above objectives, DST has come out with futuristic programmes and mission. Some examples are:
(i) Cyber-Physical Systems: DST has launched National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems to create a strong foundation and seamless ecosystem for cyber physical systems and technologies like AI, Robotics, IIOT encompassing knowledge generation, human resource development, research, technology, product development, innovation and commercialisation.
NM-ICPS also lays down a shared relationship between central and state government, industry and academia. The mission comprises four main activities: technology development; human resource and skill development (including development of CPS technology application tools for education at elementary and high school level); innovation & entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem and international collaborations.
Under the UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) phase 3, there were six research partnerships seeded on cyber physical systems furthering the international collaborations between India and the UK.
Within the thematic support programme of DST, three Centres of Excellence have been set up for “Climate Research” in Himalayan Universities in Kashmir and North Eastern States of Assam and Sikkim to lead climate research with the expectation to promote internal collaboration on climate research globally.
(ii) Visiting Advanced Joint Research (VAJRA) Faculty Scheme: To promote international collaboration between India and global STI community, VAJRA scheme allows international researchers/faculty to undertake high quality collaborative research in public funded research institutions of India and will explore even industry linkages backwards and forward for translational aspect of research.
(iii) Empowering Women Scientists and promoting gender equality in STEM landscape, DST has launched Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) on the UK’s Athena Swan model to support equality, diversity and inclusion in the STI landscape. In addition to GATI, Science and Research Board (SERB) launched SERB-POWER (Promoting Opportunities for Women in Exploratory Research) to bridge the gender disparity in research institutions in India. The project aims to bring about transformational change through the creation of an Indian gender equality framework, capacity building and mutual learning partnerships between six UK HEIs and 30 Indian HE & science and technology institutions.
Department of Biotechnology (DBT): Another important ministry that is furthering India’s advancement in STI was set up in 1986 with an aim to expand the horizons of India’s research capability in bioscience and development of skilled workforce, biotech products, technology to improve effectiveness and efficiency in food and nutritional self-reliance, cost-effective health and wellness and positive impact on environment as a result of clean energy and biofuel. Some of the noteworthy initiatives of DBT that are futuristic are listed below:
(i) Skill Vigyan Programme for entry level students (10+2 and graduates in Biotechnology) is a partnership programme between DBT and state council of science and technology which supports skills development and develops potential biotechnologists with high level of knowledge and skills in biotechnology areas to take-up jobs in industries, hospitals, medical colleges, R&D laboratories, diagnostic laboratories. It has been implemented in ten states (Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh). The target is to reach all states and union territories by 2022.
(ii) Biotechnology Industry Research Assistant Council (BIRAC) is a consortium of industry and academia that supports creation of a budding ground for tech-driven entrepreneurs and start-up through hand holding, targeted funding to promote new ideas, cutting edge technologies and strengthening industry-academia linkages. Till date it has supported 1000+ entrepreneurs, SME through various schemes, the number of start-ups is expected to grow to 10,000 plus by 2024 which will also establish India as a major player in the global biotech space.
Beside DST and DBT, there are number of other specific ministerial mission and research council that are also raising the bar of research excellence to either address societal concerns or promoting new ideas for a safe and secure nation and world.
India’s Research and Innovation Expenditure comes from the central government, state government, private sector and the FDIs. The main R&D spender is the government, almost contributing 60-65% of the total R&D spend with private sector contributing the rest. A very small fraction of spending comes from the state government.
India has been making progress in spending on research infrastructure, but in relative comparison, India’s R&D spend as a percentage of GDP is lower than the developed countries (refer the infographic below).
Source: Landscape Analysis of India’s Current and Emerging Research and Innovation Excellence – PWC
In addition to the federal funding, there is also a big push from the new STIP and NEP2020 to establish state funded and managed STI infrastructure. Karnataka has been on top of the National Institute for Transforming India, (NITI) Aayog’s (Government of India’s top think-tank organisation) Innovation Index for second time in a row consecutively as there is high FDI inflow in the state due to large corporate and angel investors. The other states that have potential to grow are Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh as it is expected that these states are setting up infrastructure to attract large scale corporate and FDI investment in the next decade.
