The role of technology in economic development is well understood internationally. Researchers have shown that technical progress accounts for over half the economic growth of Europe, North America and East Asia over the last two-hundred years. Countries that have been the most successful in catching up with the rich world, from South Korea to Singapore to China, have sought to learn from this experience. It seems to us that this rich understanding of the critical importance of technical change, and where technical change comes from, is not adequately shared in India.
We have recently incorporated the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Economic Research (CTIER) in Pune. Working together with leading experts from academia and industry, we aim to inform policy making on the back of high quality empirical economic research, as well as impact higher education in India. We wish to raise the level of debate and awareness amongst policy makers, industry and students about the essential role of technical capability in economic development, and how it is best fostered.
With the current policy initiatives of "Make in India" and "Start-Up India", the timing is right to view the Indian economy through the lens of innovation and technology policy and assess India's own productivity goals. We have been struck by the potential to contribute in this area - be it in improving the timeliness and quality of data, assessing the impact of policy measures introduced to promote R&D and identifying ways to create systemic change in India's R&D and innovation system.
The Centre aims to facilitate high quality economic research, provide a platform to inform policy making and impact higher education in India. A special emphasis shall be on the Economics of Innovation and Technology.
The Centre will continuously strive to improve the quality of economic research output in India through training, mutual engagement and debate, and interactions with various stakeholders - educational institutions, researchers, practitioners, industry and the government.
CTIER is incorporated under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 in India.