“University research support is extremely important. In the US, there is a clear linkage between research and innovation, but in India, those linkages were not there earlier,” said Nikhil Agarwal, managing director, Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer, IIT Delhi.
“The Nvidias and Googles of the world have built products with the help of US university research. Innovation in the US came from organisations like the National Science Foundation, whose grants have been found to be extremely beneficial.”
According to Agarwal, India’s establishment of Anusandhan National Research Foundation Act 2023, which aims at regulating research and development in areas such as natural sciences, agriculture, technology, and health tech, can help the country see a similar trajectory in research funding.
“With the Indian government, through ANRF, committing £5 billion (INR 538 billion) for straightforward research at Indian universities, it’s going to be a really transformational phase.”
Though research and development remains pivotal in India, consecutive governments have been criticised for keeping its expenditure abysmally low compared to other countries.
With the Indian government, through ANRF, committing £5 billion (INR 538 billion) for straightforward research at Indian universities, it’s going to be a really transformational phase
Nikhil Agarwal, IIT Delhi
As of 2020/21, India’s expenditure on R&D was approximately 0.64% of its gross domestic product, compared to China (2.4%), South Korea (4.8%), US (3.5%), and Germany (3.1%).
The calls for more allocation has now led to India’s finance ministry allocating INR 20,000 crore (£1.8bn) to the Department of Science and Technology to initiate a private sector-driven R&D development fund.
“The fund will operate in an interesting fashion – private firms can now request financial support from the government for their R&D efforts,” said Agarwal.
“The repayment period is set at 50 years. This is a remarkably positive approach to supporting research, something we haven’t seen in the country for the last five decades.”
Moreover, the speakers emphasised that building a strong network between faculty researchers and entrepreneurial initiatives is essential.
One example being from the Indian government’s partnership with institutions like Indian Institutes of Information Technology.
“We are providing domain-specific mentors at IIITs and supporting faculty in their journey to becoming entrepreneurs,” said Imran Yusuf, COO, STPI – Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
“There is a clear pathway for faculty to access funding to develop their entrepreneurial ideas.”
“At my department in IIT Delhi, we distribute nearly£10-£50m pounds annually as grants, supporting faculty researchers, scholars, and startups applying to us,” added Agarwal.
According to Madhu Vasepalli, managing director, Yira Healthcare Pvt Ltd, who is also the founder of Bespoke Healthcare Services Pvt Ltd, which is helping build capacity building in healthcare, it’s important to create a bridge between technology and its applicability in healthcare in India.
With many of the medical tools requiring engineering expertise, Vasepalli highlighted some benefits of partnerships between engineering and medical institutions.
“My organisation Bespoke Healthcare Services is helping with developing robots in healthcare and this idea was incubated at IIT Kanpur,” said Vasepalli.
“You can now see that IIT Kanpur is set to establish a medical college on its campus, while IIT Kharagpur already has one focused on biomedical sciences.
Though initiatives like Make in India are aiming to project the country as a future manufacturing powerhouse, it still has a long way to go.
India’s Index of Industrial Production grew by 3.2% year-on-year in December last year, according to quick estimates from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, signalling broader challenges in its dreams to overtake countries like China and other Southeast Asian nations in the global manufacturing landscape.
“Eighty-five percent of medical equipment used in India is imported. A coalition between engineering and medical schools is now underway to drive innovation in medtech,” stated Agarwal.
More opportunities in India’s research and innovation space have also led to a reduction in “brain drain” from the country, as per Agarwal.
“Earlier we used to see over 75% of our graduates in India move abroad but that number has reduced now,” said Agarwal.
“We are in a time where over 90% of the IIT graduates are staying back in India as they see more opportunities in the country.”
