Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) are the key drivers for economic growth and human development. For India to march ahead on a sustainable development pathway to include economic development, social inclusion and environmental sustainability for achieving an “Atmanirbhar Bharat'', a greater emphasis will be given on promoting traditional knowledge system, developing indigenous technologies and encouraging grass root innovation.
The emergence of disruptive and impactful technologies poses new challenges and simultaneously greater opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic provided a compelling opportunity for Research and Development (R&D) institutions, academia and industry to work in unison for sharing of purpose, synergy, collaboration and cooperation. The new Science, Technology, Innovation Policy aims to bring about profound changes through short-term, medium-term, and long-term mission mode projects by building a nurtured ecosystem that promotes research and innovation on the part of both individuals and organizations.
It aims to foster, develop, and nurture a robust system for evidence and stakeholder-driven STI planning, information, evaluation, and policy research in India. The policy will identify and address strengths and weaknesses of the Indian STI ecosystem to catalyse socio-economic development of the country and also make the Indian STI ecosystem globally competitive.
STIP will lead to the establishment of a National STI Observatory that will act as a central repository for all kinds of data related to and generated from the STI ecosystem. It will encompass an open centralised database platform for all financial schemes, programmes, grants and incentives existing in the ecosystem. The Observatory will be centrally coordinated and organized in distributed, networked and interoperable manner among relevant stakeholders.
A future-looking, all-encompassing Open Science Framework will be built to provide access to scientific data, information, knowledge, and resources to everyone in the country and all who are engaging with the Indian STI ecosystem on an equal partnership basis. All data used in and generated from publicly-funded research will be available to everyone under FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) terms. A dedicated portal to provide access to the outputs of such publicly-funded research will be created through Indian Science and Technology Archive of Research (INDSTA).
Strategies to improve STI education making it inclusive at all levels and more connected with the economy and society will be developed through processes of skill building, training and infrastructure development. Engaged Universities will be created to promote interdisciplinary research to address community needs. Higher Education Research Centres (HERC) and Collaborative Research Centres (CRC) will be established to provide research inputs to policymakers and bring together stakeholders. Online learning platforms will be developed using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to address the issue of accessibility and to promote research and innovation at all levels. Teaching-learning centres (TLCs) will be established to upskill faculty members which in turn will improve the quality of education.
With an aim to expand the financial landscape of the STI ecosystem, each department/ ministry in the central, the state and the local governments, public sector enterprises, private sector companies and startups will set up an STI unit with a minimum earmarked budget to pursue STI activities. Extramural funding will be diversified and enhanced to double the share of extramural R&D support of the Central government agencies in the Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD) in the next five years. To ensure systematic governance of the expanded STI financing landscape, an STI Development Bank will be set up to facilitate a corpus fund for investing in direct long term investments in select strategic areas on various long and medium-term projects, commercial ventures, start-ups, technology diffusion and licensing etc.
The policy aims to create a fit for purpose, accountable research ecosystem promoting translational as well as foundational research in India in alignment with global standards. Research and Innovation Excellence Frameworks (RIEF) will be developed Draft STIP Doc 1.4 Dec 2020 4 to enhance the quality of research along with promotion of engagements with relevant stakeholders. Proper guidelines will be formulated to enhance the operating and safety protocols related to R&D. Research culture will be reoriented to recognize social impacts along with academic achievements.
The policy envisions strengthening of the overall innovative ecosystem, fostering Science & Technology (S&T)- enabled entrepreneurship, and improving participation of the grassroots levels in the research and innovation ecosystem. An institutional architecture to integrate Traditional Knowledge Systems (TKS) and grassroots innovation into the overall education, research and innovation system will be established. Collaborations between grassroots innovators and scientists will be facilitated through joint research projects, fellowships and scholarships. Grassroots innovators will also be supported for registration, claiming the Intellectual Property Right (IPR), filing of patent, or any type of legal claim with the help of Higher Education Institute (HEIs).
The policy will promote technology self-reliance and indigenization to achieve the larger goal of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”. A two-way approach of indigenous development of technology as well as technology indigenization will be adopted and focused upon in alignment with national priorities, like sustainability and social benefit, and resources. International engagements will be facilitated to gain essential know-how towards creation and development of indigenious technologies. A Technology Support Framework will be created to facilitate this development. A Strategic Technology Board (STB) will be constituted to act as a link connecting different strategic departments.
