News:The Department of Science and Technology is planning a Research and Development(R&D) fund to stimulate investment in R&D.
Facts:
About the fund:
- The fund will be coordinated through the department’s Science and Engineering Research Board(SERB) which funds a variety of basic science projects in several universities.
- It will receive contributions from a group of companies willing to invest in fundamental research and whatever is invested government will match the contributions.
About India’s investment in R&D:
- According to a 2019 report by the Economic Advisory Council (EAC), India’s investment in R&D has shown a consistent increasing trend over the years.
- However, it is still fraction of India’s GDP as it has remained constant at around 0.6% to 0.7% of India’s GDP.
- This is below the expenditure of countries like the US (2.8), China (2.1), Israel (4.3) and Korea (4.2).
- The report has also said that the public expenditure is the driving force of R&D in India which is in contrast to the advanced countries where the private sector is the dominant and driving force of R&D spend.
