Inadequate support for deep technology by publicly funded research and development: Learning

Image of representation. |Picture source: Getty Image/Istockphoto

Only about a quarter of publicly funded R&D organizations in India provide incubation support for startups, and only one in six supports “deep technology” startups. A study commissioned by the Office of Major Scientific Advisors and performed by the Federation of Industry in India (CII) and the Center for Technology, Innovation and Economic Research found that only 15% of people work with overseas industries, with only half of them opening facilities to outside researchers and students.

Through a detailed questionnaire, the study asked the lab to rate itself and provide data on 62 parameters, such as their spending on R&D, the number of young scientists, patents applied for, the technology formulated, participation in female scientists and their contribution to the “national task”, such as deep-sea quantization tasks, national quantum misunderstandings, etc.

Laboratories of the “strategic sector” such as those belonging to the defence research, space, atomic energy research (all these lions that make up the overall R&D (R&D) expenditure in India) were excluded from the research, which is due to the “sensitivity of work” and therefore excluded from the research. The laboratory studied is affiliated to the Science and Industry Research Council, the Department of Science and Technology, the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, etc.

In this figure cited in the study and the latest available figures, the central government spends about R&D at around Rs 556,85 crore. In addition to spending in strategic sectors such as DRDO (Defense), DAE (Atomic Energy) and DOS (Space), the expenditure of major scientific institutions and other central government departments is Rs 24,587 crore.

About 25% of participating institutions reported spending on R&D between 75% and 100% of their budget. The reported organizations reported less than the median share of R&D and S&T (Science and Technology) in their overall budgets than ICAR (Agricultural Research), CSIR, ICMR (Medical Research), Ayush (Ayurveda and Traditional Medicine) and DST (Science and Technology).

Reduced strength of employees

Compared to the previous year, the number of permanent employees in 2022-23 decreased many labs/organizations, while the dependence on contract employees increased from 17,234 to 19,625.

The median number of young researchers increased to 54% in 2022-23. In the previous exercise, for organizations participating in about 193 organizations, the figure was about 63% to 65% over the 2017-18-20-20 period.

“This is the second time we have done such an analysis. Our intention is that the data from the study have rigorous analysis of institutions so that they can identify areas of improvement,” said lead scientific consultant Dr. Ajay Sood. “Overall, overall, it seems that some researchers have already conducted Innovation in Innovation and Innovation norkia and Innovity and Innove and Innerof in Innove from the Innovation Cemporters Center.

As part of its recommendation, the report advocates that each laboratory “requires review of its existing mandate” and aligns with Viksit Bharat’s goals. The mission should be carried out in accordance with the “key technology” focus as directed by the government and carried out by publicly funded R&D organizations. They should work closely with the industry and with each other.