JOIN USThe Central government’s decision to set up a special fund to promote innovation in areas of development that have a bearing on the life of common people is welcome, though the details are yet take a definite shape.
The National Innovation Council has already announced the proposal and an innovation fund is set to be launched and operationalised when it reaches a corpus of Rs 500 crore.
The idea is to raise the fund from financial institutions and agencies, with an initial contribution from the government. The fund will finance innovative projects related to agriculture, heath care, education etc and is aimed at finding solutions which are relevant and specific to Indian needs. There is little investment in innovation in India and even when it is available the results have not been encouraging.
Research institutions under the government have funds but they have hardly been utilised well. There are very few innovative ideas that have come out of these institutions in the many decades of their working.
This is mainly because of the bureaucratic mindset and style of functioning that characterise them. Though the need for out of the box thinking has often been stressed, it is not encouraged in a bureaucratic set-up. The accent on innovation and originality has to start much earlier, with school, college and technical education. The education system has to be geared up for this.
It is often lamented that the majority of engineering graduates are unemployable, research done in universities is substandard and there are very few patents claimed by Indian researchers. This is not because of the low quality of human material. Indians excel in research in other parts of the world and many multinational companies have set up research and development hubs in India, employing Indian talent. So it is a question of grooming talent and making use of it to suit the needs of the country.
India now has the opportunity to develop into a knowledge economy. China is much ahead of us in this respect and this is because of the reorientation of education, the importance given to innovative research and the strong links that have developed between education and all areas of development like agriculture, industry and service sectors.
The plan for financial support for innovative projects in itself will not bring the desired results. The educational and the bureaucratic system and the attitudes that dominate them should be revamped to support the plan.