Department of Science and Technology Secretary Ashutosh Sharma on Thursday underscored the strengths that India has in the field of scientific publications and said that the country stands at fifth position and would soon strengthen its position further.
Prof. Sharma was speaking at the two-day Global Research and Development Summit-2019, jointly organised by FICCI and Department of Science and Technology.
Elaborating on scientific publications, he said the country was clocking a growth rate of 14% every year as compared to the global average of 4%. This, he said, would catapult India to the third position. Science and technology publication indicates strengths and problem-solving capacity that exists in the country, he said.
“Since we have deep strengths in science and technology, our R&D expenditure in the last decade has tripled and stands at about $15 billion,” he said.
Deep technology
Touching upon innovation and startups, Prof. Sharma said while there were 15,000 startups, of which 5,000 were working in the field of deep technology, there was a need for many more in the country.
The DST Secretary said there were around 12 MNCs, which bring cutting-edge technology, in India and employ thousands of qualified personnel. The Indian industry, he said, should ramp up their vision of technology and investment.
Demographic dividend
He said India has the advantage of demographic dividend which it can offer to the world.
Speaking of partnership between India and African countries, Prof. Sharma said the future looks bright. He invited these nations to collaborate with India in the fields of agriculture, robotics and artificial intelligence among others to solve common problems.
Sangita Reddy, Senior Vice-President, FICCI; T. Papi Reddy, Chairman, Telangana State Council for Higher Education; and Makarand Phadke, Chairman, FICCI National Committee on St/Innovation, also spoke.
