Indian Research and Development Ecosystem for Self-Reliance

This article draws the readers’ attention to the fact that the Indian R&D ecosystem is interdependent and therefore, there is a need to first understand the nuances of the existing system. Once this is understood by the stakeholders, the present challenges in developing robust indigenous capabilities can be overcome and fleeting opportunities exploited to further strengthen the R&D ecosystem and accelerate India’s pace of attaining self-reliance. Accordingly, the myriad R&D and S&T organisations formed in India post Independence and up to the present day have been covered while those organisations perceived to play a more important role have been dealt in detail. Further, the policies of the past and present governments that sought or are seeking to pave the vision of making India ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 have been dwelled upon while the aim and logic of institutionalised government schemes have been defined and subsumed in their descriptions. Consequently, the article for the first time has strung a logical narrative wherein India’s dream of developing an R&D ecosystem for self-reliance can be realised. Finally, it is argued that the strategic foresight of leaders, long-term investments to build R&D resources, training a future-ready workforce to drive innovations and technologies, supportive government policies, industry partnerships and stakeholders’ collaborative synergy are quintessential for the rise, growth and success of the Indian R&D ecosystem for self-reliance.

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