R&D & Innovation
Budget to further boost Science and Technology ecosystem
Budget 2021 includes several initiatives to promote science, technology, and innovation with applications in the country. It is a forward-looking budget to substantially boost support for R&D in the key identified areas of national priorities. These are also in line with the projections in the draft Science Technology and Innovation Policy 2021 put up for public consultations. This includes a total allocation of Rs 50,000 crore (€5.9 billion) over 5 years for the National Research Foundation, an autonomous body envisaged to support researchers working across several streams of S&T with special focus on universities.
India’s First Engineering R&D Policy Announced in Karnataka
The engineering R&D (ER&D) sector is one of the fastest growing industries in India. This E R&D policy has become first of a kind in the country. The aim of the policy is to contribute approximately 45% to India’s engineering R&D needs during the policy tenure. “Karnataka is currently the leading contributor to the Indian Engineering R&D industry revenue. The State is home to over 400 leading R&D Centers/ GCCs. This policy aims to retain this position, generation of intellectual properties (IPs), and to make this as skilled knowledge capital,”. It is to be noted here that the expenditure of global E R&D is forecast to clock $2 trillion by 2025, and the same industry is growing at an CAGR of around 12.5% in India.