International Conference on "India R & D 2005 - A Knowledge hub of the Future"
November 7, 2005, New Delhi

Welcome Address by Mr. Onkar S Kanwar, President, FICCI

Respected Rashtrapatiji,

Shri Kapil Sibal, Hon'ble Minister of State for Science & Technology and Ocean Development,

Prof. Ramamurthy, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology,

Dr. Mashelkar, Director General, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research,

Dr. Ajay Dua, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion,

Dr. Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI,

Your Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is indeed a matter of great privilege for me to welcome you all this morning. What an honour to have with us Rashtrapatiji! Your mission, Sir, has been to ignite the minds of youth in this great nation. You have also fired the spirit of the older generation to reach higher and constantly raise the bar.

In order for us to achieve these goals, Indian scientists must make new discoveries across fields, and engineer successful applications for these, for the betterment of mankind in general and the people of India in particular.

In path breaking work, just published, the inventor Ray Kurzweil claims, that in the first half of the 21st Century, and I quote, "the pace of technological change will be so rapid, its impact so deep, that human life will be irreversibly transformed." He speaks of a new law of "Accelerating Returns", not the old law of diminishing returns, driven by the immense power of technology.

However, the question before us is, will India play a major role in this historic journey. Today's conference, India R&D 2005 : The world's Knowledge Hub of the Future, will attempt to answer this question. It will chalk out milestones and markers for our nation to tread. We know Rashtrapatiji, this very topic is very dear to your heart. And Kapilji has taken personal interest in shaping this event.

Almost a decade ago, Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric had said and I quote "India is a developing country but it is a developed country as far as its intellectual infrastructure is concerned. We get the highest intellectual capital per dollar here." Unquote.

But, Sir, we have miles and miles to go. During the last decade, R&D investments in India increased from a mere US$ 2.2 billion to US$ 6.8 billion last year. Over 100 major multinational corporations, in diverse areas, ranging from pharmaceuticals, avionics, automobiles, FMCG, chemicals and agro-chemicals, semiconductors, computer hardware and software, have set up their R&D centers in India, to draw upon the rich and talented human capital available at competitive costs.

May I raise three issues which this conference could address and suggest an action plan :

• One, there is an urgent need to create the right environment, where innovation excels and gets recognized as a wealth creator.
• Two, as India becomes globally competitive, it will require people with skills - skills that are globally benchmarked. Hence, there is a critical need to create a hassle free environment to conduct research. And Indian industry will have to offer competitive salaries and amenable work environments, to attract a rich pool of scientists.
• Three, while government regulations are favourable for carrying out R&D in India, R&D in the private sector is limited to only the MNCs and big corporate houses. We need to address the issue of small and medium enterprises, which show interest in R&D. The outcome of this meet must include concrete suggestions as to how the government could accelerate the participation of SMEs in the area of Research and Development.

Sir, this significant event, organized jointly by the Department of Science & Technology, CSIR, DIPP and FICCI, will strive to lay the stepping stones, towards making India the R&D hub of the world. We also hope this event will be revisited every two years, to evaluate and update our knowledge base and push the frontiers of human capital formation.

Thank you all.