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India to be No 1 knowledge hub by 2025

"India has the potential to become the number one knowledge producing centre in the world by 2025, going by the way that things are moving. It is a story of lilies in the pond, where intellectual capital keeps doubling," said R A Mashelkar, the director-general of Council for Scientific and Industrial Research.

Delivering the 33rd ASCI (Administrative Staff College of India) Foundation Lecture in Hyderabad, he observed that the winds of technoglobalism (a strong interaction between the internationalisation of technology and the globalisation of the economy) were bringing about a silent revolution in India.

"India is on the march. Interesting transformation is taking place in the country. It is great time to be in India and interesting to see the changes that are unfolded here," he said, adding that the demographic shift in the western world meant that a country like India with relatively favourable demographic profile with a large portion of working and talented young people could become a global innovation hub."

"More than 100 companies around the world have set up their R&D centres in the country in the last five years and India offers real and unique opportunities for becoming a true global R&D platform," he said.

"For a dollar that is invested here you can go so many miles, where you can't go anywhere else in the world. It is going to be the land of opportunity. There is a world-class technical manpower. India's emergence as a global R&D hub has a social, economic, political and strategic significance," Mashelkar pointed out.

Analysing the possible impact of this on 'brain drain,' he said that a normal scientist would love to stay in India, provided he was given a challenging job here and all this would become possible as India became a great R&D hub, with the world's best companies doing their most challenging R&D in India.

"Another implication of this would be that there would be enhanced competition among institutions and firms to seek the best brains to work for them. This will automatically mean that the institutions will really have to create an intellectually stimulating, rewarding and hassle-free environment," Mashelkar analysed.

Mentioning the drugs and pharmaceuticals sector, in which India has the potential to become an R&D destination, the CSIR director-general said: "The increased emphasis on diseases for the poor coupled with the setting up of global health funds implies that there is a scope that India can become a destination of the creations -- global knowledge for global good through global funding."