China, India should establish BRICS Innovation promotion framework

China Plus Published: 2017-08-04 09:40:51
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By Prasoon Sharma

The Global Innovation Index 2017 (GII), gave a ranking of ‘22’ to China and ‘60’ to India. GII provides a key tool and a rich database of detailed metrics for economies, which in 2016 encompassed 130 economies, representing 92.8% of the world’s population and 97.9% of global GDP.

BRICS-member nations embrace 42 percent of the world's population and create 18 percent of gross domestic product on a global scale. BRICS -member nations hold 17 percent of the world's investment in research and development and publish 27 percent of the scientific articles on international journals.

China, India should establish BRICS Innovation promotion framework

In GII 2016 in middle income group of countries, China and India are leaders. As per GII 2017, China is among global top 10 for providing human resources in Maths & science. And India is among global top 10 for providing human resources in Engineering& science. 

As per GII 2017, China is number one in high tech export in knowledge output domain. And India is number one in ICT service exports in knowledge output domain

The State Council of China has issued a national scientific and technological innovation plan in a bid to build China into an innovative country and a scientific and technological power. Based on the idea that innovation is the prime development driving force, the plan is a blueprint designed for technological innovation development during the period of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020). China has witnessed major developments in technology improvements, such as manned space flights and lunar probes, manned deep-sea submersible, deep earth exploration, super computers and quantum communication. The plan urged to play the key leading role of scientific and technological innovation in uplifting the industries to the medium- and high-end, developing new growth drivers, expanding new development space, improving development quality and efficiency. The plan called efforts to accelerate the implementation of major national scientific and technological projects and launch the scientific and technological innovation 2030 project. With qualified patents exceeded one million last year, China become the third country after the United States and Japan to join the world's million patent club.

India has had a very strong history and heritage of innovation. India was the pioneer of legendary universities such as Nalanda and Takshashila, which drew people from all over the world. We invented the zero and had a great legacy of innovation in science, art, culture, music, architecture, performing arts and philosophy. In fact, India was the largest economy in the world in the 16th Century.

PwC estimate the need for India to increase its R&D spend to 2.4% of GDP by 2034, and focus on innovation-driven solutions that may account for almost 40% of the 10-trillion-USD Indian economy envisaged by 2034. 

As per the Startup India Action Plan, 500 Tinkering Labs are to be established. NITI Aayog has selected 457 schools for establishing Tinkering Labs. Of the selected, 366 Tinkering Labs have received a Grant-in-Aid of INR 12 Lakh each.

In BRICS summit 2017, Andhra Pradesh-Shenzhen Joint Incubation Centre should initiate BRICS Innovation challenge. BRICS countries are among the most innovative countries in the world. And they should join forces in order to address some of the world’s most pressing innovation challenges.

A woman visits the Isoftstone big data industry center in Yuquan District of Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Aug. 1, 2017. Isoftstone big data industry center was put into operation on Tuesday in Yuquan District to promote the construction of "Smart City" and "Smart tourism". [Photo: Xinhua]

A woman visits the Isoftstone big data industry center in Yuquan District of Hohhot, capital of north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Aug. 1, 2017. Isoftstone big data industry center was put into operation on Tuesday in Yuquan District to promote the construction of "Smart City" and "Smart tourism". [Photo: Xinhua]

BRICS countries’ Innovation Authority should call early-stage start-ups, research teams and companies, to submit their solutions to challenges in agriculture, water or digital health, ICT etc

The most promising proposals should

• win cross-border mentorship and incubation/acceleration prizes

• an opportunity to participate in an exclusive co-creation summit in India with industry leaders, experts and potential partners

• get market access in BRICS

• get an opportunity to pilot with leading partners in BRICS

In BRICS summit 2017, Initiative like Province Partner for Innovation (PPI) should be launched. For E.g. Guangdong & Andhra Pradesh should work as partners to promote innovation & startups in High tech domain and ICT domain.

On July 18, 2017, BRICS-member nations have set up an action plan to give a boost to science and technology cooperation among them. Ministers of science, technology and innovation of BRICS member nations signed an agreement in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. This also mentions about Action plan for Innovation Cooperation.

At the 5th ministerial meeting on science, technology and innovation BRICS in Hangzhou, Wan Gang China's minister of Science and Technology, stated that 'Hangzhou Declaration' was once again a cooperation among member nations and very important to boost the global economy and support sustainable development.

BRICS Action Plan for Innovation Cooperation 2017-2020 'emphasizes that innovation is one of the key forces for global sustainable development and plays an essential role in furthering economic growth.

This Action Plan for Innovation Cooperation stated that BRICS are committed to expanding innovation cooperation based on existing joint research mechanisms and programs, to encourage collaboration between science parks and to strengthen training for technology transfer.