The policy provides renewed impetus to the mainstreaming of equity and inclusion within the STI ecosystem. An India-centric Equity & Inclusion (E&I) charter will be developed for tackling all forms of discrimination, exclusions and inequalities in STI leading to the development of an institutional mechanism. An inclusive culture will be facilitated through equal opportunity for women along with candidates from ruralremote areas, marginalised communities, differently-abled individuals including "divyangjans", irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds, proportionate representation of women in selection/ evaluation committees, addressing of ageism related issues and consideration of experienced women scientists for leadership roles and regular gender and social audits in academic and professional organizations. The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community will be included Draft STIP Doc 1.4 Dec 2020 5 in gender equity conversations with special provisions to safeguard their rights and promote their representation and retention in STI.
The policy will work towards mainstreaming science communication and public engagement through the development of capacity building avenues through creative and cross-disciplinary platforms, research initiatives, and outreach platforms. Locally relevant and culturally-context-specific models will be developed along with promoting cross disciplinary research in Science Communication. To improve Science teaching, the engagements between science communication and science pedagogy will be facilitated. Entertainment platforms such as television (TV), community radio, comics etc. will be explored to take science to the last mile. NonGovernmental Organizations (NGOs) and Civil Society groups will be involved through popular science programmes and citizen science projects at local and regional levels. Science Media Centres will be established at national and regional levels to connect scientists with media persons and science communicators.
STIP charts pathways to a dynamic, evidence-informed and proactive international S&T engagement strategy. Engagement with the Diaspora will be intensified through attracting the best talent back home through fellowships, internships schemes and research opportunities expanded and widely promoted across different ministries. Appropriate facilitating channels will be created for remote contribution as well. An engagement portal exclusively for the Indian scientific diaspora will be created. ‘S&T for Diplomacy’ will be complemented with Diplomacy for S&T ’. International Knowledge Centres, preferably virtual, will be established to promote global knowledge and talent exchange. The number of S&T Counsellors will be increased with redefinition and revitalisation of their roles.
A decentralized institutional mechanism balancing top-down and bottom-up approaches, focussing on administrative and financial management, research governance, data and regulatory frameworks and system interconnectedness, will be formulated for a robust STI Governance. Appropriate mechanisms will be set up at the highest levels for the overall (including inter-sectoral, inter-ministerial, CentreState and inter-State) governance of the STI ecosystem. A robust Research and Innovation (R&I) governance framework will be set up to facilitate, stimulate and coordinate R&D activities across the sectors. A Capacity Building Authority will be set up to help plan, design, implement and monitor capacity building programmes at the national and state level. A strong STI collaboration framework to strengthen existing channels and create new ones for enhanced interconnectedness among all relevant stakeholders at the domestic and global levels will be created, promoting inter-institutional, inter-ministerial, interdepartmental and cross-sectoral vertical and horizontal linkages and multi-stakeholder partnerships, to pursue projects in alignment with the national priorities. Draft STIP Doc 1.4 Dec 2020 6
The policy outlines the institutional mechanism for STI policy governance along with the implementation strategy and roadmap and monitoring and evaluation framework for the policy and programs and their interlinkages. To serve all the aspects of STI policy governance and to provide the knowledge support to institutionalised governance mechanisms , a STI Policy Institute will be established to build and maintain a robust interoperable STI metadata architecture. It will conduct and promote nationally and internationally relevant STI policy research and strengthen the science advice mechanism at national, sub-national and international levels. It will develop long term capacity building programs for STI policy through training and fellowships. An implementation strategy and roadmap will be devised for STI policy and programs along with continuous monitoring and timely evaluation mechanisms. The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy will be guided by the following broad vision;
To achieve technological self-reliance and position India among the top three scientific superpowers in the decade to come.
To attract, nurture, strengthen and retain critical human capital through a ‘people centric’ science, technology and innovation (STI) ecosystem.
To double the number of Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) researchers, Gross Dimestic Expenditture on R&D (GERD) and private sector contribution to the GERD every 5 years.
To build individual and institutional excellence in STI with the aspiration to achieve the highest level of global recognitions and awards in the coming decade. To capture the aspirations of a new, future-ready India, by ensuring active participation, shared responsibility and equitable ownership of all stakeholders; transforming the national STI landscape maintaining the delicate balance between fortifying India’s indigenous capacity and nurturing meaningful global interconnectedness.
