Kolkata, Jan 3 (IANS) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Thursday unveiled the Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) Policy 2013 that aspires to position India among the top five global scientific powers by 2020.
The first copy of the policy that seeks to focus on both STI for people and people for STI was presented to President Pranab Mukerjee at the inaugural session of the centenary session of the Indian Science Congress here.
It aims to bring all the benefits of science, technology and innovation to national development and to sustainable and more inclusive growth.
“The STI Policy seeks to send a signal to the Indian scientific community, both in the private and public domain, that science, technology and innovation should focus on faster, sustainable and inclusive development of the people,” says the policy document.
It seeks the right sizing of the gross expenditure on research and development by encouraging and incentivising private sector participation in research and development, technology and innovation activities.
The policy also seeks to bring in mechanisms for achieving gender parity in STI activities and gaining global competitiveness in select technological areas through international cooperation and alliances.
“The policy goal is to accelerate the pace of discovery, diffusion and delivery of science-led solutions for serving the aspirational goals of India for faster, sustainable and inclusive growth,” it said.
A strong and viable Science, Research and Innovation System for High Technology-led path for India (SRISHTI) are the goal for the STI policy.
Salient features of policy:
— Promoting the spread of scientific temper amongst all sections of society.
— Enhancing skills for applications of science among the young from all social sectors.
— Positioning India among the top five global scientific powers by 2020 (by increasing the share of global scientific publications from 3.5 percent to over 7 percent and quadrupling the number of papers in top 1 percent journals from the current levels).
— Creating an environment for enhanced private sector participation in R &D.
— Creating a robust national innovation system.