In June, 2017 at BRICS Media Forum held in Beijing BRICS member nation have stressed the urgency of multimedia innovation and communication transformation.

In his speech Cai Mingzhao, president of Xinhua News Agency and executive chair of the forum, pointed out that participating media organisations all agree to actively explore cooperation in areas such as integrative development, video, new media and social media.

Last year, Xinhua established the cooperative and sharing platform "On-Scene Cloud," which can offer its members media content, channels, technologies and other services. "We are willing to open that platform to BRICS media free of charge," he noted.

"As innovation is transforming media from print to digital, we have to get used to a different kind of business model, Zenariah Barends, Co-chairman of the BRICKS Media and chief of staff in South Africa's Independent Media, told Xinhuanet on the sidelines of the forum.

"In addition, all media across the world are struggling with the same issue -- how technological development affects and forces media to change the way they basically tell the stories, ” she said."Therefore, we can not rely solely on print," she added.

And private media houses like ZEE, India TV from India, Interfax from Russia should also participate actively for Deepening media cooperation among BRICS countries, promoting equity and justice in international media.

In BRICS summit 2017, BRICS Innovation challenge TV show should be launched. This TV show should be broadcasted by all public and private TV channels. This show should invite entrepreneurs like Jack Ma (Alibaba), Robin Li (Baidu), NR Murthy (Infosys), Dr Subhash Chandra (Essel group) and others from all BRICS nations.

(Prasoon Sharma is Fellow at India Global and Visiting Research Fellow at Qianhai Institute of Innovative Research)


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LU Xiankun Professor LU Xiankun is Managing Director of LEDECO Geneva and Associate Partner of IDEAS Centre Geneva. He is Emeritus Professor of China Institute for WTO Studies of the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) and Wuhan University (WHU) of China and visiting professor or senior research fellow of some other universities and think tanks in China and Europe. He also sits in management of some international business associations and companies, including as Senior Vice President of Shenzhen UEB Technology LTD., a leading e-commerce company of China. Previously, Mr. LU was senior official of Chinese Ministry of Commerce and senior diplomat posted in Europe, including in Geneva as Counsellor and Head of Division of the Permanent Mission of China to the WTO and in Brussels as Commercial Secretary of the Permanent Mission of China to the EU. Benjamin Cavender Benjamin Cavender is a Shanghai based consultant with more than 11 years of experience helping companies understand consumer behavior and develop go to market strategies for China. He is a frequent speaker on economic and consumer trends in China and is often featured on CNBC, Bloomberg, and Channel News Asia. Sara Hsu Sara Hsu is an associate professor from the State University of New York at New Paltz. She is a regular commentator on Chinese economy. Xu Qinduo Xu Qinduo is CRI's former chief correspondent to Washington DC, the United States. He works as the producer, host and commentator for TODAY, a flagship talk show on current affairs. Mr. Xu contributes regularly to English-language newspapers including Shenzhen Daily and Global Times as well as Chinese-language radio and TV services. Lin Shaowen A radio person, Mr. Lin Shaowen is strongly interested in international relations and Chinese politics. As China is quite often misunderstood in the rest of the world, he feels the need to better present the true picture of the country, the policies and meanings. So he talks a lot and is often seen debating. Then friends find a critical Lin Shaowen criticizing and criticized. George N. Tzogopoulos Dr George N. Tzogopoulos is an expert in media and politics/international relations as well as Chinese affairs. He is Senior Research Fellow at the Centre International de Européenne (CIFE) and Visiting Lecturer at the European Institute affiliated with it and is teaching international relations at the Department of Law of the Democritus University of Thrace. George is the author of two books: US Foreign Policy in the European Media: Framing the Rise and Fall of Neoconservatism (IB TAURIS) and The Greek Crisis in the Media: Stereotyping in the International Press (Ashgate) as well as the founder of chinaandgreece.com, an institutional partner of CRI Greek. David Morris David Morris is the Pacific Islands Trade and Investment Commissioner in China, a former Australian diplomat and senior political adviser. Harvey Dzodin After a distinguished career in the US government and American media Dr. Harvey Dzodin is now a Beijing-based freelance columnist for several media outlets. While living in Beijing, he has published over 200 columns with an emphasis on arts, culture and the Belt & Road initiative. He is also a sought-after speaker and advisor in China and abroad. He currently serves as Nonresident Research Fellow of the think tank Center for China and Globalization and Senior Advisor of Tsinghua University National Image Research Center specializing in city branding. Dr. Dzodin was a political appointee of President Jimmy Carter and served as lawyer to a presidential commission. Upon the nomination of the White House and the US State Department he served at the United Nations Office in Vienna, Austria. He was Director and Vice President of the ABC Television in New York for more than two decades.