Posted on 11/13/2005 1:37:22 AM PST by nickcarraway
India's huge network of state-run laboratories in diverse fields and growing private sector investment in research and development are attracting multinationals to set research base in the country.
In recent years, a growing number of giants like Microsoft and General Electric (GE) have set up research hubs in India to take advantage of lower costs and the young talent pool to develop cutting edge technologies.
VS Ramamurthy, secretary in the science and technology department, told IANS: "While the government accounts for over 80 percent of investment in research and development, the increasing risk-taking appetite of the private sector for innovation is seeing considerable activity and investment.
"What is more, a lot of Indian companies are undertaking contractual research and development for multinationals. This trend augurs well for India emerging as a hub for innovation," he said.
As India grappled with lack of resources that prevented it from acquiring advanced technical know-how from abroad after independence in 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister, pushed the setting up of hundreds of laboratories to work in areas as diverse as life science and nuclear energy.
Indigenous research got a further boost when the world community slapped technology denial regimes on India after its first nuclear test in 1974, leading to New Delhi developing its own satellites and long-range missiles.
Apart from bilateral cooperation agreements with various countries like the US, India has also joined hands with Israel to promote joint ventures for using laboratory knowledge for product development.
Ramamurthy said: "Israel will be our first research and development partner for commercialisation of innovations. We will initially invest about $1 million annually for promoting joint ventures.
"We hope to start operation of the collaboration in the next three months."
According to Steve Hussey, managing director of US-based management consultants Pittiglio, Rabin, Todd and McGrath (PRTM), India scores for its "competent, skilled, educated manpower, world-class IT know-how extending into bio-informatics, established base of biotech business, low cost of manufacturing and a budding research base".
In healthcare, India has 200 well-equipped biotech research institutes and offers the advantage of a large and diverse patient pool besides low per-patient cost for clinical trials.
The proven capability of Indian researchers the world over was a major draw in Microsoft setting up a research facility in Bangalore in January, said P. Anandan, head of Microsoft Research.
Back in India after over a 25-year stint in the US, Anandan said: "The role of Indian researchers is known worldwide and many are looking for ways to come back.
"The talent pool is also growing positively with the growing number of PhDs."
Anandan, however, warned that the numbers of young people engaged in serious research work and pursuing doctoral studies were not enough to match future demands.
To fill this gap, Microsoft Research is looking at collaborations with leading universities to provide scholarships for 30-40 PhD students a year to develop a talent pool and partnerships.
"The target is to expand by a factor of 20 the talent pool within a decade," said Anandan.
Microsoft Research is also receiving interns from major American universities like the University of California Berkeley for summer training and the interns have "found the exposure worth it", said Anandan, who feels the flow of ideas is very important to promote the spirit of innovation.
Echoing concerns expressed by President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, experts said there was a need for both the public and private sectors to create good job opportunities for youngsters and attract them to undertake research.
Tejendra Khanna, chairman of Ranbaxy Laboratories, stressed the need to broad base India's education system right from the school level. To this end, there was a need to recognise and nurture talent from an early age to promote innovation, he said.
"India will be one of the knowledge hubs for research and development but not the only one. We have to recognise that there are other countries engaged in the task of emerging as knowledge hubs," Khanna said.
Calling for greater corporate support, Ramamurthy said: "We need the industry to tell us what is the commercially exploitable research and development being done in our labs."
The experts pointed out that no country could solely rely on acquisition of technology and it was imperative that scientists and researchers of the highest quality engaged in research in all areas.
Does Microsoft fund only Ph.D. students in India? If so, why doesn't Microsoft fund any here in the U.S.?
MS is spending all its time and R&D money in the US being "innovative".
The company I work for is doing the same thing. Loads of design work is now being done in India and China. We use to do all the work here in the USA. I wonder how many Indians and Chinese are going to buy their product?
Most American companies are doing very well in India. In the initial years, results weren't as good as they are now, especially after they learnt to adjust to local tastes(not just local as in Indian, but localise for every Indian state), be it in the food, auto, apparel, tech or banking industries.
That's good to hear. I'm not sure how to keep up on the Indian economy.
Maybe MS doesn't want to fund liberal art students?
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