{"id":281909,"date":"2024-02-09T20:41:47","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T15:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=281909"},"modified":"2024-02-09T20:41:47","modified_gmt":"2024-02-09T15:11:47","slug":"indias-research-and-development-spending-rd-spend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/indias-research-and-development-spending-rd-spend\/","title":{"rendered":"India’s Research and Development spending – R&D spend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source<\/strong>: The post India’s Research and Development spending has been created, based on the article \u201cR&D spend \u2014 golden intervention or smoke and mirrors<\/strong>\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu<\/strong>\u201d on 9th February 2024.<\/p>\n

UPSC Syllabus Topic:<\/strong> GS paper3- Science and technology-indigenization of technology and developing new technology. Indian economy- Government budgeting.<\/p>\n

News<\/strong>: The article discusses India’s plan to set up a \u20b91 lakh crore fund for long-term (fifty year), interest-free loans to boost private sector research and innovation, especially in new and important sectors (sunrise domains).<\/p>\n

What is the current status of India’s Research and Development spending?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

India’s overall research and development (R&D) spending in 2020-21 was \u20b91.27 lakh crore.<\/p>\n

The private sector’s contribution was 36.4% of the National Gross Expenditure on R&D(GERD)<\/strong>. In comparison, the central government contributed 43.7%, state governments 6.7%, higher education 8.8%, and public sector industry 4.4%.<\/p>\n

Despite absolute increases in R&D spending (from \u20b91.1 lakh crore in 2009-10 to \u20b91.27 lakh crore in 2020-21), as a percentage of GDP, it declined from 0.82% to around 0.64%.<\/p>\n

In the more technologically advanced countries, GERD accounts for at least 1% of GDP. Even Brazil (1.16%) and South Africa (0.83%) have a higher GERD-to-GDP ratio.<\/p>\n

What models of Research and Development have other countries followed?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

United States:<\/strong> Adopted Vannevar Bush\u2019s model<\/strong> focusing on fundamental research to drive technological growth. This approach has been a cornerstone of the U.S.’s post-war innovation strategy.<\/p>\n

Japan and South Korea:<\/strong> Followed a “techno-nationalist<\/strong>” path since the late 20th century. This model emphasizes building interconnectedness among universities, research institutes, companies, and governments. It’s aimed at fostering a collaborative environment for technological advancement.<\/p>\n

Germany, South Korea, and the United States:<\/strong> Notably high private sector contributions to R&D, with percentages of national GERDs being 67%, 79%, and 75%, respectively, illustrating a strong private-sector-led R&D model<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Why is increasing public sector Research and Development important?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Improving Research Quality: <\/strong>Increasing public sector R&D, especially at the state level, is crucial for enhancing the quality of research facilities in state universities. This helps researchers focus on locally relevant problems.<\/p>\n

Bridging Lab to Market:<\/strong> Higher public sector investment in R&D can help overcome the bottleneck of transitioning research from the lab bench to practical, market-ready applications, fostering innovation.<\/p>\n

Stewarding Long-term, Risk-laden Innovation:<\/strong> Public sector involvement is important for innovations that take decades to develop and involve significant risks, which the state is better equipped to manage than private entities.<\/p>\n

What is the challenge with India\u2019s new R&D fund?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Effective Allocation:<\/strong> The challenge lies in how the \u20b91 lakh crore will be distributed among various sectors, ensuring effective and strategic use.<\/p>\n

Meeting Diverse Demands: <\/strong>There is a need to address the demands from multiple domains like telecommunications, healthcare, finance, transport, and space flight, all vying for a share of the fund.<\/p>\n

Focus on ‘Sunrise Sectors’:<\/strong> The finance minister emphasized supporting ‘sunrise sectors’, but even within these, there are numerous fields, each resource-intensive and requiring significant investment.<\/p>\n

Sustainability Concerns:<\/strong> A major challenge is ensuring that the funding supports innovation that is not only technologically advanced but also environmentally sustainable.<\/p>\n

Way forward <\/strong><\/h2>\n

India must strategically prioritize the allocation of the \u20b91 lakh crore R&D fund to essential ‘sunrise sectors’. Establishing robust policy frameworks is crucial for equitable and sustainable innovation. Additionally, enhancing public sector R&D, particularly at state levels, is vital for balanced and impactful technological advancement.<\/p>\n

Question for practice:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Discuss the challenges and importance of allocating India’s \u20b91 lakh crore R&D fund strategically, considering diverse sector demands and sustainability concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The post India’s Research and Development spending has been created, based on the article \u201cR&D spend \u2014 golden intervention or smoke and mirrors\u201d published in \u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 9th February 2024. UPSC Syllabus Topic: GS paper3- Science and technology-indigenization of technology and developing new technology. Indian economy- Government budgeting. News: The article discusses India’s… Continue reading India’s Research and Development spending – R&D spend<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1230,1227],"tags":[216,242,10498],"class_list":["post-281909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-9-pm-daily-articles","category-science-and-technology","tag-gs-paper-3","tag-science-and-technology","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10320"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281909"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281909\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}