Indian science focusses on innovation, accessibility

Chennai: India should develop technologies that are both innovative and affordable, harness the young talent pool, encourage participation in research and increase industry-academia interaction -- these were the unanimous views of a panel at the 98th Indian Science Congress here Monday.

Kickstarting a panel discussion, Planning Commission member K. Kasturirangan said: "India is transforming from a poor economy to a stable middle economy. By 2025, the GDP is expected to be $10 trillion and the per capita GDP $7,000."

He said the 12th and 13th five year plan periods were important in this context. "There should be a linkage between academia, research institutes and industry. The research activities should be of societal relevance," he said.

Kasturirangan wondered whether defence research should be confined only to government institutes or could the private sector be asked to participate. According to him the, 15,000 crore domestic medical equipment sector offered a great opportunity for India as the country imports nearly 95 percent of its requirement.

Speaking about the 5,000 crore Indian instrumentation sector, M.S. Valiathan of Manipal University said the R&D activities in Indian space, nuclear and defence sectors had not acted as an engine of growth for the sector.

"The opposite happened with the American space agency NASA," he said. He said Indian manufacturers produce only 15 percent of the total value of domestic market. According to him, there should be a system for encouraging development of medical instrumentation in the country wherein academia, industry and research institutes join hands.

Stating that Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) spent around 24 percent of its turnover in R&D in the last three years, the company's chairman and managing director B. Prasada Rao said: "We also commercialise the products that come out of the lab. We earned 3,000 crore out of such products, and this year it is expected to go up to 8,000 crore."

Stating that a strong manufacturing sector was a must for India to have inclusive growth, Rao urged the necessity to draw long term, sector specific technology vision plans and connecting the scientific community to the industry.

According to P. Rama Rao of International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), by 2050 India will have one of the world's largest youth population and could be the single largest producer of Ph.D degree holders.

However, the current situation in higher technical education in India was worrisome as sectors like geology, mining and metallurgy were not attracting enough students, he said.