China and India have one of the largest telecommunications equipment markets in the world. The pa... more China and India have one of the largest telecommunications equipment markets in the world. The paper employs a sectoral system of innovation framework towards understanding the differential outcomes in innovation capability building in the industry achieved by China and India. The countries have pursued widely diverging strategies for developing their domestic innovation capability. India followed a very rigid policy of indigenous development of domestic technologies by establishing a stand-alone public laboratory that developed state-of-the-art switching technologies. These were then transferred to manufacturing enterprises in both public and private sectors. The enterprises themselves did not have any in-house R&D capability. The public laboratory was also not given any strategic direction, even though it was technologically speaking, very competent. Consequently the country, despite possessing good quality human resource was unable to keep pace with changes in the technology fron...
This is a revised version of a paper presented as public lectures at the Institute of Public Ente... more This is a revised version of a paper presented as public lectures at the Institute of Public Enterprise, the National Geophysical Research L aboratory, both at Hyderabad, the Lal Bahadur Shastri National A cademy of Administration, Mussoorie and as seminars at CSTM, U niversity of Twente, The Netherlands and at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram. I am grateful to the comments that I received on these occasions and in particular to R K Mishra, V P Dimri, Manoj Panda, Chiranjib Sen, Sushil Khanna and Joy Clancy. Thanks are also due to V S Sreekanth for very efficient research assistance. The usual disclaimer holds good.
Right through her independence, India has been trying to achieve economic growth with technologic... more Right through her independence, India has been trying to achieve economic growth with technological self-reliance. In order to achieve this goal, the country has been adopting a mix of industrial and innovation policies. During the period up to and including the early 1990s, the state attempted to give shape to this goal by intervening directly by generating a whole host of industrial technologies through state-owned undertakings and other public research institutes. During the period since the 1990s, coinciding with the economic liberalization policies the state has replaced this with incentivizing the innovation system of the country. This is because the state wants the private sector enterprises to be at the core of the innovation system. Key to incentivizing the private sector was two specific policies, namely the R&D tax policy and the policy on Intellectual Property Rights. The paper undertakes a critical review of the very recent changes to these two policy instruments.
There is enough consensus to show that India’s economic performance since 1991 is a direct result... more There is enough consensus to show that India’s economic performance since 1991 is a direct result of the economic liberalization measures that have been put in place. One of the outcomes of this improved performance is the growth of innovations in the country. This was accompanied by or caused by the emergence of a number of technology-based enterprises. This paper takes a critical look at the available quantitative evidence on the growth of knowledge or technologybased entrepreneurship. It then looks at five facilitating factors for the emergence of this phenomenon in terms of the existence of increased market opportunities, availability of financial support schemes in the form of venture capital funds, existence and enlargement of a number of government programmes, a number of private sector initiatives and education, and training leading to the supply of technically trained personnel. The paper concludes with certain policy suggestions for the continued sustenance of this activity.
Earlier versions of this paper were presented as lectures at the refresher programme on Methods a... more Earlier versions of this paper were presented as lectures at the refresher programme on Methods and Approaches for Research in Migration Issues at the Centre for Development Studies (CDS) and as an open seminar at CDS. Thanks are due to the comments received on these occasions and to Mr VS Sreekanth for research assistance. The usual disclaimer holds.
february 5, 2011 vol xlvI no 6 EPW Economic & Political Weekly 58 This is a revised version of a ... more february 5, 2011 vol xlvI no 6 EPW Economic & Political Weekly 58 This is a revised version of a paper that we presented at the Centre for Development Studies-McGill international seminar on “Role of New Technologies in Sustainable Development: The Case of Kerala”, 27-28 January 2009. We are grateful to the discussants for their comments and to the IDRC and the Canadian High Commission, New Delhi for sponsorship. However, we alone are responsible for any errors or shortcomings that may still remain in the paper.
2007 Atlanta Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, 2007
2004, but its diffusion is still very low (Table 14) 7 . Out of 128 ISPs permitted to provide Int... more 2004, but its diffusion is still very low (Table 14) 7 . Out of 128 ISPs permitted to provide Internet telephony, only 32 have started the service.
