India to frame law to reinforce research, innovation
Tuesday, 11 September 2007, 19:30 IST
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New Delhi: Aiming to position India as a global leader in science, the government has decided to bring in a comprehensive legislation to give a fillip to research and innovation, Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said here Monday. Addressing the first meeting of the 'Indo-US Task Force on Shaping the Global Innovation Economy - Enhancing Cooperation in India-US Relations', Sibal said: "We want to bring in an India Innovation Act to spur innovation in the country." The minister asked the industry lobby Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) to "draft the legislation and present it to the government in three months." Ficci and the Pacific Council on International Policy organised the meeting and are key partners in the Indo-US task force on innovation. The India Innovation Act is likely to be modelled on the lines of the America Competes Act, which focuses on three primary areas of importance to maintain and improve innovation in the US in 21st century. The aim of the legislation would be to increase research investment, strengthening education opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from the elementary level to the university level and finally develop an innovation infrastructure. Sibal also cautioned that for shaping the global innovation economy, the Indo-US cooperation dialogue would have to shift from a regime of denial to a regulatory regime. "The global innovation economy is about people getting together. This necessarily implies cooperation and collaboration, not denial of technology," he said. Richard Celeste, co-chair of the Indo-US Task Force and former US ambassador to India, underlined the need to identify fresh opportunities for collaboration in specific sectors. Habil Khorakiwala, co-chair of the task force and president of Ficci, emphasised the need to examine the likely source of concern between the two countries as India moves up the chain to become an important player in the global innovation economy. He said that over the next one year the task force would be able to prepare a comprehensive roadmap to make the partnership in innovation successful. "Long term strategic vision must focus on our areas of common interest," said Khorakiwala.
Source: IANS
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