Despite great strides in some areas of research and development, the nation still has a long way to go.

Original Source

Indian science is a study in contrasts. With its vast population and rapidly expanding economy, the country has ramped up scientific production at an impressive rate. India started the twenty-first century well behind Russia, France, Italy and Canada in terms of yearly publications and it now leads them all by healthy margins. It is quickly closing in on Japan. Despite those gains, India is not yet a major player in world science. Its publications generate fewer citations on average than do those of other science-focused nations, including other emerging countries such as Brazil and China.

India is making great strides in improving its science, but it needs to look carefully at its approach and work with the rest of the world if it is to realize its full potential. (Editorial)

Original Source

An attempt has been made in this study to present an overview of the patenting intensity of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries. Patent data originating from SAARC countries from 1995 to 2011, filed through World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), European Patent Office and United States Patent and Trademark Office were collected and analysed.

As Lok Sabha elections 2014 in India ends with vote-counting on 16 May 2014, this paper published in Nature warns that with two of the three main parties making scant mention of science in their manifestos, Indian science will not get the boost it needs to become internationally competitive. Says that whichever party wins, the government must do more than pay lip service to science.

The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2013 sets a target to increase R&D expenditure to 2% of gross domestic product, this through public-private partnerships. But, compared to China, where is the commitment to R&D? India's innovation potential is grossly underutilised. The small and medium enterprises in the industrial clusters are yet to be effectively served by the formal R&D institutes. The universities as centres of advanced learning and research suffer from official neglect. There has been little effort to set up technology parks linked to them in their vicinity.

How climate change science is conducted, communicated and translated into policy must be radically transformed if 'dangerous' climate change is to be averted.