UNESCO's Science Report 2021

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Last Updated18/06/2021

UNESCO's "The Race Against Time for Smarter Development" report, monitors the development path that the countries have been following over the past five years from the perspective of science governance.
The report concludes that countries will need to invest more in research and innovation if they are to succeed in their dual digital and green transition.

More than 30 countries have already raised their research spending since 2014, in line with their commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals.
Despite the progress, eight out of ten countries still devote less than 1% of GDP to research, perpetuating their dependence on foreign technologies.
Global spending on research grew faster than the global economy between 2014 and 2018. However, growth has been uneven around the world.

A lot has changed since the previous edition of the UNESCO Science Report (Mani, 2015). Through the establishment of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog)2 in 2015, which serves as a think tank, the government has been attempting to modernize the country; one thrust has been to promote innovation and diffuse modern digital technologies.

Average gross domestic expenditure on research and development (GERD) over the past two decades is 0.75% of GDP, the lowest among BRICS (Brazil, Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa).

Since 2016, the Start-up India initiative has boosted the number of start-ups(almost doubled) but these remain concentrated in the services sector, in general, and software development, in particular.

Overall research intensity remains stagnant and the density of scientists and engineers remains one of the lowest among BRICS countries, despite having risen somewhat.
Pharmaceuticals and software still account for the majority of patents. Although inventive activity by Indian inventors has surged, foreign multinational corporations remain assignees for the vast majority of patents.
Employability increased from 34% in 2014 to almost 47% in 2019, meaning that one out of two graduates is still not employable, this is one of our major concerns, to curb this, the ambitious National Skills Development Mission aims to train about 400 million Indians over 2015–2022.

Air and water pollution remain life-threatening challenges in India. The government is striving for universal electrification and the diffusion of electric and hybrid vehicles.

As a share of total installed capacity for electricity generation, green energy sources (wind, solar, biofuels and small hydro-electricity generators) rose from 13% in 2015 to 22% in 2018.
Green energy sources are expected to meet 40% of India’s electricity needs by 2030.

Indian researchers are publishing more than would be expected on key topics related to agricultural production, health and sustainable energy, relative to global averages.
Indian researchers are publishing between 1.5 and 1.8 times the global average on smart-grid technologies, photovoltaics, biofuels and biomass and wind turbine technologies, complementing the government’s push to expand green energy sources.