The world view of technology as a driver of national economic development is leading to multiplicity of investments in research and development by nation-states, said Padma Bhushan recipient and former Secretary, Ministry of Science and Technology, T. Ramasami on Saturday.
“The prevailing culture of research and development in search of technology is built on the principle of competitive excellence. Currently used models of high-resource intensity for research and development are not sustainable,” Mr. Ramasami said, while delivering the National Technology Day Lecture on ‘Enculturing Technology in Low Resource Setting: A Paradigm for Sustainable Future’ at the Central Scientific Instruments Organisation here.
‘Will cause divides’
Mr. Ramasami said technologies backed by large sizes of capitals bypass the affordability of people in low-resource settings, and such technologies inadvertently play the roles of economic and development dividers and contribute to global divides.
“Alternative models built on the three principles of societal relevance, long-term sustenance and collaborative excellence are needs of the time. Culture of development and deployment of technologies need to take into account that more than 60% of the world reside in low-resource settings and the current resource intense models of research and development are failing to serve their needs of technology-led development,” he said.
