Need to address funding and training challenges in R&D sector: Official

A senior government official on Tuesday made a strong pitch for collective responsibility to address the challenges of funding and inadequate training in the research and development sector.

Addressing the CII Global Science, Innovation and Research Summit here, Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary at the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government, said India was undergoing tremendous advancement and has been showing incredible growth in areas from missiles, AI, superconductors to Covid vaccines.

Maini said it was imperative to take collective responsibility to amend the challenges of funding, inadequate training and awareness through a strategic approach for the R&D ecosystem to reach greater heights.

She said every country has its own strengths, therefore each and every country needs to share its technological strengths with the world for co-existence.

Maini said there was an increasing realisation of technological partnerships in industry and academia with a growing focus on diversity and inclusiveness for an enhanced ecosystem of innovation and research.

She said that science and technology has been deeply engraved in achieving remarkable success of the country's technological breakthroughs such as National Hydrogen Mission, National Quantum Mission and National Superconductor Mission.

Rangan Banerjee, Director, Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi, stressed the need for creating opportunities for the trained and skilled workforce of the country to build an ecosystem of innovation for competitive advantage in technology.

The summit was organised as part of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Technology Mission to discuss and deliberate on mechanisms for encouraging investment in R&D, fostering industry-academia-research-startup collaboration, and encouraging women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).