International Collaboration Possibilities in research and innovation
This section looks at some of the technology and research areas where India has made significant investment and will explore international collaboration to further her ambitions in medium to long term perspective. The examples below are in no way an exhaustive list but an outline of the prominent ones where India is emerging as a strong player along with its global allies.
Artificial Intelligence Enabled Technologies: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are almost defining the world order by an array of integrated services in healthcare, education, connectivity, smart technology and allied sectors. In India, AI expenditure witnessed an upward trend of 109.6% during 2018 to reach £484 million. Moreover, AI expenditure is projected to grow with a CAGR of 39% over the period 2019-2025 touching around £8,583 million by 2025. In June 2020 INDIAai portal was launched in collaboration with NASSCOM and MEITY that will serve as a hub of all AI related developments and activities in India. AI and ML throw open a plethora of opportunities for international collaborations to develop and scale AI in India.
Quantum Frontier Mission of Government of India is another important discipline where international collaborations will be key to facilitate opening of new opportunities in computing, fundamental science domains like quantum chemistry, quantum sensors and communication and cyber security. With the allocation of about £814 million (INR 8,000 crore) under the union budget of FY2020-21, India has joined the race of hi-tech nations. DST has also launched a dedicated initiative named Quantum Enabled Science and Technology (QuEST) with an investment of £8.1 million over three years to explore new research possibilities and build capabilities of Indian research system, exploring collaboration with leading hi-tech nations like the UK where the National Quantum Computing Centre funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), and sponsored by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Science and Technologies Facilitation Council (STFC) is a leading institution of global repute in quantum computing research and commercialisation. The mission will also strive to contribute towards the SDG on poverty alleviation, promotion of industry, innovation and infrastructure, and peace and justice for all.
Another emerging tech field that is quite promising is future of transportation, as India gears up for Industry 4.0 transformation with an aim to become the factory for the world, there is need to re-define the transportation systems with a tech-driven integrated decision, visualisation and simulation by bringing together ML, Industry Internet of Things(IIOT), AI and Augmented Reality (AR) in a convergent way and has the potential to enhance the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25%.
With the use of clean energy and reduced usage of fossil fuels, India is committed to bring down the Green House Gas (GHG) emission intensity by 33% to 35% below 2005 levels by 2030 including expansion of the user base of solar energy for transportation opening up a wide sector of opportunities for international collaboration with global leaders in alternative and futuristic transportation.
The federal government also aims to bring all the information under one roof for researchers and collaborators across various themes in the national portal named I-STEM. Initiatives like ISTEM will provide the required push to promote more coordinated researcher networks not only in India but also with rest of the world on common thematic areas of interest. It will foster innovation at a faster pace in addressing national and global concerns and breaking ground for new frontiers in research and collaboration.
UK-India Collaboration in STI: This should be viewed in conjunction with the Indo-UK virtual summit of May 2021 between the two prime ministers culminating in a joint RoadMap 2030 vision which sets out goals for future relations including connections between people, cooperation in education, research and innovations, trade and investment etc. You can read our earlier blog on the joint roadmap 2030 vision here.
To facilitate a more robust and state of art research ecosystem in India, the British Council has been working on behalf of the UK government stakeholders and with other UK sector organisations and HEIs to bring in the best of the UK expertise through initiatives like UKIERI and Newton-Bhabha Fund.
Till date, UKEIRI has supported 105 research grants on mutually relevant themes of interest ranging from basic research to applied and interdisciplinary research like climate research, data science, human health, material science, environmental engineering, advance & future manufacturing, humanities and social sciences. The interest is also to take the research through to translation and potential commercialisation across government departments to optimise impact, utilise expertise and networks and promote two-way benefits.
