Innovation Ecosystem

The India Innovation Index-2021 report published by the NITI Aayog has shed light on innovation-driven growth in the country and performance of various states and union territories (UTs). The index has set the benchmark for the states and UTs for improving their performances. States setting and achieving ambitious targets for improving innovation ecosystem are critical for the country to move up higher in the Global Innovation Index (GII). Karnataka has been ranked on top among major states, while Manipur has become the best performer among Northeastern and hill states. However, most Northeastern and hilly states except Uttarakhand have scored below the national average, which calls for attention of the respective state governments. The digital innovation ecosystem is helping the country in overcoming COVID-19 pandemic challenges in the education sector and spurring significant growth in the gig economy. The increase in start-ups from 733 in 2016-17, the year in which the Start-up India was launched, to 67,128 in 2021-22 speaks volumes about how innovative ideas of entrepreneurship is gaining momentum in the country and creating employment. The NITI Aayog, in its study on the innovation ecosystem, has flagged its concern over the problem of "Brain Drain" from the country and underlined the need for preventing it by providing adequate support for research and innovation. The report highlights that the number of people who have migrated from India increased from 6.6 million to 17.5 million over 30 years from 1990 to 2019. It notes that the number of patents filed in the country increased from 39,400 to 56,267 over ten years from 2010-11 to 2019-20, registering a compound annual growth rate of 3.63 per cent in the last decade. India has moved up two positions in GII compared to 2020 and is ranked 46 among 132 countries in 2021. Data from the report explains the factors behind the country's poor ranking. The country's Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) of 43.41 US dollars is one of the lowest in the world compared to 2108 USD of Israel, 1777.93 USD of United States, 325.85 USD of China, 173 USD of Brazil, 293.39 USD of Malaysia. India's GERD as a percentage of GDP has been consistent and hovered around 0.7% for about a decade. This is even lower than Brazil (1.16), South Africa (0.83) and others. Only Mexico (0.31) had a lower share of GERD as a percentage of GDP. With such low contribution, R&D performance remains stagnant, adds the report. Data also shows that India has published more research papers than countries like Russia, Brazil, South Korea, but the total of 64,267 research papers published in the country in 2016 were far less than the highest number of 4,11,363 research papers published in United States, followed by China with 3,12,983 papers in that year. The NITI Aayog has recommended that India needs to boost expenditure in R&D to be at par with its BRICS or ASEAN counterparts, but emphasizes that the business sector needs to spend more to boost GERD. Quoting from Research and Development statistics 2019-20 compiled by the Department of Science and Technology,the report points out government spending in R&D in India is more than 55% but in countries like US, UK, South Korea, Japan and China more than 50% is spent by the business sector. It suggests that one way of achieving this could be business and higher education institutions collaborating for R&D, which, the report points out, will not only lead to an increase in research but also act as a backup for private businesses. The DST report states that India's growth is quite aggressive at the very top end of the excellence scale and held 4.3% of world share in the top 25%, 3.6% in the top 10%, 3.4 % in the top 5% and 2.8% in the top 1% of highly cited publications during 2016. The highly cited publications were mainly concentrated in the fields such as engineering, physics and astronomy, computer science and material science which are reflective of the huge knowledge base and R&D potential in the country. The statistics also show that during 2017-18, altogether 47,854 patents were filed in India, of which 15,550 (32%) patents were filed by Indian residents and nearly 62% of the foreign patents filed in India were from four countries - US (31.5%), Japan (13.9%), Germany (8.6%) and China (8.0%). In sharp contrast, patent applications filed by residents in China in 2018 is as high as 90%. It was 81% in Japan, 77% in Korea, 69% in Germany, 66% in Russia and 48% in US. This highlights the scope for India's resident talent pool to demonstrate their excellence in the R&D sector if expenditure is boosted by the business sector. The NITI Aayog's innovation index is a ready reckoner for states and UTs for formulating policies aimed at changing their innovative landscape and charting a new roadmap for R&D growth and for overall improvement in country's innovation ecosystem.