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Which is the most important thing we wish to achieve in Indian science ? The critical mass. Yes, we are urgently and massively needing the critical mass of scientific experts in each scientific discipline you can imagine of. As Indians, we have tendency not to define things specifically. Around the corner, we always kept things vague. We dont like to publish the white reports of each scientific sector`s future as Japanese are doing it since many years. Or we do not wish to learn from the American system of alarming to their nation through the report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" in which National Academy of Science and Engineering warns about what we today understand by Fareed Zakaria`s Post American World and its deep engagement with science, mathematics education, rising tendency to do hard work, rising science technology indicators like publications, patents, R&D investments etc. Even conservative historian who takes pride in supporting colonialism Niall Ferguson in his latest book "Civilization: West and the Rest", endorses how complacency of the western world and hard working approach of the east is making the difference. Is India ready to take plunge in this great transformation through genuine investment in science education, research and development and innovation activities? Or we also will be content only by the historical successes of IITs, IIScs and few centers of excellences which are also not growing around the greatest benchmarks of world science.
The other day, when I attended a expert meeting who were discussing how the future of weavers and how the handloom sector can be secured by planning different schemes, policies; Minister of that department asked a provocative question. At the end of day what we want? Do we really wish to make the handloom sector the world class brand and make weaver community self reliant by making them free from the government schemes and multi national company`s paltry benefit share after the handsome sale of their products. He further added, "What we are discussing is what. We know what we wish to achieve. There is not doubt about that. But how to do that is the crucial question we need to ask each other consistently." In a way Minister was hinting towards the fact that traditional knowledge of weaving community resides in the weaver. We have to respect him. On the same lines when I was thinking about many of the initiative central government is taking about creating new central universities, 14 world class universities, IITs, IIMs, INSPIRE scheme for inspiring young students to move towards the science research, different R&D grants being given for projects etc. We usually talk about creating huge facilities, institutions and great laboratories to foster scientific research in India but we hardly pay attention to create the genuine people who can do that. Again we know what we wish to achieve it. But we do not know how we will do it.
When every year there are crores of rupees allocated for Indian science, one thing is clear. Government is not able to monitor how that money is being spent. There is not evaluation. Because large money given to R&D projects is a grant-in-aid, so government dont want the research results, because it believes that those research results will go to public. Fair enough. But there should be some kind of feedback system to monitor the funding. On the top, DST is not the executing agency for big science technology projects, it is a just demonstrator. Why? The execution of training programs is not mandate of DST. Why? Can you imagine, the increase in MHRD budget is 1.5 times more than entire budget of DST in last few years. Most important challenge is to create that manpower to use all these funds and all these facilities being planned, created.
We are talking about joint appointments of scientists in academic and research institutions, we are talking about creating more post doctoral fellows, we are talking about creating world class facilities at every corner of the country but consider one fact. The number of Indian students working on their Ph.D.s in USA is more than that of working in India. So, even though we boast about creating many many institutions, who will come to teach and do research in coming Indian institutions.
So, what lies ahead? Govt. has started thinking in terms of paradigm. Some catalysts which started to be working since National Knowledge Commission are showing colors. In the last sixty years we have witnessed innovation playing major role in improving health, education, transport, communicate, infrastructure, energy, governance. At the same time there are serious global challenges related to female literacy, infant mortality, water and sanitation, food and nutrition, alternate energy, draughts and floods, preserving scientific temper, better delivery of services, environment, war, security etc. As we enter the Innovation Decade and 12th Plan it is necessary to refurbish our understanding about innovation. It involves thinking differently, creatively and insightfully. This will enable to have solutions/inventions that have an impact on social and economic value. The kind of scientific initiatives we need to take require definitely going beyond conventional products/processes/
The science and technology can contribute to the innovation in different domains of life. Products, services, processes, organizations, governance, creating opportunities in development/social sector, addressing urban rural divide, how to collaborate or create links of cooperation between public, national, international, private sector, individuals, institutions. The driving factors behind innovations are people, culture, diversity, ecosystem, new threats, opportunities, and unbalancing elements in flow of knowledge when encountered with particular problem. Innovations are required to improve performance, productivity, quality, reducing price etc. They are key to growth, prosperity and problem solving world over. Science and Technology institutions with their human resources, knowledge intensive capability of enterprising mind, high broadband connectivity and ability to forge new collaborations on the basis of problem identified for particular area of work. Changing nature of science and technology demands multidisciplinary, collaborative and increased speed in terms of execution because obsolescence rate in new technologies is very fast compared to previous generation technologies.