There has been a significant increase in the places for undergraduate engineering degree programm... more There has been a significant increase in the places for undergraduate engineering degree programmes in the state. This has happened over the last decade by licensing a number of privately owned engineering colleges. Consequently, enrolments in engineering increased from about 2800 in 1991 to about 28,000 in 2008. The study analyses whether this increase in potential supply of engineers has resulted in actual supply of engineers. In fact, after a careful analysis of a unique data set the study reaches the conclusion that actual outturn rates have been steadily declining and especially since 2004. This decline is observed both at the aggregate level, across different branches and across different colleges. It then hypothesises about the probable causes for this steady decline in outturn rates and has identified this in terms of two prominent causes. The study then concludes with the larger implications of this state of affairs.
trade balance in mobile handsets facilitated by India emerging as a manufacturing and export base... more trade balance in mobile handsets facilitated by India emerging as a manufacturing and export base for cheaper handsets. Although the industry is dominated by MNCs, domestic firms have started making an entry into domestic manufacturing and indeed in innovations as well. However there is some evidence to show that most of the manufacturers are now more of assemblers of imported parts and components than manufacturers per se. This unique story of growth in services leading to the emergence of a manufacturing industry is the focus of attention and analysis in this paper.
International Journal of Technology and Globalisation, 2013
India is one among the few developing countries that have sought to establish an aerospace indust... more India is one among the few developing countries that have sought to establish an aerospace industry. The industry has two components, namely aeronautical and astronautical. Historically speaking, India has focused much more on the astronautical part of the industry. However, in the present paper, the emphasis is on understanding the aeronautical part of the aerospace industry. We first map out the sectoral system of innovation of this industry, which is actually located as a cluster in the south Indian city of Bangalore. The paper identifies the three building blocks of the sectoral system: lead actors, knowledge or technology domain, and the demand. Changes in each of these blocks over time are discussed. The study concluded with a comparison of the performance of the sector in terms of exports and competitiveness and also delves on the policy instruments that are required for placing the industry on a sure flight path.
Center for Development Studies Working Paper, 2010
China and India are definitely on a higher economic growth path, although the contribution of tec... more China and India are definitely on a higher economic growth path, although the contribution of technology to economic growth is still not very clearly estimated. There is evidence to show that innovative activities in the industrial sector in both the countries have shown some significant increases during the post reform process. Knowledge content of both domestic output and exports are increasing in both the countries. The Chinese NSI is dominated by the SSI of the electronics and telecommunications industries and in the case of India it is led by the SSI of the pharmaceutical industry. In both the countries, increasingly much of the innovative activities are contributed by MNCs. In other words both China and India have become important locations for innovative activities. There is even some macro evidence to show that the productivity of R&D investments in India is higher than in China, although this proposition requires careful empirical scrutiny before firm conclusions can be reached. However continued rise in innovative activity is limited by the availability finance and of good quality scientists and engineers. Although the available supply appears to be very productive, its important that to sustain this on a long term basis and also to spread the innovation culture to other areas of the industrial establishment concerted efforts will have to be made to increase both the quantity and quality of scientific manpower. Fortunately the governments in both the countries are aware of this problem and have started initiating a number of steps towards easing the supply of technically trained personnel. But the governments still have to rethink its financial support schemes by reducing as much as possible the distortions that are currently in this area.
India is variously described as a knowledge-based economy in the making thanks essentially due to... more India is variously described as a knowledge-based economy in the making thanks essentially due to her high economic growth and the role played by knowledge-intensive sectors such as Information Technology in spurring and maintaining this high growth performance. There is also a strong feeling among especially the West that India is becoming very innovative. The study will take the reader through the empirical evidence on whether this is indeed the case since the reform process of 1991. A variety of conventional (in the absence of new indicators such as the results of innovation surveys) are analysed and their movements over the last two decades or so chartered to draw some firm conclusions on this front. The conventional indicators considered are the growth in research intensity, patenting, scientific publications, and technology balance of payments. The study is organised into five parts. In the first part I will discuss certain macro features of the growth performance over the last two decades or so and thus sketch the context in which the study is conducted. In the second I engage myself with the literature on measuring innovation using a variety of indicators. In the third section I measure the actual innovative performance of India's economy since economic liberalization by employing a variety of these indicators. The ensuing analysis shows that the growth in innovations is not widespread but concentrated in certain specific sectoral systems of innovation such as in the case of the pharmaceutical industry. In the process of analyzing and piecing together this evidence, the fourth section identifies certain disquieting features which can act as limiting factor to the future innovative potential of the nation. Two such factors are identified and analysed: first, the financing of innovation and second, the availability and quality of science and engineering personnel. The fifth section concludes by examining the efforts made by the government to overcome these two constraints through public policy initiatives.
Centre for Development Studies, Trivendrum Working …, 2004
The paper focuses on the response strategies of public research systems in various advanced devel... more The paper focuses on the response strategies of public research systems in various advanced developing countries (Brazil, India and Korea) to specific challenges paused by increasing integration of their respective host economies with rest of the world. These challenges have dented ...
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