• Greater thrust on innovation, establishing research institutes and encourages women scientists with an aim to position itself among the top five scientific powers in the world by 2020.
• India has declared 2010-20 as the “Decade of Innovation”.
• The Government has stressed the need to enunciate a policy to synergize science, technology and innovation and has also established the National Innovation Council (NlnC).

Main Features:

1. Investments in R&D:

• Increasing expenditure in R&D to 2% of the GDP with the help of private sector
• Establishing world class infrastructure for R&D for gaining global leadership in some select frontier areas of science.
• Positioning India among the top five global scientific powers by 2020.
• Creating an environment for enhanced Private Sector Participation in R&D.
• Treating R&D in the private sector at par with public institutions for availing public funds. Bench marking of R&D funding mechanisms and patterns globally.
• The new paradigm is “Science technology and innovation for the people”.

2. Position in Research Publications:

• India ranks ninth globally in the number of scientific publications and 12th in the number of patents filed.
• By 2020, the global share of publications must double and the number of papers in the top 1 % journals must quadruple from the current levels.

3. Human resource:

• Promoting the spread of scientific temper amongst all sections of society.
• Encouraging women scientists with an aim to position itself among the top five scientific powers in the world by 2020.
• Enhancing skill for applications of science among the young from all social strata.
• Aims at producing and nurturing talent in science, to stimulate research in universities, to develop young leaders in the field of science and to reward performance.
• Making careers in science, research and innovation attractive enough for talented and bright minds.

4. S&T for society:

• Science, research and innovation system with the inclusive economic growth agenda
• Enabling conversion of R&D outputs into societal and commercial applications
• Fostering resource-optimized, cost-effective innovations across size and technology domains.

5. Innovation and entrepreneurship: 

• Launching newer mechanisms for nurturing Technology Business Incubators (TBls) and science-led entrepreneurship.
• Providing incentives for commercialization of innovations with focus on green manufacturing
• Modifying the intellectual property regime to provide for marching rights for social good when supported by public funds and co-sharing of patents generated in the public private partnership mode.

Criticism:

• The document is full of wishes and desires. The declaration lists 12 points to capture India’s aspirations in STI that aim to create a robust national innovation system.
• But it hardly describes any structural or procedural changes which will achieve the grand goal of integrating science, technology and innovation to create value in an inclusive manner.