The Newton-Bhabha partnership, co-funded by the UK and India since 2014, brought together respective scientists, researchers and innovators to find joint solutions to global challenges. In seven years, the two countries have jointly supported over 40 research and innovation programmes that have funded over 700 projects and over 3000 grant awardees spread across over 1200 UK and Indian institutes. It includes capacity building programmes such as PhD partnerships, fellowships, trainings and networking opportunities, research projects led by the UK and Indian researchers and innovation projects led by industrial partners.
Priority areas identified for research and innovation under the Newton-Bhabha programme are public health and wellbeing, food-energy-water nexus, sustainable cities and urbanisation and understanding oceans. These activities are strengthening the existing research and innovation partnerships between the two countries and developing new relationships between policy makers, government agencies, research organisations, higher education institutions, companies and enterprises of the UK and India. As an example, the Researcher Link workshop under the Newton Fund initiative has been a unique platform to bring researchers from both countries to brainstorm potential ideas for future collaboration and develop trusted partnerships network of researchers.
The biennial ministerial UK-India Science and Innovation Council will continue to set the agenda for the two governments’ science, research and innovation collaborations, aligned with wider-shared priorities and delivery in partnership.
Science and Innovation Network (SIN) in India was launched with the aim of linking science more directly to foreign policy priorities in India. SIN in the near term (5-year goal) is to develop an ambitious, international facing, sustainable science and innovation partnership with India and in the longer term, the vision is to have a UK-India science and innovation partnership that is internationally recognised as an unparalleled force for global good and the aims are orientated around three main priorities (healthcare, climate change and innovation) of the UK Government.
SIN focuses its “living bridge” projects on frontier, pioneering, early-stage ideas or research and explore with policy makers and experts in both countries to see if they are feasible concepts or collaborations to scale up. When gathered evidence suggests that these areas can become viable, larger scale market or infrastructure propositions or collaborations, it is passed on to the DIT, Energy or UKRI teams. This allows UK Government departments to make informed decisions before large amounts of funding are committed to programmes.
The Going Global Partnerships programme of the British Council, a Higher Education Partnership for teaching and learning programme announced recently will focus on providing grants to collaborative partnership between two or more Indian and UK HEI’s who are planning to create a joint delivery programme of study for UG/PG students in their respective institutions in innovative ways and forms. This will lead to a closer cooperation between UK-Indian universities and give new energy to an already strong legacy of cooperation.
Conclusion:
It is evidently clear that India is determined to take bold steps to revamp and re-energise the STI landscape with a series of policy level and regulatory reforms in the pipeline aimed to position India not only as a self-reliant science nation but also a trusted ally to the global scientific community in addressing the pressing global and regional concerns on one hand and on the other to create conducive environment where science and innovation could flourish making India and the rest of the world a safer, cleaner and a smarter place for our future generations.
There is a need to bridge the challenges that are not only infrastructure related where more facilities are needed to advance research and innovation and at the same developing human capital is of paramount importance. Creating opportunities of young researchers to have access to global best practices as India is also the youngest nation, raising the bar of research process and rigour, continuous development of faculty and research output will be key drivers to propel India’s ambition to be among top three science super power in the world. Creation of innovation hubs and clusters, having global approach towards research and innovation with an eye on emerging areas of national and global interest like climate change, clean energy and food security to smart living are going to dominate the research climate in the coming five to ten years.
India along with other global science leaders is committed to do whatever it takes to raise the bar of continued excellence. The next decade is of crucial importance for partnerships/collaboration and there is great potential for collaboration between UK and Indian institutions in specific research and innovation themes.
The examples of transformative policy level changes are testimony that there is great potential for seeding collaboration in specific research and innovation themes that India is going to explore from medium to longer term horizon. This will also lead to a paradigm shift in the way science education and industry application is viewed in its conventional sense opening a plethora of new career choices for younger generation not only in core scientific fields but also in a number of inter-disciplinary areas.
We’re surely in an exciting and fast paced era of scientific revolution unfolding!
Author: Rajendra Tripathi, Assistant Director, Higher Education, India
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