In India, as we speak, educational research and top-tier R&D establishments are flush with grants, infrastructure, and expertise. The IITs, ICAR, nationwide research labs and central universities produce a gentle stream of papers, patents, and PhDs. On paper, this seems to be like a hit story in movement.
Yet a stark paradox stands out. For all this mental vitality, little or no of it appears to contact individuals’s lives. Our journals are overflowing, however our markets are usually not. We nonetheless rely closely on overseas expertise. Technologies that might resolve actual issues — from precision farming to inexpensive diagnostics — usually stay trapped and untapped in educational silos of our establishments. If India needs science and expertise to energy its economic system and not merely its fame, it should give utmost significance to what occurs after the invention.
The actual problem is translation — turning research into usable options that industries can undertake and residents can profit from. It is not sufficient to publish; we should produce.
The funding image: Broad headlines, slim impression
India spends nearly 0.64 per cent of its GDP on research and improvement, in accordance to authorities information for 2020–21. The determine has barely moved in years. Of that, almost two-thirds comes from public funds. The non-public sector — which drives a lot of the utilized research in superior economies — accounts for barely a 3rd.
More worrying than the quantity itself is the place that cash goes. A bulk of India’s R&D funding flows to elite establishments — the IITs, IISc, CSIR, DRDO, ICAR and a handful of central universities. These establishments are the crown jewels of Indian science, however the focus of funds additionally signifies that state universities and smaller research centres stay under-equipped to contribute meaningfully. The nation’s innovation capability, in consequence, stays lopsided and centralised.
The valley of loss of life
The deeper malaise lies past the stability sheets. India doesn’t simply have a funding hole; it has a translation hole.
Researchers usually work on initiatives designed for publication moderately than manufacturing. Success is measured in citations, not in prototypes or patents introduced to market. The incentive system in academia rewards papers, not partnerships. And so, concepts that might have develop into merchandise usually finish their lives as PDFs on institutional servers.
A NITI Aayog coverage observe as soon as warned that India’s R&D ecosystem is “detached from the commercial arms of the economy.” The proof is all over the place. Technology switch workplaces — the our bodies meant to hyperlink scientists with companies — exist principally in title.
Even when {industry} does present curiosity, the clock runs in a different way on each side. Academic initiatives transfer in semesters and overview cycles, whereas companies chase quarterly targets. By the time research outcomes are prepared, the market might have moved on. Add to that the price of testing, approvals, and scaling up, and many good concepts merely lose momentum.
How others bought it proper
India’s struggles aren’t distinctive. Many nations have confronted this hole earlier than — and fastened it.
In Germany, the Fraunhofer Institutes bridge academia and {industry} with outstanding success. These are mission-driven research centres that concentrate on utilized science, conducting contract research for companies. Seventy per cent of their revenue comes from such partnerships. Their scientists don’t simply publish papers; they construct prototypes, file patents, and co-develop merchandise that attain the market.
The United States took a transformational leap in 1980 with the Bayh–Dole Act, which allowed universities to personal the mental property arising from federally funded research. The outcome was transformative. American universities all of a sudden had an incentive to commercialise. Offices of expertise switch mushroomed throughout campuses, and university-linked startups grew to become a nationwide phenomenon.
The aligned incentives made these fashions profitable. Researchers knew that innovation might carry recognition and income, not simply citations. Industry trusted academia to ship options, not simply theories. And, the federal government created the authorized and monetary structure to make that relationship flourish.
India’s approach ahead: Three-fold path
For India to bridge its translation hole, it should construct a sturdy system which goals to carry researchers, {industry}, and startups underneath one massive umbrella.
First, academia should reorient itself towards relevance. Not each scientist wants to develop into an entrepreneur, however research ought to not less than ask: who would use this? Departments might put aside a part of their funds for “challenge grants” that concentrate on industry-defined issues. Translational success — applied sciences licensed, merchandise piloted — ought to rely as a lot as journal publications in profession evaluations.