Human development factor remains key to the any initiative of scientific mission of government. Universal applications which address the basic concerns of the livelihood and motivating open source innovation models is inescapable reality. Making best use of scarce resources like people and institutions is the top priority of this hour. Ensuring the relevance of research institutions in modern economy is very much the direction in which we should be going. This belief also includes providing scientific technological support to local industries to assist in improving their competitive position. Sustaining and improving quality of both curiosity driven research and applied research is required.
When we view science technology as strategic sector establishing a sense of urgency must be first step to take. Formation of powerful experts coalitions groups, creating clear vision and objectives which can be monitored, evaluated and followed for post-implementation analysis, communicating this vision, creating short term target which will incrementally add to the bigger plan targets, consistently consolidating the targets and improving upon the change and institutionalizing the innovative approaches which will be easy to train/educate people to inculcate into the human resources of the organizations; are some of the crucial steps in the direction of deploying science and technology for strategic purposes. The strategic challenges in front of Indian Scientific establishment are clearly complex web of multiple issues to handle simultaneously with great harmonizing effect. The number of researchers per million (119 compared to 715 of China, 4628 of USA & 5300 of Japan), R&D expenditure (0.8 % of GDP),
Larger strategy for science and technology will include providing broader platforms for innovations to include products, services, organizations and institutions, processes, research and development, science and technology, governance, social and cultural issues, mindset and national, state, sectoral councils. In this direction, encouraging innovations aiming at bottom of pyramid which will provide awareness, access, affordability, availability, scalability, sustainability, quality, pervasive growth, innovations by/for people & innovations for the people who are at the bottom of the pyramid is necessary.
Creating ecosystem for this will have multiplier affect. This will include incentives and awards, innovation clusters in universities, innovative business clusters, promoting innovation in MSMEs, allowing organizational autonomy and flexibility, clear policies and programs, creating new institutions for addressing that strategic core of scientific research, creating institutional framework and awareness about venture capital, creating awareness about Intellectual Property Rights and also strengthening the initiatives which believe in open source research, establishing ICT tools in more pervasive ways.
This ecosystem will only be sustainable if we will be able to establish the key drivers in that system. These drivers are approaches which are multidisciplinary, collaborative, distinguishing between generational changes vs incremental changes, durable vs disposable, need vs demand, nature vs nurture, locally relevant, globally connected and competitive, focusing at the quality edge. These drivers will enter into realization of stakeholders after the Spaces of Discourses communicate these issues consistently. These spaces are discussions, debates, seminars, conferences, best practices, subversive dialogue, irreverent dialogue, new ideas, innovation, ICT portal etc. Thus role of technology will be as a tool for problem solving. Technology is definitely entry point to increase the delivery, access, efficiency, productivity, transparency, service etc.
In terms of policy building, main stake holder is government with evidence based approach and innovation ecosystem as a paradigm. When it comes to strengthening human capacity or raising critical mass of the professionals, it is the research community and how they plan for coming decade to attract talent and support systems for them in the paradigm of proactive measures. Strengthening institutional capacity is also next thing in waiting where institutions like community and university have big role to play by making use of increased competitive grant size given by government in the paradigm of excellence and expansion. Technology development harnessed by government, society and industry is very much participative process where solutions converge with each other`s interests. Societal interventions matter and governments, society and NGOs often need each other`s support to chart out a plan which needs to be changed from supply driven to demand driven where interventions to empowerment held greater chance of being successful. In the domain of international S&T cooperation, government and scientific community will use their resources and networks to move ahead with clear cut goal of strategic cooperation keeping in mind the principles of reciprocity, parity and emerging themes of science-technology diplomacy. So these are some of shades of coming times where Indian science is moving for? Enough for today, will keep discussing these issues in coming days. Have a nice visionary day !
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