The geopolitical prowess of science and technology: 

The geopolitical prowess of science and technology: 

Context

• S&T is critical for ensuring national security and opening new market opportunities. Moreover, economic competitiveness has become a proxy for military influence. Ownership of superior technology brings greater power and control.
• To build capacity, nations rely on several policy levers—patent laws, tax incentives, and grants to labs, to spur the public sector, private enterprise and academia.

Setting examples

• Middle powers such as Canada and Switzerland, their S&T capabilities helps them stay relevant in the international arena.
• Estonia is another remarkable example of how a country can leverage its digital ecosystem to boost its position in the international arena.
• Israel, has been able to consistently punch above its weight because of its technological prowess.
• In fact, one of the reasons for India’s recent tilt towards Israel is the latter’s strength in S&T, especially in agriculture.
• In other words, Israel’s thriving high-tech ecosystem serves the triple purpose of boosting economic growth, ensuring national security, and offering international leverage.
• The era of scientific development in USA
• The increased pace of scientific development came at the beginning of World War I with the establishment of the Council of National Defence and the National Research Council.
• World War II also had a dramatic impact leading to the development of the atomic weapon and the radar.
• Foundations of Silicon Valley were laid during and because of the war. The Cold War gave a big push to the US space programme.
• American’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency is a national treasure giving birth to the internet and the global positioning system (GPS), and ushered in an unparalleled era of US hegemony.
• The military and the Central Intelligence Agency maintain separate arms investing in the world’s leading technologies.
• Alphabet and Palantir act as proxies for their state and play a geopolitical role. Google’s origins can be traced to a grant from the National Science Foundation.
• Facebook has some data centres offshore but it is a distinctly American corporation which controls large amounts of data generated around the world. This is power in today’s age.
• The US continues in its leadership position because of its enviable university system and islands of excellence such as Boston and Seattle.

China’s ambition

• China aspires for global domination and it is playing the long game.
• China has identified 10 technology areas as part of its New Industry Policy 2025 and aims to become an “innovative country”. Some have begun to call this the Beijing Consensus.
• China’s investments in clean energy and space have made technology an important pawn in the power play between the West and China.
• Today, China aims to become a superpower in Artificial Intelligence, leading to a technology race with the US.
• In biotechnology, there is already a US-China dispute over genetic data. China controls 70% of all the mining capacity of bitcoins and it is giving researchers significant financial incentives to publish in reputed journals.
• The Chinese government also invests strategically in the US, particularly in Silicon Valley.

India rediscovering itself

• India is trying to rediscovers its foreign policy, it must act on similar lines.
• India’s recent efforts to shore up its domestic defence manufacturing industry, develop a regional satellite for South Asia and a home-grown GPS, as well as establish 20 world-class universities, are all steps in the right direction.
• As per the 2015 report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the US spent $433 billion that’s 2.7% of its GDP on research and development (R&D) in 2013.
• South Korea and Israel each spent 4% of their GDP while China is targeting 2.5% by 2020. India currently spends only 0.9% of GDP on R&D.

Way forward

• India needs to recognize the geopolitical reality of S&T.
• India needs to identify focus areas, analyze what kind of role it can play and where the state can make tactical investments overseas.
• More specifically, India needs to build the infrastructure which can generate new technologies.
• It needs to invest in human capital, maintain a cadre of top scientists and professionals, and develop industry-lab links.