Compass of Academic Research

Context

Government is going to set up an expert panel to study the areas of vacuum in academic research.

Background

Central Government is in the process of revisiting the Science, Technology and Innovation Policy. The policy will guide the agencies of the government mandated with funding research in higher education institutions and national laboratories. Research on policy include pure, applied, unrestricted, fundamental, basic, academic, industrial, practical etc.

Direction to Move

Experts in science and technology studies have come up with alternate frameworks and terminology to provide a comprehensive picture and avoid any value judgement. One approach was proposed by NASA in the form of Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), a type of measurement system used to assess the maturity level of a particular technology. It gives epphasis on the observation of basic principles. Then the TRL framework advances to proof of concept, validation in a laboratory environment, followed by a relevant environment, and then to prototype demonstration, and ending with actual deployment. The framework uses terms as applicable to aerospace applications, but one can come up with alternate terms depending on the field of application, including health sciences where the term ‘translational research’ is commonly used. The number of levels can also be adjusted to suit the direction.

An alternative is to use the terminology Academic Research (AR) and Post-Academic Research (PAR). One can easily establish correspondence with the TRL framework. To provide some granularity, one can divide PAR into early-stage PAR, and late-stage PAR. Late-stage PAR has to be done by large laboratories (national or those supported by industry), while AR and early-stage PAR can be done at higher education institutions and large laboratories.

Both AR and PAR generate knowledge which is necessary for national development. When examined from the perspective of national development, pursuit of AR alone, while necessary, is not sufficient. AR and PAR when pursued together and taken to their logical conclusion will result in a product or a process, or a better clinical practice, or a scientifically robust understanding of human health and disease, or provide inputs for a policy decision.

Holistic Approach

One can cite several examples to illustrate how AR and PAR can be pursued together. A programme in high energy physics can be designed to pursue accelerator technology along with high energy physics. Research in electro-chemistry can be accompanied by development of battery technologies.

Judging the growth of S&T based only on publications provides an incomplete picture. The industries that have high technology intensity, such as aircraft and spacecraft, medical, precision and optical instruments, and communication equipment, have a low presence in India. That can be addressed by increasing the technology intensity of industry, which was identified as one of the goals of the STI policy issued in 2013. This needs reiteration and a mechanism should be devised to monitor progress with the objective of becoming an ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

The STI policy should emphasise PAR to ensure that investment in research results in economic growth. To motivate the research community to pursue at least early-stage PAR, the reward system needs significant reorientation. The current system for rewards relies heavily on bibliometric indicators despite the knowledge that publications alone do not lead to national development. The reward system in higher education institutions and national laboratories should be reoriented to promote PAR.

Conclusion

It is often said that India’s investment in research is lower than that by advanced countries. Here two observations need consideration. First, countries belonging to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report research statistics according to the Frascati Manual, which was first drafted in 1963, and has gone through five revisions since then. We cannot compare data with other countries without having correspondence between India’s data and data reported by others. Second, India has to decide where to increase investment.

Connecting the Article

Question for Prelims

Which among the following schemes is not related to research and innovation in academics?

(a) SATH
(b) YUVIKA
(c) UNNATI
(d) TARE

Answer (c)

Question for Mains

Currently, there is a growing demand for advanced research and innovation based education in India and that led the government to give focused attention on education system. Discuss.