Government Policies & Interventions

KEY POINTS

·        Growth and productivity of an economy could not be explained by capital and labour. It requires knowledge content too.

·        Knowledge-intensive and high-technology industries contribute the most to long term growth.

·        (E.g.) U.S. accounts for 33% of global output of knowledge-intensive services, China 10%, but India only 2%.

·        In high-technology manufacturing, India barely exists.

Need for Strong Institutions

·        Creation of a knowledge ecosystem requires robust institutions that focus on – 

a)    Information gathering,

b)   Planning,

c)    Research,

d)    Teaching,

e)    Credit supply and

f)      Ensuring that people are filled with hope rather than derision.

·        Institutions can generate an ecosystem for innovation in many ways by providing –

a)    Access to knowledge capital,

b)   An atmosphere of inquiry and

c)    An experimental environment where those ideas can be tested.

·        Funding enters the picture only after all this is done.

Progress towards knowledge ecosystem

·        Even with a low funding to research as percentage of GDP, with very few Indians taking to formal learning and research, India still accounted for 4.4% of the global output of science research publications in 2013.

Challenges of knowledge ecosystem

·        Collaboration between academic researchers and the users of that knowledge, industry, and government is rather weak in India.

·        Translating the research publications into technology remains the weak link.

Suggestions

·        To translate research publications into technology: include project work at all levels in higher education institutions.

·        Given that the success rate of ideas is low, ideas need to be tested constantly.

·        Ensure ease of movement of personnel between universities and industry to reap the benefits of reality testing.

·        Providing more autonomy towards public institutions.

·        Ensure that the grant given to the institutions are utilised for the purpose given.

tough q