Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA)

In November 1999, Cabinet Secretariat established the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. The PSA’s office aims to provide pragmatic and objective advice to the Prime Minister and cabinet on matters related to science, technology and innovation with a focus on application of science and technology in critical infrastructure, economic and social sectors in partnership with Government departments, institutions and industry.

PSA’s Role

• Science and technology fundamentals with applied research in collaboration with multiple stakeholders, both in central and state governments
• Enabling future preparedness in emerging domains of science and technology
• Formulating and coordinating major inter-ministerial science and technology missions
• Providing an enabling ecosystem for technology led innovations and techno-entrepreneurship
• Driving innovation and technology delivery towards solving socio-economic challenges for sustainable growth
• Fostering effective public-private linkages for driving research and innovation

Initiatives Undertaken by PSA

• The Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC)
• Empowered Technology Group (ETG)
• Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (STIP 2020)

The Prime Minister's Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC)

The Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC) is an overarching council that facilitates the PSA’s Office to assess the status in specific science and technology domains, comprehend challenges, formulate interventions, develop a futuristic roadmap and advise the Prime Minister accordingly. 

The project management team at Invest India, together with the office of the PSA, will facilitate the delivery and progress of all 9 national missions under PM-STIAC.

Objectives of PM-STIAC

• Synergizing science and technology research in collaboration with multiple stakeholders both in central and state governments
• Enabling future preparedness in emerging domains of science and technology
• Formulating and coordinating major inter-ministerial science and technology missions
• Providing an enabling ecosystem for technology led innovations and entrepreneurship
• Driving innovation and technology delivery towards solving socio-economic challenges for sustainable growth
• Fostering effective public-private linkages for driving research and innovation
• Developing innovation clusters with multiple stakeholders including academia, industry and government
• Skilling in current and futuristic technologies

Nine Missions under PM-STIAC

• Natural Language Translation: The mission will facilitate access to teaching and research material across all regional languages.
• Quantum Frontier: This mission will initiate work in the understanding and control of quantum mechanical system with many degrees of freedom.
• Artificial Intelligence: This mission will facilitate the advancement in the field of Artificial Intelligence by engaging closely with academia and industry to develop core research capability.
• National Biodiversity: This mission will build a comprehensive documentation of India’s biodiversity with the potential of cataloguing and mapping all lifeforms.
• Electric Vehicles: This mission is critical for India to reduce fossil fuel consumption and mitigate emissions by facilitating the production of Electric Vehicles (EVs) economically.
• Bioscience for Human Health: This mission will utilise healthy and disease samples to understand the impact of nature and nurture on human health.
• Waste to Wealth: This mission will identify, develop and deploy technologies to treat waste to generate energy, recycle materials and extract worth.
• Deep Ocean Exploration: This mission will explore the deep oceans to improve our understanding of the blue frontier.
• AGNIi: This mission will boost the innovation ecosystem in the country and help commercialise innovative solutions.

Other Major Projects of PM-STIAC

• Research Clusters
• Earth Museum
• Brahmaputra River System
• I-STEM
• Energy Security

Empowered Technology Group (ETG)

Established with the approval of the Union Cabinet, the Empowered Technology Group (ETG) aims to proactively lay down, coordinate, and oversee national-level policies relating to:

• Procurement and induction of technologies 
• Research and Development (R&D) in technologies that require large outlays in resources, both financial and human
• Render sound and timely advice for determining direction and trajectory of Government's R&D and Technology Development Programmes

Objectives of ETG

• Encouraging cross-sector collaborations and research alliances with Universities and Private Companies
• Advise the Government on its technology supplier and procurement strategy
• To ensure India has pragmatic policies to facilitate utilisation of the latest technologies for economic growth and sustainable development
• Encourage both State & Central government to develop in-house expertise in policy and use aspects of emerging technologies
• Formulate policies for sustainability of public sector technology at PSUs/Labs
• Advise the Government on priorities and strategies for research on emerging technologies across sectors
• Maintain an updated map of technology and technology products available and being developed, across India
• Develop an indigenization roadmap for selected key technologies
• Formulate standards and common vocabulary for vetting of proposals for R&D

The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (STIP 2020)

The Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2020 (STIP 2020) is a holistic and pragmatic policy dedicated to science, technology and most importantly innovation. The policy aims to reorient Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in terms of priorities, sectoral focus and strategies. The STIP 2020 policy is initiated jointly by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor (Office of PSA) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST). A Secretariat with in-house policy knowledge and data support unit, has been set up at Department of science and Technology to coordinate the entire process.

An engaging and inclusive model with four interconnected tracks has been envisioned to formulate the STIP 2020. Key and novel features of the STIP 2020 are Bottom-up, Decentralised, Experts-Driven, Evidence-informed and Inclusive to provide holistic outline for a scientific future.

• Track – 1 Extended Public and Expert Consultation : Aims to create a repository of public voices that will act as a guiding force for the drafting process
• Track – 2 Thematic Groups : Consultations comprises 21 expert-driven thematic collectives to feed evidence based recommendations into the policy drafting process.
• Track – 3 Ministerial and State Consultation : Bring together Ministries and States in extensive engagement through nominated nodal officers.
• Track – 4 Apex Level Multi-Stakeholder Engagement : Binding force that draws upon apex level multi-stakeholder engagement at the national and global levels. Inputs from these wide-ranging deliberations will finally lead to STIP 2020. 

Source: Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA)

Related Resources

1. Invest India
2. Science Policy Forum