Knowledge production and translation of science between Academia and Industry: assessing the impact of R&D in India

Abstract

India is at the 3^rd position worldwide in terms of publication of scientific literature. However, in terms of productivity, it has been consistently failing to transform the research knowledge into industrial output. This study compares India with the leading countries to understand its lacuna in terms of R&D policy and outputs. Although scientific publications are regarded as the output of basic research, patent applications serve as a better indicator of the applied research. This paper assesses the important determinants for patent filings of a nation. It also focuses on the role of academia and industry collaboration in R&D and the productivity of a nation. We found that the higher the GERD (total Gross Domestic Expenditure of R&D) and the R&D personnel in a nation, the higher the patent filings of the nation. Moreover, we show that academia-industrial collaboration plays a key role in transforming basic research into real-world applications, as we illustrate the government’s role in making necessary policies to make the collaboration successful. This paper highlights the significance of investing in R&D to improve the productivity of a nation, as also the need to design policies to strengthen the applied research environment by fostering solution-centric collaborations between academia and industry.