Sixth Consultative Meet Calls for Translational Push in India’s R&D Ecosystem

The Sixth Consultative Meeting on “Ease of Doing Research & Development (R&D)” was held on 10–11 September 2025, bringing together a distinguished panel of policymakers, institutional leaders, vice chancellors, scientists, and representatives from national R&D institutions to deliberate on ways to strengthen India’s research ecosystem. The event served as a platform for reimagining the future of Indian science, with a focus on making research more accessible, industry-oriented, and socially impactful.

Rethinking India’s R&D Landscape

Delivering keynote interventions, Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, President of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), and Dr. N. Kalaiselvi, Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), underscored the urgency of creating a research environment where the ease of doing R&D becomes a central policy priority.

While acknowledging India’s deep scientific capabilities, they stressed the need for:

• Stronger institutional frameworks that support high-quality research.

• Streamlined regulatory mechanisms to reduce bureaucratic hurdles.

• Closer linkages with industry and startups to accelerate innovation transfer.

• Pathways for translating laboratory work into technologies, products, and processes that reach markets and benefit society.

Policy Perspectives and Leadership

The meeting was graced by Shri Jishnu Dev Varma, Hon’ble Governor of Telangana, who emphasized that a resilient R&D architecture is central to the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat. He highlighted the importance of not only generating new knowledge but also translating it into technologies and solutions that enhance both national self-reliance and global competitiveness.

The Governor lauded NITI Aayog’s initiative in convening such a platform, noting that India’s long-term growth depends on aligning science with societal needs and ensuring that innovation feeds into industry, agriculture, healthcare, and public services.

Voices of Eminent Scientists

Two of India’s most respected science leaders, Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Former Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, and Dr. V. K. Saraswat, Hon’ble Member, NITI Aayog, presented their forward-looking perspectives. They called for:

• Renewed attention to translational research, where fundamental knowledge is rapidly connected with applied technologies.

• Stronger industry-academia partnerships to nurture innovation clusters.

• Building public-sector pathways for deploying indigenous technologies at scale.

• Investing in long-term research infrastructure to support advanced science.

Both leaders emphasized that the true measure of India’s research strength lies in its ability to transform ideas into deployable solutions across sectors.

Technical Deliberations

The consultation featured multiple technical sessions involving vice chancellors, directors of universities, heads of national laboratories, and R&D institutions. Key discussion areas included:

• Reforming regulatory frameworks to minimize compliance burdens.

• Designing flexible and transparent funding mechanisms for cutting-edge projects.

• Enhancing access to advanced global knowledge resources and databases.

• Redesigning institutional processes to promote interdisciplinary collaboration.

• Developing models for applied and translational research to connect science with industry clusters and startups.

Participants collectively agreed that funding priorities should shift towards research translation, ensuring that projects lead to patents, prototypes, products, and public-good applications.

Defining India’s Scientific Future

The meeting concluded with a resounding consensus: India’s scientific destiny will be shaped not just by the ease of doing research, but by the ease of translating research into tangible outcomes.

Embedding translation as a core principle in policy design, funding structures, and institutional frameworks will ensure that:

• Laboratory discoveries move seamlessly to industry and markets.

• Innovations contribute directly to Atmanirbhar Bharat by strengthening national self-reliance.

• Public welfare and quality of life improve through accessible, affordable technologies.

The Sixth Consultative Meeting thus reinforced that India’s research journey must evolve from a knowledge-generation paradigm to a knowledge-to-market paradigm, where science becomes a powerful engine of industrial growth, societal progress, and global competitiveness.