PM Narendra Modi’s 12th Independence Day address includes a bigger vision with deeper, micro and macro social and economic strategies to entirely overcome the shackles of colonialism, greedy politics, plots to break India, and deep state global market pressures. His speech exhibited significant trust and confidence in the younger generation’s ability to establish in-house skills for the manufacturing and service sectors. He immediately delivered a clear message to all businesses, industrialists, research institutions, scientists, and today’s youth: self-reliance is the key to making India resilient in every way by 2047. He sent a strong message to the world that the Indian market, particularly farmers, fishermen, and MSMEs, cannot be hijacked by global forces under any circumstances. The world is waiting for us to seize this opportunity in manufacturing, service, social justice, and environmental concerns. We simply need to invest in science, technology, research, and innovation in these disciplines so that we may become a source of issue solving and provides peace and happiness. Though China owns over 32% of the global market and we have only about 3%, China is damaging the world because of avarice and a desire for superpower status. If we grow and cover the entire planet, we will do it with environmental considerations and the global good in mind, therefore we must begin with speed and precision.
What activities should scientists, research organizations, industries, and institutions do to establish a self-sufficient India?
Every year, India generates over 15 lakh engineers, who may be the foundations of Science and technology, research, innovation, and skill development in every sector if stakeholders invest the necessary resources in improving their abilities and mindsets to develop them as researchers or innovators. Research and Innovation is critical to success. If we need to create manufacturing and service capabilities to compete in the global market, we should prioritize research, innovation, and skill development. Efforts, money, and encouragement should be provided to youngsters so that they can focus their efforts in the correct way at the right moment.
Mark Zachary Taylor, a professor at Georgia Tech, asserts that “a nation cannot innovate by implementing a single set of rules. To succeed, nations don’t need to be like China, Japan, or the United States. To suit their unique situations, economics, governments, histories, and cultures, they are able to create their own sets of policies and solutions.
The 5Ps of Sustainable Development Goals, an innovative approach
“The frameworks used to understand the SDGs, previous studies have traditionally focused on three principal pillars: social inclusion, economic growth, and environmental protection,” according to the journal Innovation and Knowledge. However, a more comprehensive view of sustainable development has emerged as a result of recent global difficulties, including the COVID-19 pandemic, armed conflicts, and energy and climate shocks. In order to widen the framework to incorporate the five fundamental pillars of the Sustainable Development Goals—People, Prosperity, Planet, Peace, and Partnership—the 2030 Agenda included two more elements: Partnership and Peace”. This was the standard in Bharat in the past, but westernization brought about a colonial attitude, therefore science, research, and innovation should be directed with all factors taken into account.
Innovation with a focus on sustainability and humanity can help enhance healthcare, education, mobility, and other elements of daily living, resulting in a higher quality of life for all. Innovation can help us address societal concerns in a variety of ways. For example, technical advancements can assist us in developing more sustainable energy sources, improving access to healthcare, and increasing efficiency in the manufacturing and distribution of goods and services. Social innovations can help us establish new business models that promote social and environmental responsibility, as well as novel approaches to social concerns such as poverty, education, and human rights.
Education is a human right as well as a potent tool for developing human capital that can benefit both individuals as well as nations. Education is becoming increasingly important for success in today’s shifting economic world. The contemporary global context of technological advances and digitalization emphasizes the need of higher education access for people to become more competitive through research, innovation, and the development of new ideas. This is why we are focusing on implementing the New National Education Policy as quickly as feasible. The politics around it should be set aside, and everyone should work together to implement this initiative. One way to assess a country’s educational efforts is to look at the amount of money invested by the government in various training activities directed at very varied audiences; this is known as government education expenditure. Historically, government investment on education has been a major contributor to some countries’ rapid economic growth, particularly following World War II.
What exactly is innovation, and which types of innovations should we focus on?
Innovation seeks to overcome current issues, inefficiencies, or constraints by creating new solutions that provide actual advantages or improvements. More than just ideation, innovation entails implementing and executing new ideas or solutions to make them a reality. Successful innovation benefits stakeholders by improving efficiency, lowering costs, improving performance, increasing production, or providing greater user experiences.
Essentially, there are four kinds of innovation: radical, incremental, disruptive and basic research. Radical innovation: As the name implies, a radical innovation significantly alters the circumstances of a brand, whether in terms of market or commercial dynamics. It might result from a complete shift in a company’s positioning, work technique, procedures, services and products offered, or how it interacts with customers.
Incremental innovation is another form of innovation. It introduces new features to a product, brand, or production method without requiring a significant modification. It is typically an extension of an already-implemented brand innovation that complements and improves, whether for employees, customers, or company benefits.
Disruptive innovation has been more prevalent in recent decades due to technological and behavioral changes. This form of innovation is more market-driven than specific to a brand, product, or service. It can be exploited by anything a firm has supplied and thus earned a name for itself, but in general, it is a scalable shift that affects a large number of people at once.
Basic research: Of course, practically every great discovery necessitates extensive expertise in a certain field, which is where research innovation comes in. Basic research is the discovery of a novel phenomenon that allows for new problem-solving strategies. Larger corporations incorporate research into their innovation initiatives by establishing research centers, labs, or accelerators. However, smaller businesses can have access to highly specialized research through local universities and, of course, business schools. If you wish to pursue innovation in a highly specialized field, choosing a business school based on its research staff and research centers, as well as the teaching available to you as a student, is an excellent approach to make these connections and be among the first to learn about new findings.
Since the announcement of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat plan, Prime Minister Modi has established a clear direction for self-reliance in India, as seen by clear policies and budgets. Now, as responsible citizens, institutes and organizations of our great nation, universities, corporations, industries, research organizations, social groups, scientists, and young people in all fields, should go forward and work to make our country great in all aspects and areas.