Second, the {industry} should come nearer to campuses. Too usually, companies complain that educational research is “out of touch,” whereas universities declare that {industry} doesn’t fund primary research. Both are proper — and each are flawed. Large corporations, MSMEs, and sectoral associations ought to create structured “problem statements” for tutorial establishments, providing co-funding and information entry. Regular industry-academia roundtables can preserve priorities aligned.
Third, startups ought to act because the engines of translation. India’s startup scene is buzzing, however deep-tech founders nonetheless face an uphill climb — elevating early funding is hard, and navigating laws may be even harder. Dedicated ‘Translational Accelerators’ — targeted on taking prototypes to market, not simply writing enterprise plans — may help bridge this hole. These centres might present seed grants, mentorship, testing services, and even shared authorized help for IP and compliance.
The three elements reinforce one another: researchers should assume past publication, industries should keep invested past sponsorship, and startups should carry the innovation throughout the final mile.
Government’s pivotal function
The authorities, inevitably, can have to play a number of roles — that of catalyst, funder, and connector.
Some success tales exist already. The Biotech Consortium India Limited (BCIL) has transferred greater than 60 applied sciences from Indian research institutes to the market, starting from vaccines to biofertilizers. But this stays confined largely to life sciences. What India now wants is a cross-sectoral translation ecosystem — a nationwide community of expertise switch hubs that cowl agriculture, vitality, digital, and supplies science alike.
These hubs shouldn’t simply sit inside ministries however perform with skilled autonomy, staffed by consultants in IP, finance, and advertising. Performance metrics ought to monitor not simply the variety of patents filed however the variety of patents licensed.
On the coverage entrance, the newly enacted Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) gives an opportunity to right course. Its mandate to promote collaborative, mission-oriented research have to be paired with a transparent push for commercialisation and impression analysis. Similarly, a more practical “patent box” coverage — which gives tax incentives to corporations commercialising Indian IP — might nudge the non-public sector to take part extra actively.
A community of expertise translational institutes (TTIs), on the strains of Fraunhofer, may very well be India’s subsequent massive guess. These centres, can run on SPVs or be collectively funded by the federal government and non-public gamers. Their foremost focus needs to be on nationwide priorities like local weather resilience, inexpensive healthcare, and digital public items — taking promising applied sciences to prototype and pilot levels earlier than licensing them to {industry} or spinning them into startups.
Why it issues now
Countries throughout the globe are transferring at a humongous tempo towards a deep-tech future — in AI, quantum computing, biotech, inexperienced vitality, and superior supplies. The nations that can lead are these that may flip research into actuality shortly. Without sturdy programs to translate concepts into merchandise, India dangers turning into a “publication factory” — wealthy in principle, poor in outcomes.
But this isn’t solely about world competitors. Translating research inherently additionally means inclusion — it brings science to the fields, clinics, and workshops and to the grassroot ranges, that need it most. Precision agriculture to low-cost diagnostic kits, sensible irrigation programs to next-gen mobility— these are usually not luxuries, they’re lifelines. When research leaves the labs, it creates livelihoods and alternatives.
Change received’t occur in a single day. Indian academia nonetheless values principle greater than follow, and most labs merely don’t have the funds or setup to take concepts past the prototype stage. It will take greater than good intentions — actual funding, clear possession guidelines, and a mindset that values teamwork over working in silos. And this may’t cease on the IITs — regional universities and smaller labs have to be a part of the story too. State universities and regional institutes should even be a part of the journey if innovation is to be actually nationwide.
From ‘Publish or Perish’ to ‘Translate and Transform’
India doesn’t lack concepts — it lacks pathways. The bridge between discovery and deployment is what is going to resolve whether or not our science stays on paper or modifications lives. Every patent, each PhD, each grant ought to intention for real-world impression. Otherwise, we threat turning brilliance into isolation — intelligent, however disconnected from the nation it was meant to serve.
The time has come to transfer from publish or perish to translate and transform. Only then will Indian science actually serve its individuals — not simply its delight.
The authori is the Chief AI and Digital Consultant, Wadhwani Foundation
The opinions expressed on this article are these of the writer and don’t purport to mirror the opinions or views of THE WEEK.