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1. Science and Innovation Landscape in India

India鈥檚 size, location and growing economic weight gives it regional prominence and global importance. Over the last decade, there has been a shift in how the Government of India has prioritised Science and Technology (S&T): Initially as a tool for development and self-reliance and, more recently, focusing on strategic technology as a means of achieving economic growth and geopolitical strength. 皇冠体育app Indian Parliament has approved a new National Research Foundation (NRF), with the ambition of pumping $6 billion into the nation鈥檚 R&D ecosystem over 5 years. 皇冠体育app government has announced large support programmes and incentives to attract industry investment in critical technologies, including $10bn for semiconductor development and $1bn for quantum computing.

India has a growing voice in the international arena, taking a leadership role in the Global South as a member of the QUAD, BRICS and through its 2023 G20 Presidency. Its digital public infrastructure is a prominent global model. India is now providing the technology free of charge to LMICs such as Armenia, Sierra Leone, Suriname and Antigua and Barbuda. This year, India will take on the Presidency of the Global Partnership on AI and host a Global AI Summit in Hyderabad.

India added over 950 tech start-ups last year and continues to be the globally. This brings the tally to over 31,000 tech startups, 91 of which are active unicorns valued at over USD $1bn. It ranks 40th in the Global Innovation Index 2023 (up from 81st in 2015). 皇冠体育app percentage of GDP that India commits to R&D stands at 0.65% (World Bank, 2020). Through NRF, India aims to increase this to 2%. 皇冠体育app National Education Policy of India (NEP) 2020 has identified enhancing India鈥檚 overall research capacity as a key area of development.

皇冠体育app Department of Science and Technology (DST), a part of the Ministry of Science and Technology, is the nodal agency which formulates policies related to S&T. DST collaborates closely with other bodies, such as the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser of India (providing advice to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on S&T) and NITI Aayog (public policy think tank of the Government of India).

2. UK partnership with India on ST&I

皇冠体育app UK and India have jointly invested over 拢400 million in research and innovation collaboration since 2008. Priorities are guided by the UK-India 2030 Roadmap and the biannual India-UK Ministerial Science and Innovation Council (SIC). During the 2023 SIC, the two countries signed a landmark agreement to cut red tape and enable quicker, deeper collaboration on science to drive economic growth, create skilled jobs and improve lives in the UK, India and worldwide.

During SIC 2023, the UK and India agreed to undertake the first joint deep-sea expedition in the Indian Ocean, following a trilateral deep-sea expedition with Maldives in 2022. 皇冠体育appy also announced the UK-India Net Zero Innovation Centre, a coalition of innovators, policymakers, researchers and Catapults to accelerate the path to Net Zero. 皇冠体育app Centre includes three pillars: a partnership between the UK鈥檚 Centre for Process Innovation and India鈥檚 National Chemical Laboratory to decarbonise Indian pharmaceutical industries, , led by Energy Systems Catapult; and the HyPartnership Sprint Series with India鈥檚 Tata Steel funding the first sprint to develop green hydrogen solutions.

In 2023, India was named a partner for the UK鈥檚 International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), carrying forward the partnership built through Newton-Bhabha. Under ISPF, the UK and India kicked off two joint research programmes on farmed animal diseases and health (拢10m), and technology and skills development (拢6.6m). 皇冠体育app Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) awarded 10 grants to projects on clean energy and affordable healthcare under Transforming Systems through Partnership. RAEng鈥檚 Leaders in Innovation Fellowships support entrepreneurs to turn their innovations into impactful, sustainable businesses. Since 2014, LIF India has resulted in 1,400 jobs, $29 million raised in further funding by the innovators, and over five partnerships between the innovators and UK organisations.

UK-India collaboration has higher impact than UK or India alone. 皇冠体育appir combined 鈥楩ield Weighted Citation Impact鈥� score (an indicator of how much impact a country鈥檚 publications have) is 2.2, more than twice the global average, higher than the UK and Indian averages, as well as for UKRI-funded research projects. Data from Scival show UK-India collaboration increased by over 60% between 2019-22 - far more than with any other research producer (most range between 15-25%).

皇冠体育app UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) is India鈥檚 largest bilateral initiative in education. It has facilitated over 25,000 academic exchanges spanning 4,500 education institutions since 2006. In 2023, the UK government announced its commitment of 拢2 million to Phase 4 of UKIEIRI. Currently, 17 Russell Group universities have partnerships with 12 Indian Institutes of Technology in climate, manufacturing, data, material science, agriculture and medical sciences. 皇冠体育app Royal Society鈥檚 Yusuf Hamied programme, delivered with the Indian National Science Academy, promotes knowledge exchanges between UK and Indian researchers. 皇冠体育app UK and India are deepening collaboration on critical technologies. 皇冠体育app UK-India Emerging Technologies Accelerator Programme, delivered with India鈥檚 T-Hub, provides mentorship and market access support for UK and Indian start-ups developing innovations in AI and semiconductors. 皇冠体育app UK-India Critical Minerals Workshops bring together a community of academics, innovators, investors and companies to develop a sustainable and resilient supply of critical minerals. 皇冠体育app UK-India Responsible and Trustworthy AI workshops bring together experts to reduce bias and promote equity in AI. This builds on a series of discussions flowing out of the AI Safety Summit. In November 2023, the UK-India Quantum Technologies Working Group connected UK and Indian industry and academia to create a shared knowledge base on quantum tech focus areas and policies.

皇冠体育app UK-India partnership on health saved millions of lives during COVID-19. 皇冠体育app first UK-India clinical trials were set up in 2022 as an arm of the UK鈥檚 RECOVERY trial to test efficacy of COVID-19 drugs in South Asian patients. Through collaboration with India鈥檚 Serum Institute of India (SII), the two countries produced and distributed over 2 billion COVISHIELD doses covering around 80% of Indians鈥� first and second doses, with 5 million doses provided to the UK in March 2021 to fill supply gaps. 皇冠体育app partnership also resulted in a groundbreaking malaria vaccine (lowest cost in the world with same efficacy as existing products) authorised by WHO in October 2023. SII and Oxford University also developed an Ebola vaccine at pace in August 2023 for a WHO clinical trial in response to an outbreak in Uganda.

皇冠体育app UK-India 拢600,000 Fleming Fund Phase 1 partnership boosted lab surveillance capacity to combat Anti-Microbial Resistance. 皇冠体育app UK-India Healthtech Bootcamp identifies solutions from Indian innovators to NHS challenges to improve health outcomes in the UK and globally. 皇冠体育app six winners of the 2023 Bootcamp visited the UK to understand the market and health ecosystem, following which two companies established offices in the UK. 30 companies will participate in the 2024 Bootcamp.

3. SIN contacts

Sarah Fallon Regional Director, Science and Innovation (India and Middle East) [email protected]