Sibal seeks India-ASEAN R

New Delhi, Nov 6 (UNI) Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal today outlined a five-point programme to connect innovation and technology between India and ASEAN and called for an ASEAN Innovation Fund to make it locally relevant.

The programme includes building effective linkages between market and non-market forces and between science and business, stable markets without barriers, fostering collaboration between the private and public sectors, encouraging diffusion of technology to business and facilitating the movement of people between institutions and across borders.

The challenges being faced by India and ASEAN countries are common, but too large to be faced alone, Mr Sibal said while inaugurating the India-ASEAN Technology Summit here.

Governments need to be partners in this collaboration and have to be convinced that science and technology has the potential to bring about changes for the greater common good, he added.

The national innovation systems of India and Asean countries have to gear up to push R&D within the respective countries, society and industry, the minister said. Each country has its own strength in R&D that makes collaboration between them critical. ''We need an ASEAN Innovation Fund to foster such collaboration in the region that will help address the problems common to the region,'' Mr Sibal said.

India has emerged as a global R&D hub, with more than 300 research centres owned by multinational corporations. However, these generate intellectual property for their home countries using Indian technical expertise, Mr Sibal said. ''This indicates there is a huge revolution taking place in generating wealth for somebody else using Indian brainpower.'' The national innovation system has to respond to this challenge in collaboration with the corporate sector, he added.

Underlining the importance of innovation in the knowledge economy, Malaysian Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Jamaluddin Mohammad Jarjis, said the knowledge economy is the driver of new initiatives, creativity, diffusion of technology, modernisation and technology.

ASEAN is taking big strides in economic integration, and its member-countries are expected to be integrated into a single market by 2020. This will enable free flow of goods, services and investment, Dr Jarjis said adding ASEAN considers free trade with India as integral to this process.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between CII and Department of Science and Technology. Called Global Innovation and Technology Alliance (GITA), the agreement would be an agent of connectivity through CII to the world outside, said DST Secretary T Ramasami.

The deliberations during the 12th Technology Summit will focus on space, ICT, biotechnology and food and marine products processing.

The Summit has attracted 130 participants from 10 ASEAN countries and South Korea. There are 350 participants from India from industry, government, academic and R&D institutions.

UNI DKS FZ PM1802