India fifth in scientific publications, China and the US occupy the top two spots

Prof. Sharma said India had about 15,000 start-ups, of which about 5,000 were in the field of deep technology.

Update: 2019-02-21 20:20 GMT
(Representational Image)

Hyderabad: India stands at the fifth position globally in the number of scientific publications which are growing at 14 per cent every year, said Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, secretary, Union department of science and technology (DST).

Since India has immense strength in science and technology, the country is expected to reach the third position in about seven years, overtaking Germany and the UK, Prof. Sharma said at the two-day Global Research and Development Summit. The summit was hosted by Ficci on Thursday. China and the US occupy the top two spots.

He said the publications of science and technology were an indicator of the basic strengths and the basic problem-solving capacity that exists in the country. “There is a greater push for innovation in the last five years,” he added.

Prof. Sharma said India had about 15,000 start-ups, of which about 5,000 were in the field of deep technology. “It is comforting to know that we have 2 out of every 3 technology start-ups in the world, but for a country of 1.3 billion people this may not be significant,” he said.

The DST has a very active partnership with more than 45 countries, though there are MoUs with more than 100 countries, besides partnerships with multi-lateral forums like BRICS, EU and the African Union. Prof. Sharma added, “Since we have deep strengths in science and technology, our R&D expenditure in the last decade has tripled and stands at about USD15 bn. If you look at per capita investment or per scientist investment in Science and Technology, it is comparable to many countries of Europe and US.”

The summit is a significant annual initiative of FICCI with the core objective of promoting R and D in the field of Science and Technology and India-Africa collaboration is the focus of the summit. He called upon the African countries to partner with India in all kinds of technologies from Agriculture to Artificial Intelligence and to solve and effectively address many common problems.

Apollo Hospitals MD and Ficci senior vice-president Sangitha Reddy said, “In the area of healthcare and   medicine, India has become one of the healthcare givers, where traditionally 40 years ago Indians used to go abroad to seek healthcare.

“Today patients from 120 countries come to India to seek care. So in every realm of Science and Technology India has evolved, India has developed. But there is so much to do and this Summit says we can do more   together,” she said.

The valedictory on Friday will feature Union science and technology minister  Harsh Vardhan.

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