India is 5th largest investor in science: Vijayraghavan
KVijayraghavan, principal scientific adviser to the government of India, and Sir Mark Walport, chief executive of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), spoke to
and explained why the future of research and innovation depends on international collaborations. Excerpts:
Anonna Dutt
their research investment, so you will see an exponential increase there.
The government increase would be more linear, but that too will be exponential in a new area – investment in research in our state university system.
Also, there are industries like the IT sector and big multinationals that are investing in research, but that does not get reflected in our research budget.
The UK plans to bring its councils under one umbrella to promote multi-disciplinary research. Does India have similar plans?
There is a historical value in the separation. Isolation of some kind allows you to get deep domain expertise, and from the point of the scientific investment, there are multiple places to shop.
One shouldn’t throw those positive values with an integrative mechanism... I think we should play out the synergy for a few years and see how it works to get the answer to what level of formal integration is needed.
One size doesn’t fit all. We have a flourishing system even under the different research councils, but for the United Kingdom
(UK), it was felt that the unified body was the right answer. Also, we are not the only funders in the system.
KVR: MW:
Some plurality in funding system is quite important.
Is research more innovationcentric now?
I would not look at science, technology and innovation as a linearity. The integration and interactions between what are the problems that need a solution and what are the solutions in search of a problem, where does discovery take you, and how does that integrate with the problems and solutions, are exciting. And facilitating that interaction is what all government missions are about.
KVR: MW:
There is another issue. The transmission mechanism between academia and business is one that we need strengthened. There has to be more permeability in career to move between academia and industry.
What are the focus areas for research for India and the UK?
Almost everywhere in the world, there are four priority research areas. Clean growth focusing on changing the way we produce energy and food, and transforming construction.
The second is healthy ageing, research now has to focus on removing the diseases of old age and living longer and healthier lives. Then we look at the future of mobility. And artificial intelligence and data economy.
MW: