Innovation is strategic necessity. Country must incubate technologies world uses, Pg11

Key Highlights:

• Innovation is deemed a strategic necessity for India to achieve national sovereignty and the vision of Viksit Bharat.
• India aims to transition from merely using global technologies to originating technologies that the world adopts, focusing on Intellectual Property (IP) ownership and control over supply chain choke-points.
• The government has established an institutional framework for innovation through initiatives like Startup India, IndiaAI Mission, ANRF, IDEX, BIRAC, IN-SPACe, Semicron India, Atal Tinkering Labs, and the RDI Fund.
• The next decade of India's innovation strategy emphasizes "mastery" and "origination" in technology, moving beyond widening participation.
• Strategic partnerships with like-minded nations, such as the India-France Year of Innovation, are crucial for accelerating technological advancement.
• The RDI Fund, with a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore, aims to boost private sector investment in high-risk, high-impact research and development projects.

Detailed Insights:

• Technology is increasingly determining a nation's freedom in trade, security, and diplomacy.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi's sustained emphasis has elevated innovation to a national mission.
• Higher education institutions like the IITs and IISc are vital incubators for deep-tech talent.
• India's initial innovation decade focused on expanding participation through startups and Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
• The current focus is on increasing industrial R&D intensity to own the science, design, data, IP, and manufacturing processes.
• Policy interventions, like IDEX, are designed to create anchor demand and absorb developmental risks in nascent frontier sectors.
• Strategic sovereignty implies collaborating from a position of confidence rather than dependence.
• Large enterprises are expected to drive innovation through R&D investments, co-innovation with startups, and integrating MSMEs into supply chains.
• India must strategically concentrate its innovation energy on core socio-economic problems, domains with domestic demand, and areas where its talent and cost structure provide advantages.
• The dual nature of technologies like AI requires careful design to ensure net positive impact, job creation, and equitable transition for all sections of society.
• Bharat Innovates 2026 serves as a platform to connect Indian innovators with global investors and partners.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Viksit Bharat: A comprehensive vision to transform India into a developed nation by 2047, focusing on economic growth, social equity, and technological advancement.
• Strategic Sovereignty: A nation's capacity to independently control its critical technology value chains and make autonomous decisions in trade, security, and diplomacy.
• Intellectual Property (IP): Legal rights granted to creators over their inventions, literary and artistic works, designs, and symbols, enabling recognition and financial benefit.
• Deep-tech: Innovations based on fundamental scientific discoveries or significant engineering challenges, often requiring extensive R&D and capital, with potential for high societal impact.
• Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI): Shared digital systems and platforms that enable the delivery of public and private services at a societal scale, built on open standards and legal frameworks.