Republic Day 2018 | India needs ASSURED innovation policy, writes Dr RA Mashelkar

Innovation is the key to economic and social development, growth as well as competitiveness. How is India doing in terms of its global standing in innovation?

Look at the Global Innovation Index. India’s rank among 140-odd nations went down from 66 (2011) to 76 (2012) to 86 (2013). Why? Not because India was doing worse, but because the other nations were doing better.

But then comes the good news. It has moved up to 66 (2016) and now to 60 (2017). So India is on the rise. But we have a long way to go to become a top-ranking innovation nation.

India needs a new national innovation policy, going beyond the national science, technology and innovation policy that was launched by the Government of India in 2011.

I described such policy simply as ASSURED Innovation Policy. What does ASSURED stand for?

A (Affordable), S (Scalable), S (Sustainable), U (Universal), R (Rapid), E (Excellent) and D (Distinctive).

A (Affordability) is required to create access for everyone across the economic pyramid, especially at the bottom. S (Scalability) is required to make real impact by reaching out to every individual, not just a privileged few. S (Sustainability) is required in many contexts; environmental, economic and societal. U (Universal) implies user-friendliness, so the innovation can be used irrespective of skill levels of an individual. R (Rapid) refers to speed. Inclusive growth cannot be achieved without the speed of our action matching the speed of our innovative thoughts! E (Excellence) in technology, product quality, and service quality is required, not just for the elite few but for everyone in the society, since the rising aspirations of resource-poor people also need to be fulfilled. D (Distinctive) innovation is required because there is no use of creating me too’ products and services.

In recent times, India has witnessed two ASSURED innovations that have been truly game changing, one from government and the other from industry.

JAM — J (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana), A (Aadhaar identification) and M (telecommunications) — created the fastest and largest financial inclusion in the world, with over 300 million bank accounts opening in record time.

Another game-changing innovation is Reliance Jio, which has catapulted India from the 155th rank in mobile data transmission globally to the 1st rank today!

But for successfully implementing the ASSURED innovation policy, we need to build a robust ecosystem. The essential elements of such ecosystem comprises physical, intellectual and cultural constructs. Beyond mere research labs, it includes idea incubators, technology parks, a conducive intellectual property rights regime, balanced regulatory systems, strategically designed standards, academics who believe in not just ‘publish or perish’, but ‘patent, publish and prosper’, scientists, who have the passion to become technopreneurs, potent inventor-investor engagement, ‘ad’ venture capital, and passionate innovation leaders. With such a robust innovation ecosystem, the ASSURED innovation policy is bound to succeed.

Dr RA Mashelkar is a scientist and former director general of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research