India is all set to embrace a new STI policy, salient features of new policy are:
Objective:
1. A National Science, Technology and Innovation Foundation will be established as a Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative for investing critical levels of resources for innovative and ambitious projects.
2. The focus of the policy environment will be:
Objective:
- The policy seeks to focus on both people for science and science for people and combine the benefits of excellence and relevance.
- India’s STI system needs to deliver solutions to address the pressing national challenges of energy and food security, nutrition, affordable health care, environment, water and sanitation and above all employment .
- Change ratio of public to private sector investments in R&D from the current 3:1 to 1:1 within the next five years.
- India should aim to increase its share of scientific publications from the current 3.5% to over 7% and quadruple the number of papers in top 1% journals from the current levels by 2020. Citation impact of Indian publications must improve and match at least the global averages.
- within the next five years the total number of FTE ( Full Time Equivalent) of R&D personnel must increase by at least 66% of the present strength.
2. The focus of the policy environment will be:
- Facilitating private sector investment in R&D centres in India and overseas.
- Permitting multi stakeholders participation in the Indian R&D system.
- Treating R&D in the private sector at par with public institutions for availing public funds.
- Bench marking of R&D funding mechanisms and patterns globally.
- Aligning Venture Capital and Inclusion Innovation Fund systems.
- Modifying IPR policy to provide for marching rights for social good when supported by public funds and for co-sharing IPRs generated under PPP.
- Exploring newer mechanisms for fostering Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) and science-led entrepreneurship.
- Providing incentives for commercialization of innovations with focus on green manufacturing.
- Prioritizing critical R&D areas like agriculture, telecommunications, energy, water management, drug discovery, material science including nano technology, climate change and space technology and promoting interdisciplinary research,
- Promoting innovations through mechanisms including “Small Idea-Small Money” and “Risky Idea Fund” to support innovation incubators
- Supporting STI driven entrepreneurship with high scaling coefficients and viable business models,
- Investing in young innovators and entrepreneurs through education and training.
Treating R&D in the private sector at par with public institutions for availing public funds.
This idea giving in-house R&D units, SIROs and MNC R&D centers equal opportunities would be a game changer. Hope Secretary DST and DSIR would take this as a major challenge and implement it on priority.
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