Opportune moment for India to pole-vault in every sector with Science, Technology and Innovation: DST Secretary

Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Prof Ashutosh Sharma emphasized that India is at the cusp of time from where the country can pole-vault in every sector and tackle our present and future challenges with the help of science, technology, and innovation, at a discussion on policies required to make research & innovation in India more impactful.

“We have the capacity to generate knowledge, but we have not been able to absorb that knowledge. Pull for knowledge for industry is critical. Invention and innovation have to work together with seamless connect between academia and industry, research, development, and market for accelerated pace of changes,” Prof Sharma said at the panel discussion organized by Kautilya University in partnership with Science Policy Forum.

He spoke about the liberalization of the geospatial data, the liberalised policies on drone and satellite as well as the Swamitva scheme, all of which would immensely boost economy and development and progress of the country at the discussion on ‘Let’s Talk Policy session – How can Research & innovation in India be more impactful’.

The ‘Let’s Talk Policy is a panel discussion series initiated by Kautilya School of Public Policy that brings forth a select group of panelists, sharing differing views on key issues of national and global relevance and building the dialogue into a conversation for the student community. The series aims to unravel major themes around democracy, politics, and human rights and explore the challenges and rewards of implementing practices by creating a cohesive platform and calling on thematic experts to foster a healthy dialogue around the most pressing issues. The discussion organized on August 3 on ‘How can Research & innovation in India be more impactful’ focused on ways to beef up the national innovation ecosystem.

Dr. Chandrima Shaha, President, Indian National Science Academy, underlined the need to bridge the trust deficit between public and private sectors and appealed to the private sector to train and absorb qualified and can play a role in contributing to the growth of economy.

Framed in the context of achievements such as India’s joining the top 50 countries in the Global Innovation Index (GII, 2020) for the first time, moving up four places to the 48th rank, keeping the leading position among nations in central and southern Asia and ranking as the third most innovative among the lower-middle-income economy globally, the discussions centered around what stops Indian Research and Innovation from being genuinely impactful.

Sridhar Pabbisetty, Founding Director, Kautilya and Saket Modi, CEO & Co-founder, Safe Security, also participated in this discussion which was moderated by Nidhi Razdan, visiting faculty, Kautilya.