PARLIAMENT QUESTION: PROMOTING INDIGENOUS SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION AND STARTUPS
PARLIAMENT QUESTION: PROMOTING INDIGENOUS SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION AND STARTUPS
The major R&D initiatives taken by the government in 2024-25 to promote indigenous scientific innovation, are as given below:
The government is supporting deep-tech and science-based startups under different schemes and programs, details of which are as given below:
The Department of Science & Technology (DST), Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), and Department of Biotechnology (DBT) play a major role in addressing national challenges like climate change and health-technology. Major initiatives are given below:
The Government has created an ecosystem of scientific research and innovation including startups which has enabled researchers to stay and work in India leveraging the opportunities created. Various fellowships under the INSPIRE program of DST provides opportunities to researchers and faculties at different stages of their career to undertake high level of research at various premium institutes within the country. Moreover, the Ramanujan Fellowship of ANRF; Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellowship Programme and MK Bhan-Young Researcher Fellowship of DBT attract brilliant Indian researchers from abroad to return to India and perform high quality research. The VAIBHAV fellowship of DST provides a platform for overseas scientists including Non-Resident Indians to undertake collaborative research in Indian institutions and universities.
Currently, there are various resources, and generous funding opportunities available for graduates/ researchers within the country to translate their research into startups. As a result, there are 1.7 lakhs startups in the country providing home-grown solutions to various critical problems.
Furthermore, through ANRF, increased funding is available for research through various schemes like Core Research Grant (CRG), Prime Minister’s Early Career Research Grant (PMECRG) etc. Additionally, the ANRF-National Post Doctoral Fellowship (N-PDF) is aimed to identify motivated young researchers and provide them support for doing research in frontier areas of science and engineering, thereby retaining the PhD talent within India for furthering the high-end research.
DST is partnering in creation and shared use of international advanced facilities like CERN (Geneva); ELLETRA (Italy); Sp-Ring-8 (Japan) etc. This facilitates access of advanced facilities to our researchers and their participation in mega-science and consortia projects.
The Ministry of Science and Technology is actively cooperating with 40 countries across the globe along with the UN and other International S&T Organizations. The main aim of these collaborations is to connect Indian research with global efforts particularly in the frontier areas of S&T and in areas addressing global challenges. This provides opportunities for Joint R&D projects, project-based mobility exchanges, fellowships, access to advanced facilities etc.
All these initiatives contribute towards a more vibrant R&D ecosystem, thereby motivating the researchers to stay back in the country, and perform quality research.
This information was given by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, MoS Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.