India@100: A digitally-powered and sustainable innovation hub Leave a comment
My vision for India in the 100th year of its Independence is that of a global innovation leader focused on equitable and inclusive economic growth where everyone prospers in a secure environment with equal access to healthcare, education and sustainable livelihoods.
It is by investing in breakthrough ideas and embracing entrepreneurship as an economic model of growth that India will be able to unleash the power of innovation to ensure a better life for all its citizens. Research and innovation, fuelled by technology, will catalyse the kind of non-linear growth that will make the country one of the world’s top three economies and bring it closer to developed nation status by 2047.
The government has identified research, innovation and technology as the key drivers of its VisionIndia@2047 and is making significant investments in these areas. Going forward, it must enable and support innovative start-ups and businesses that think locally but have the potential to make an enormous global impact. By encouraging technopreneurs to grow from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to large industrial-scale operations, India will be able to create a compelling opportunity to take innovative ideas to global markets. We should aim to be among the top 20 countries in the Global Innovation Index by 2047.
Digital and data-backed innovation combined with ubiquitous and affordable internet will help India build a robust digital economy of the future.
Given India’s value advantage and scientific excellence, the country can innovate and drive the technology frontier outward to boost productivity and efficiency in the sphere of healthcare, thus delivering affordability and accessibility, enabling preventive health approaches and driving value across the complete spectrum of the healthcare ecosystem.
Technology-led innovations will help India leapfrog the traditional linear model and take healthcare to the next level. It will help us build a national healthcare system, which is accessible, organised, accountable, affordable and, thus, resilient.
The groundwork for a digital transformation of healthcare in India has already been laid, thanks to the reforms being implemented by the Centre to make healthcare-related regulations more flexible. At the same time, the pandemic has forced changes in consumer behaviour, persuaded doctors to become tech-savvy and prompted the healthcare industry to invest in user-friendly digital solutions. These developments have created a fertile environment for the emergence of low-cost, technology-led and scalable innovations anchored in affordability and accessibility.
To reap the full benefits of this digital disruption of healthcare, India will need to coordinate policymaking, funding and implementation. It will also need to put in place appropriate regulatory frameworks that foster patient trust and privacy, as well as enable faster adoption of emerging technological innovations.
The government aims to raise public spending on healthcare to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2025. India must aspire to raise healthcare spending to 5 per cent of GDP by 2047 to truly deliver standardised and quality universal healthcare.
The resulting spurt in technological innovation will empower patients, address the needs of underserved populations and ensure universal access and affordable care to all Indians by 2047.
India’s pharmaceutical industry is at the global forefront as “the Pharmacy of the World”, ranking third in terms of pharmaceutical production by volume. In the next 25 years, India needs to be able to capture a higher share of the pharmaceutical value chain. For this, we need to focus on emerging opportunities across novel biologics, biosimilars, cell and gene therapies, high-end contract research and manufacturing services, mRNA and other new-generation vaccines, orphan drugs, precision medicines and molecular diagnostics. With the right kind of policies, the Indian pharma industry will be able to grow from the current $50 billion to $500 billion by 2047 and rank among the top five countries in value terms and No. 1 in volume terms.
The roadmap to achieving the $500 billion trajectory lies in our abilities to pursue cutting-edge research and innovation, conduct global-scale operations and create a robust regulatory system. Research Linked Incentives (RLIs) can provide the impetus for the pharma industry to increase R&D investments, as well as encourage greater industry-academia partnerships. Building capacity and world-class capabilities across the pharma value chain will help us realise our aspirational potential of 10 times growth in pharma and biopharma by 2047.
To become a global economic power by 2047, India will need to empower its women. As a nation, we must give women the opportunities and freedom to engage in productive work in the economic mainstream and liberate them from the shackles of unpaid labour.
Female participation in the formal labour force in India is currently estimated at a dismal 24 per cent, among the lowest in developing nations. Most Indian women work in the informal sector in jobs with limited social protection and low wages. It is estimated that the Indian economy could grow by an additional 60 per cent by 2025, adding $2.9 trillion, if women were represented in the formal economy at the same rate as men. If the Indian economy is to achieve double-digit growth it can no longer ignore the potential of women, the half of our total talent pool.
To provide equal opportunities to its women, India needs to focus more on women-centric programmes aimed at ensuring their education, health, economic security, safety and fundamental rights. We must aim to raise the level of women’s participation in the formal sector to 50 per cent by 2047.
By 2047, India will also need to have fully integrated environmental sustainability in its growth models by focusing on renewable energy and reducing waste, effluents, emissions and consumerism; recycling and reuse should become the credo. To achieve the full potential of the opportunities offered by a green economy transition, India will need to formulate and implement environmental change policies that reconcile development and sustainability goals. As a nation, we should aim to meet 80 per cent of our electricity requirements from renewable energy sources by 2047.
Creating a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy that is transparent, efficient, and economically inclusive will enable India to emerge as the third largest economy in the world and a true global power by the 100th year of its Independence.
The writer is executive chairperson, Biocon & Biocon Biologics
