Four steps needed for Indian science to make a global impact

UPDATE - follow-up to Indian research can shape the world: National laboratories in India must open up to outside researchers, students, and companies to help build transformative technologies that can shape the world. Former Principal Scientific Adviser K. VijayRaghavan and Iron Pillar Vice-President Archish Mittal stated that India needs to stop focusing only on catching up with past technological waves like aircraft, advanced weapons, and biotechnology, and instead lead future innovations by connecting fundamental research directly with practical applications.

Four Key Reforms

To achieve global impact, the experts outlined four necessary steps. First, India must invest in high-quality education at scale by building hundreds of experimental foundries in engineering, physics, biology, chemistry, and math where young people can work with real instruments. Second, national labs need to shed their insularity and organize around three distinct zones: green for open interaction, amber for collaboration, and red for strategic work. Third, trusted institutions should be granted flexibility and freed from the heavy burden of General Financial Rules compliance so accountability is measured by outcomes instead of step-by-step procedures. Fourth, the regulatory system requires urgent reform to make approvals for biological research and clinical trials faster and more predictable, helping smaller institutions succeed alongside deep-pocketed ones. Improving just ten percent in each sector every year would make the country nearly seven times better in twenty years.

Context

India has a strong base of scientific talent and top-tier academic pockets, but rigid administrative rules and closed institutional boundaries have often slowed down large-scale translation into real-world products. Reforming these systemic bottlenecks is a long-standing goal for policy experts seeking to transform the nation into a global hub for science and technology. This follows an earlier report, covered earlier on 07 Oct 2026: 'Indian research can shape the world'.