India racing ahead in innovation, research output: Jitendra Singh

“There is a change in the perception in which the world looks at India today and there is a huge recognition and respect for Indian talent, particularly for the Indian youth,” Dr Singh said. “We have now started living up to the global parameters. We have started being recognised on the global benchmarks. We were just fragile five in 2014 and today, we are among the world’s first four, having overtaken even a country like the UK which ruled over us for over 200 years.”

Highlighting India’s rise in the innovation ecosystem, he noted that the country had only 350 to 400 startups a decade ago, whereas today it hosts more than 1.75 lakh, ranking third in the world. “In the Global Innovation Index, which is the most respectably recognised index across the world, we were ranked 80 and within 10 years, we have risen to the 38th spot,” he said. He added that “55-56 per cent patent filers are born in India, brought up in India, groomed in India, worked in India, never went out of India”. India’s overall research output in 2024, he said, ranked third globally.

Dr Singh also underscored India’s achievements in biotechnology and vaccines. “The same country which was never taken seriously as a therapeutic healthcare provider is today being hailed as the global leader in preventive healthcare,” he said. India, he added, has taken the lead in gene-based therapies. “We are the first in the world to have come out with a successful gene therapy trial for haemophilia, a clotting disorder.”

Calling for stronger collaboration between public research institutions and private industry, he said innovation thrives when “policy support, funding and enterprise work in tandem”. He said recent reforms enabling private participation in sectors such as space, health technologies and high-end manufacturing were part of an effort to build an enabling innovation ecosystem.

The four-day IISF, themed “Vigyan Se Samruddhi: for Aatmanirbhar Bharat”, includes more than 150 technical sessions and focuses on areas such as the Himalayan region, science for society, biotechnology, bio-economy and integration of traditional knowledge. Senior scientists from ISRO, DRDO, CSIR and other premier institutions are participating, with special sessions planned for women, students and young innovators.