To win the deep-tech race, India needs ‘General Innovation Rules’
India's deep-tech ambitions are soaring, yet we're trying to fund quantum computing with the same rulebook used to buy paperclips. It's like asking a Formula 1 car to obey school zone speed limits – admirable intent, but utterly impractical for winning the race. We're knee-deep in a global innovation sprint, but our financial bureaucracy seems more interested in auditing every experimental capacitor than enabling the next big breakthrough. If we want to innovate, we can't treat discovery like just another purchase order; it requires a leap of faith, backed by a smart, flexible financial safety net.
Currently, India's ambitious science initiatives often collide with financial regulations primarily designed for conventional, low-risk procurement. These rigid frameworks, while good for accountability in routine spending, unfortunately stifle the iterative, high-risk nature of deep-tech research and development. The proposed ‘General Innovation Rules’ regime seeks to address this by adopting a crucial portfolio approach, which acknowledges that not every high-risk research project will succeed, but collectively, a diversified portfolio can yield transformative results, fostering the agility and long-term vision necessary to truly compete in the global deep-tech landscape.
