Amid the fear of yet another recession around the world, what struck my attention (and a comforting surprise too) was the recently released Battelle-R&D Magazine annual Global R&D Funding Forecast. It shows global research and development (R&D) spending is expected to grow by about 5.2 percent in 2012 to more than $1.4 trillion.
This indicates two things: One, the world is not coming to an end and two; there is optimism in the air despite an abject economic scenario.
For the civilization to progress, it is necessary we invest a large pool of money into research and development. This R&D should not be confined to pure science and technology but shall spread into areas such as information technology, business applications, productivity tools etc.
One of the most remarkable findings of the report is that the growth in R&D funding will largely be driven by Asian economies -- a number projected to increase by nearly 9 percent in 2012.
This should be encouraging news for developing nations like us. But unfortunately things are not as good. As far as resources are concerned, the fraction of GDP spent on R&D in India has been too low and stagnant. Our current level of R&D is a meager 0.9 percent of the GDP. Even Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, in his recent address at the 99th National Science Congress, acknowledged that India's relative position in the world of science had been declining and countries like China have overtaken us.
This inaugural lecture from the Prime Minister, which was meant to celebrate the scientific advances in India, came tempered with some hard facts and some subtle hints of why research in India lags behind the world.
While I hate comparing India with China, it is noteworthy that the latter publishes five times more patents than India for every billion US dollars of GDP.
Of the top 400 universities in the recently published "Times" rankings, Asia scored high with as many as 50 universities listed in it. China had 10 universities in the top 400, and India had only one (Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay).
For those who are keen, access the full report here.
Without going into details and an in-depth dissection of the report, which you can yourself read, I would like to highlight only one point here. What stops us from investing a substantial amount of money into R&D whereas other nations of our stature are doing very well?
Here I would like (and is relevant) to place some statistical data on record. Japan, a country devastated by the downturn and reeling under tremendous pressure to sustain growth, still maintains a high position in the global charts with a total of 11.2 percent share of the global R&D spend. China takes away 14.2 percent share of the global R&D spends. India, to my surprise, is languishing at 2.9 percent only, whereas the total share of Asia is nearly 37 percent.
Another important statistical data is the percentage of the GDP that India is spending on R&D vis a vis other relevant nations. Against the backdrop that it is recession time, China is still spending 1.6 percent of its GDP, as opposed to India, which is probably one of the lowest - at 0.9 percent. There are nations like Israel (at 4.2 percent), South Korea (at 3.45 percent) and Japan (at 3.48 percent) - far ahead of us.
I agree India is a large economy and therefore a 0.9 percent of our GDP is large enough but is it large enough to sustain growth? Is it good enough to compete with nations bringing out cutting-edge technology in every sphere? The answer is a BIG NO.
My arguments may appear disturbing and self-criticizing but a nation of this strength (population-wise) is just too far away from being recognized as a powerhouse. While the government is struggling to keep pace with development, the private sector is busy making bucks by getting on to the outsourcing bandwagon leaving behind areas such as Product Development, Fundamental Research etc.
There could be no direct correlation between a CIO and R&D spend of a nation but think what we can do to become one of the top economies with top-class scientific temper and great R&D outcomes.
Well put. It is a matter of grave concern and a foreboding for the future. Taking the easier route of merely copying and spending on frivolous consumption, the nation has to toil hard to create something of value to stay relevant in this world of today.