500 pc hike for IT R&D, asks DIT
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 16 January 2007, 18:30 IST
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New Delhi: The Department of Information and Technology( DIT) with a view to make India a global R&D hub, has asked for an enhanced budget allocation. They have demanded a 500 percent increase in the research and development budget in the 11th five-year plan. (2007-12). According to DIT, over 347 technologies such as the supercomputer by C-DAC and Indian language technologies have been commercialized. The dynamic nature of the industry demands more R&D for advancement and further development of technologies. While stressing on the need to make India a ‘knowledge economy’, DIT said that the expenditure on R&D stands at 0.8 percent of the GDP and should be increased to 1.6 percent by the end of the 11th Plan. China spends 1.31 percent of its GDP on R&D. To derive more outcomes from R&D work, DIT has asked for central funding for deployment of selected R&D outputs. It has also said development-oriented projects be funded for field-testing for better results. Sources say that there might be further upgradation after the field-testing of the technology. DIT has also pushed for a policy that could define the IPR and royalty sharing mechanisms between technology developing institutions, inventors and the industry. This will reduce delays in taking decisions on transfer of technology and will encourage research to be more industry oriented.