High quality research is the backbone for advances in science and technology and will provide a fillip to economic growth as well
The recent awarding of Nobel Prize for Economics to US economist Richard Thaler not only underlined the importance of research especially in the field of global economics, but also highlighted the fact that quality research is a much sought-after aspect of economics. Though it was heartening that former RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan also made it to the list of probable candidates for the Noble Prize, but at the same time it is very much evident too that India is yet to shift gears and produce highly talented individuals who can navigate the challenges posed by society and educational system and yet reach a global level of excellence. The reason for this state of affairs can be attributed to the lack of commitment to quality research in various fields.
Though research on an individual level is yet to reach the desired quality standards, institutional research and development (R&D) on the other hand has successfully powered organisations to excel beyond expectations in India and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is one such example.The success of Indian space research spearheaded by ISRO has left the whole world in awe. Having launched a record-breaking 104 nano-satellites, along with a 714-kg satellite for earth observation, into orbit from a single rocket, India has gained a reputation as a thrifty yet quality conscious satellite producer and launcher. This stellar performance by ISRO has been well supported and assisted by the Government initiatives and efforts. It is imperative that the Government inspire and encourage this quality of institutional R&D to percolate to the individual level so that the same excellence can be replicated among individuals as well. This may well herald the production of path-breaking research and eventual Nobel laureates.
The confidence in the Government is already bolstered by the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to catapult India to the top three countries in the world in the field of science and technology by 2030 and can prove to be the proverbial stepping stone to achieving global excellence in research in various scientific and technical spheres. Given the huge and diverse demographic dividend India provides, this vision can be quickly converted to reality with the help of expedited focus and intent from the Government. Once the vision is realised India will become the epicenter of knowledge, research and innovation. Research is the backbone for advances in science and technology besides economic growth, and to facilitate this the Government should have a broad approach to encourage research in non-sciences areas too for well-rounded economic growth.
The progress in improving India’s research quotient is slow, but of late the critical parameter of both public and private funding for enabling research has been steadily growing and this is inspiring and encouraging to say the least, and is evident in the the number of patents registered in the names of Indians or the number of articles published in well-known peer-reviewed journals.The data available with Scimago Journal and Country Rank shows that India's publication rank has gone two notches up from the 7th position to the 5th Position, since 2013. In contrast, according to the latest report by World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), China has emerged tops with an 18.7 per cent increase in patent applications in 2015, followed by the US. This shows that India has still a lot of R&D catching up to do with the world, especially its neighbour.
Globally, however, India is the sixth in the list of countries in terms of investment in R&D, with its share increasing slowing but steadily from 3.5 per cent in 2015 to 3.8 per cent in 2017. Compared to this, the US continues to be the country with the largest investment in R&D and holds the largest share of total global R&D spending of 25.5 per cent; it is, however, on a downslide. The US is followed closely by China at 20.8 per cent. It is expected that China will surpass US in total annual R&D spending by 2026 and continue to widen the gap after that point in time. Surprisingly, India spends on R&D more than the UK, France, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, Australia, Israel and Canada. However, this is not translating into development on ground, economic growth, progress and prosperity, and this is worrisome. In fact, a country the size of India must invest about 2 per cent of its GDP on R&D, instead of the present 0.8 per cent.This is the case with other countries such as Turkey, Korea, Iran and Israel which have a higher proportion of R&D investment than India when compared to their GDP.
Private funding can play an important role bridging this gap and boost the R&D capabilities of India. lessons can be learnt from Taiwan, where private funding helped it to become a dominant player in global semi-conductor industry. Although some companies have collaborated with IITs to fund 25 per cent costs of innovative projects, industry participation is lacking in the main. The recent provision of grants worth of Rs 56 crore to create faculty chairs in leading academic institutions across the country by Infosys Foundation is a move in the right direction. However, Indian universities continue to perform poorly in global rankings due to low research outcome. As Prime Minister Modi remarked recently, it is a blot on India that there is no Indian university in the top 500 universities in the world.
The lack of focus on R&D is costing India dearly with even homegrown companies such as the Tatas choosing to invest US$25 million in globally recognised institutions such as Harvard and Yale for top-end research instead of betting on India. lack of quality faculty and low research capability is plaguing the Indian research scenario. Therefore, the first step should be a public-private initiative to launch faculty development programmes in leading universities in India and focus on more outcome-based research. Additionally, industry should participate in developing the entrepreneurial culture in India by setting up incubation centres and research parks for innovative research.
Government initiatives in the right direction, strong private funding for developing research capabilities, accountability, outcome-based research, strict IPR rules to boost innovation and sustained increase of budgetary allocation for research will go a long way to improve India's research quotient.
(The writer is Assistant Professor and Head, Academic Planning Implementation, Amity University)