Initiatives:
- The NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog has signed Statement of Intent (SoI) with tech giant Intel India to set up Atal Tinkering laboratories (ATL) under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).
- Uchatar Avishkar Yojana:
- Foster very high quality research in IITs with partnership of industry.
- Rs 250 crore each year to fund projects.
- Proposals have to:
- Specify the time frame
- Outcome and benefits that the industry stands to gain from the research
Cons:
- Will lead to commercialisation of research
- Shift focus away from fundamental research to commercial research
- To be competitive, equal weightage has to be given to both fundamental and commercial research
- Due to partnership of private companies, there will be IPR issues.
NITI Ayog’s Vision Statement on Innovation:
- Faculty at “world class” institutions prioritise research and be allowed to “reduce their teaching responsibility,” if required
- Such universities also ought to be allowed to recruit research staff from abroad and be encouraged to compete for research projects from industry
- pitches for a new ‘National Science, Technology and Innovation Foundation’ headed by a distinguished scientist. This will coordinate with science and technology departments, ministries, governments and private sector bodies and deliberate on national issues and recommend interventions
- The organisation also proposes a database of all existing schemes related to science and technology across ministries and departments
- This will have information on the coordinating ministry, its objectives and available funds
- Its key purpose would be to avoid “duplication of efforts, reduce approval times, increase accountability and collaboration between entities and measured outcomes